Why Entertainment YouTubers Are Retiring: Insights from a Former Creator

There is a tectonic shift happening among entertainment YouTubers right now.

Recently, Gardman, who has over 3 million subscribers, announced his retirement from YouTube after a dispute with group members and revealed his transition to becoming a Twitch streamer. In his first broadcast, he teased "moving 200 million yen" and adopted the slogan "From YouTuber to Japan's Number One Streamer."

I suspect he's trying to do in Japan what IShowSpeed, who boasts immense popularity overseas, is doing. Since he's a wild character who streams 24/7, it fits Gardman's persona perfectly.

(I know firsthand how difficult it is to steer in a new direction while being bombarded with slander, so I am secretly rooting for him.)

By the way, entertainment YouTubers often grow by copying what's popular abroad.

For example, Kanockstar, with 2.2 million subscribers, built a unique position by being the first to bring Korean mukbang videos to Japan.

Nowadays, thumbnails and video structures mimicking the world's top YouTuber, "MrBeast," are also trending. Generally, I have the impression that "templates" that grow overseas arrive in Japan about 1 to 2 years later.

(*By the way, there is also content that grows uniquely in Japan. Solo-living types, couple types, and exposure/drama types are rarely seen abroad and are part of Japan's unique culture.)

In addition, there has been a succession of group disbandments and individual channel hiatuses in the last few months. On the surface, they explain it as "differences in direction," but the bottom line is that they can no longer make a living from entertainment YouTube. It's common to see channels with 1 million subscribers where views only reach a few tens of thousands.

As for me, a video I uploaded recently for the first time in months hit 3,000 views in one day, and my haters are getting excited as usual. The slander never stops.

Anyway, everyone is trying to step out of the "traditional entertainment YouTuber" framework. Or rather, they are being forced to.

Why is everyone trying to move to the "next" thing?

Simply put, the number of seats for entertainment YouTubers is shrinking.

The biggest impact in recent years has been the full-scale influx of TV culture into YouTube. A few years ago, people said "TV is dead, it's the era of YouTube," but it turns out TV stations and talent agencies entered the fray seriously, and their production budgets and editing quality are on a different level. The videos trending on X or TikTok are always TV-like content like "Last Call" or "Tiger of Reiwa."

The era where individuals could film, edit, and plan everything themselves and fight head-on is coming to an end, at least in the entertainment genre.

Moreover, the audience's eyes have become more sophisticated. People who laughed at "amateur pranks filmed on a smartphone" in 2019 can now watch TV-quality variety shows for free on YouTube in 2024. VOD services like Netflix are also getting serious, with high-quality, intense content like "Kujo no Taizai" or "Jigoku ni Ochiru wa yo" rampant. I've watched them all and thought, "There's no way an individual YouTuber can win against this."

(*On X, people say things like "Erika Toda is too thin compared to Kazuko Hosoki to empathize," but I think they produce it with that kind of controversy in mind to make it go viral.)

So now, unless you have incredible charisma, you won't get views just by putting out "YouTuber-like videos." To survive, individual creators must either raise their video quality to stand up against the pros from TV stations or change platforms entirely. You have to choose one.

Also, the existence of AI cannot be ignored. Captions, subtitles, and translations can now be almost fully automated with AI. Individual YouTubers without planning ability and human charm will find themselves on the side of having their jobs taken by AI.

I also stepped down (was pushed down) from that seat

To be honest, I stepped down from the entertainment YouTuber seat. No, I was dragged down.

I managed to grow to about 1.2 million subscribers even while showing my anus, but looking back, I can only think I was completely "lucky."

I started YouTube in 2019, just before graduating from technical college. I thought, "If I work as a technical college grad, I won't get a great salary, so I might as well try to make it big on YouTube."

Then, by chance, the stay-at-home demand exploded in 2020 due to COVID, and my attribute as a former Gindaco employee clicked, and my food videos blew up. There was a time when every video I uploaded got hundreds of thousands or millions of views, and I think I entered at a very good time.

But that was just the "bonus time" for "solo introverted YouTubers" in 2020.

