WatchMojo: Then Vs Now - 25M subscribers Special

WatchMojo Retrospective Video (25M Subs)

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re reflecting on our journey to 25 million subscribers!

Nowadays, WatchMojo is best known for one thing above all else: Top 10s… or is that technically 10 things? In any case, WatchMojo has gone through numerous eras since our first subscriber. For this very special video, we’ll be looking at each of those eras, reflecting on what’s changed and what hasn’t changed since launching on January 23, 2006. This retrospective is made possible by Mojoholics like you, who have allowed us to keep making content for the past 17 years. Here’s hoping we can reach 50 million subscribers by 2040!

What’s your favorite WatchMojo video? Share your memories in the comments.

#1: The Tutorial Era

Prior to our Top 10 days, WatchMojo experimented with tutorial videos on yoga, fashion tips, and how to make a Big Mac at home. Although almost unrecognizable compared to our current content, there are two mainstays: the WatchMojo logo, which engulfed like a fourth of the screen, and the WatchMojo Lady, aka Rebecca Brayton, aka the person reading this script.

#2: The Experimental Era

As WatchMojo continued to establish its identity, we tried new things like covering the Lingerie Francaise Fashion Show in 2006. We also experimented with comedy skits about men drinking and dialing, as well as satirical rap songs about being on the Facebook just as it was starting to destroy society.

#3: The Interview Era

Before we were ranking celebrities, WatchMojo interviewed them, from comedians like Donald Glover, to chefs like Anthony Bourdain, to music sensations like Lady Gaga, to Captain Spaulding himself, Sid Haig. We even chatted with Justin Bieber before “Baby,” Selena, or the voice drop.

#4: The Origins Era

The WatchMojo you know and love started to take shape with historical videos chronicling the careers of pop culture icons like Freddie Mercury. Even more significant, we’d launched our Comic Book Origins series, which is still ongoing with the superhero craze only growing stronger since 2009.

#5: The Top 10 Era

2013 marked several milestones for WatchMojo, being the first year we made a profit, the year that our YouTube channel reached 1 million subscribers, and the year that some of our most-watched Top 10s debuted. With Top 10 Bruce Lee Moments and Top 10 Hilarious Movie Deaths being among our best-performing videos, it became clearer than ever that our focus should be on Top 10s, following in the footsteps of David Letterman, Wayne’s World, and Moses.

#6: The Really Random Top 10 Era

Admittedly, for every good idea, there’s a really random idea like Top 10 Fruits, Top 10 Types of Cookies, Top 10 Iconic Cheeses… come to think of it, many of these were food-related. Of course, the most infamous was Top 10 Fictional Movie and TV Owls, which was scribed by the same guy writing this current list. Almost eight years later, he still considers the owl list his magnum opus.

#7: The Behind-the-Scenes Era

The latter era led people to believe that WatchMojo was running out of ideas, but we rebutted that argument on WMFAQ, a weekly show where we answered fan questions about programming, business, and the channel. We’d also provide a more in-depth look at our ranking process with the Deconstructed series, giving viewers a peek behind the emerald curtain.

#8: The Mini Mojo Era

Not to brag, but WatchMojo was ahead of the curve, producing bite-sized content through our Quickies and Mojo Minute long before everyone on social media was sharing their stories. And for those who don’t have time to read a book or money for an Audible subscription, there was our Top 10 Notes series, which gave a brief explanation of famous works of literature.

#9: The Versus & Another Era

WatchMojo would branch out with our Versus series, pitting Arnold Schwarzenegger against Sylvester Stallone, Ryan Gosling against Bradley Cooper (for some reason), and Tobey Maguire against Andrew Garfield, which needed an update after Tom Holland threw his web into the ring. We primarily remained a countdown company, though, even producing “Another” and “Yet Another” videos for topics too vast to limit to 10.

#10: The Era Where We Became a Meme

Of all the WatchMojo lists that could’ve become memes, we weren’t expecting Top 10 Anime Betrayals to be the one that the internet sank its teeth into. Yet, this video has inspired a meme generator, a page on KnowYourMeme.com, and even Top 10 lists on “Top 10 Anime Betrayals” memes! Can we monetize memes?

#11: The Era Where We Shook Up Our Countdown Format

While Top 10s were still our bread and butter, this era saw us step out of our comfort zones with something truly radical, Top 5s! Even more outside the norm was our TopX series, in which we counted down the best that YouTube has to offer… WatchMojo excluded.

