the only reason I checked in on Aphmau in the past few years was because Jess and Jason’s brand was so impressive. Daily videos, monthly merch drops, thriving viewership numbers - it’s really such a fascinating model that was working for them, especially when young children’s media is such a repetitive and competitive industry to work in for so long

but as soon as they began integrating their older content, everything begins to fall apart! they claim mermaid tales is canon and important to MS7 lore, but then stuff it with filler episodes and take months past their deadline

the only adequate promotional marketing they did for mermaid tales was at Vidcon, and their teaser trailers feel like they’re posted to placate the viewers who are still watching, not to bring viewers back

I feel like they’re getting disappointed by failing numbers when they’re not even properly engaging with their audience or understanding the flaws in their filler-ridden format

there’s an echo chamber of viewership that causes their views to plateau at unsatisfactory numbers each post because they haven’t broken the bubble that has been created from their unpredictable deadline-breaking behavior - they’re keeping a small number of viewers in circulation while completely ignoring the actual tools that can ACTIVELY incentivize viewers to return

they are being PASSIVE and getting frustrated when their inadequate marketing (nonexistent marketing) fails