With my actual talent, I don't think I could have grown much if I had entered YouTube before or after that era. And now that the bonus time is over, sticking to the same machine won't increase the payout. In fact, the more I do it, the more I lose.

Because I rose up on luck, "continuing" simply became difficult halfway through. Views were a fraction of what they were at my peak, and when I asked myself, "Can I keep doing this for the next 10 years?" the answer was NO. I reached my limit with physical stunts in my early 20s, and ideas were running dry. Most importantly, there was a moment when I looked at my monthly revenue and calmly thought, "I can't make this the pillar of my life anymore."

YouTube ad revenue is cruelly honest as it's proportional to views, and your "expiration date" is visualized in numbers. Every time I opened the monthly report and saw it was lower than the previous month, my mental state was slowly chipped away. Every other YouTuber has experienced this, and I think they are still fighting through it every day.

So, since the payout from my "Entertainment YouTuber Kattu" slot machine has been fully exhausted, I've decided to gracefully pivot to business.

Gradually doing what CEOs do and stopping what they don't

Since deciding to retire, I've consciously changed my actions. Specifically, I decided to "do what CEOs do and gradually stop doing what they don't."

[What CEOs do in online posting]

• Post on X
• Don't try too hard on YouTube (If they do, it's just "talk videos sharing their philosophy," where subscribers and views aren't the main focus)

[What they don't do]

• Entertainment YouTuber stuff
• Showing their anus

If my goal were to "be popular with teens" or "increase subscribers," what I do would be completely different (like doing TikTok).

But I'm almost 30 and I've increased my subscribers enough. From now on, instead of aiming for support from "students" who easily subscribe when I show my junk, my purpose has changed to "getting to know powerful CEOs" who say, "I saw your article on X." I intend to use social media as a tool for that.

By the way, the Minato-ku party article I wrote yesterday went quite viral, and a CEO who saw it contacted me, leading to a dinner meeting. Writing one viral article on X is more directly linked to business than putting out 100 YouTube videos.

I haven't quit YouTube, but I'm no longer looking for a big win there. Incidentally, I'll be posting videos about AI from now on.

I am currently studying AI while doing social media management and video editing outsourcing (though I don't post about it online). In fact, I wrote most of this article with Claude, introduced OpenClaw to my Mac Mini, and am developing an app that could be used at parties using Claude Code (this is just a hobby).

Well, the views might only reach 10,000, and the haters will probably get active again, but that's fine. AdSense and sponsorships are no longer the goal.

As a side note, I often hear that CEOs who are making insane amounts of money don't post online at all. The reason is apparently, "If you stand out, you get targeted, and they want to keep it hidden." But I'm someone who carved out a life through online posting, so I chose the path of running a business while posting. So please invite me to the lounge.

The courage to change life phases

Looking back, my life has been a series of changing phases. I started writing a blog instead of getting a job at the technical college in Sendai, then I got tired of blogging and moved to YouTube. After showing my anus on YouTube, I reached 1.3 million subscribers, moved to Minato-ku, and started a company. It's a mess of a trajectory, but every time the phase changed, I moved because I thought, "I'll die if I stay here." This time is the same. It's not running away; it's a survival strategy.

I'm often asked, "Aren't you scared of quitting YouTube?" Of course I am. I wouldn't be who I am today without YouTube, and the experience I gained on that stage is a lifelong treasure. There was certainly an era where an amateur could upload a video to YouTube alone and change their life. But that era is ending.

However, life continues after this era. I'll leave past glories as past glories and move to the next phase. I'll exchange my chips and head to the next game.

I'm sure those reading this are working hard in their respective places. It might be YouTube, it might be as an employee, or as a student. Some might be wondering, "Is it okay to stay like this?"

At the very least, let's not become the kind of people who write crap online to trip others up; let's focus on living our own lives. It won't always work out, and it won't always be good things, but let's keep acting in hopes of moving in a better direction. I will do the same.

I'm waiting for inquiries regarding social media or business consultations via DM.

This was Kattu.

[The Real Current Situation]

~Revealing my actual YouTube revenue for the last 3 months~

I'm writing the rest on note.

*I don't want to show it to the general public, so it's available for a small fee or a repost.

https://note.com/kattu0403/n/n9c783801ce28