#12: The Era of New Channels

WatchMojo has welcomed several new additions to the family through our international channels, presenting videos in a variety of languages. We’ve also made room for more diverse content through WatchMojo UK, MojoPlays, and MsMojo, helping us to reach a wider range of Mojoholics. We’ll never run out of channel ideas either.

#13: The Era of Produced Shows

We briefly turned into the Game Show Network with exclusive series like “The Lineup,” which put a WatchMojo spin on sports panels, and “Outranked,” a trivia game where contestants ranked their own Top 10s. We took WatchMojo on the road as well with “The WORST Travel Show” and our live shows in New York and London.

#14: The Era of Chain Reaction Machines

Because producing the Top 10 Rube Goldberg Machines in Movies wasn’t enough to satisfy us, we decided to make our own chain reaction contraptions. Being a pop culture channel, though, we kept it on-brand by recreating the “Jurassic World” and “Harry Potter” movies.

#15: The Era Where Spider-Man Declared Himself a WatchMojo Fanboy

Usually, it’s the interviewer who becomes starstruck in the presence of the interviewee. When a certain WatchMojo Lady sat down to speak with the cast of “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” Tom Holland and Jacob Batalon gifted us a priceless reaction and endorsement that we’ll never miss an opportunity to bring up.

#16: The Expanded List Era

Phasing out the “Another” and “Yet Another” lists, we decided to simply super-size our videos. Funniest Movie Insults of All Time marked our venture into Top 20 territory, Influential Horror Films Of All Time was our first Top 50, and we went all out with Top 100 Movies of All Time. Who’s up for a Top 1,000 list?

#17: The Meta Mojo Era

No channel does self-deprecating like WatchMojo. In addition to releasing our profanity-laced blooper reels, we produced a series exploring our repetitive word choice, our most disliked videos, and videos that had to be censored or removed entirely. Most notably, we delved into WatchMojo lists that aged about as well as the slogan, “2016 was the worst year ever.”

#18: The Documentary Era

After years of producing “infotainment,” WatchMojo went all-in with the feature-length documentary, “How Geek Culture Became Pop Culture.” We’d follow that ambitious project with another full-length doc on the history of horror. Let us know what other documentaries you want us to make in the comments!

#19: The “WTL” Era

WatchMojo, like most companies, went remote in 2020, but we stayed connected through endeavors like “What the List,” a game show where you can answer every trivia question correctly… and still lose! The best game shows are always the cruelest.

#20: The True Crime Era

You might’ve noticed that litterally every show these days is a true crime docuseries or dramatization. Something similar can be said about WatchMojo, with many of our recent lists exploring serial killers, unsolved crimes, and shocking murders. While we kept the “10” format, we removed the word “Top” because ranking these crimes just doesn’t feel right.

#21: The WatchMojo Game Era

Considering that we’ve produced so many game shows over the years, it was only a matter of time until we made one you can play at home. The WatchMojo Game not only gives you the power to rank lists, but to also argue with the other players about your picks. It’s the comments section without a screen to hide behind!

#22: The Trivia Era

Trivia questions have accompanied our videos for years. We’ve taken it to the next level with our new trivia section, introducing a nail-biting time limit, difficulty levels, and the option to play against friends… or the MojoMajor if you don’t have any friends.

#23: The Giving Era

As we all know, 2020 was a difficult year for many reasons. That’s partly why we decided it was time for us to give back via our MojoGives initiative, where we donate the proceeds from certain videos to an appropriate charity. We’ve donated to the Kobe Bryant Foundation, Australia wildfires and to Colorectal Cancer Canada, among many others. And we couldn’t have done it without you, the viewers - so thank YOU!

#24: The Shorts Era

Remember what we said about being ahead of the curve when it comes to bite-sized videos? Well, what’s old is new again, and we were so nostalgic for short-form videos that we brought Shorts back on the channel! Not only that, but we also started a whole channel dedicated to Shorts! Can you guess what it’s called? Of course, it’s the oh-so-original… WatchMojoShorts!

#25: The Next Era

Who knows what the next era of WatchMojo will bring, but two things are for certain: 1) We’ll keep striving to entertain and inform our 25 million subscribers, without whom we couldn’t do this job. And 2) We still won’t have run out of ideas, even if a T-shirt says otherwise.