YouTube creators The Try Guys claim they’re on-track to reach profitability, with subscriptions to their three-month-old, ad-free service 2nd Try now accounting for 20% of the company’s revenue.
Those numbers mean The Try Guys, known for testing out different experiences, remain reliant on other revenue streams, including YouTube advertising. But in an interview with CNBC, co-founder Zach Kornfeld said the service is exceeding expectations and they aim for it to become their biggest source of money.
The development follows a rough couple of years for The Try Guys, after one of its co-founders was caught having an affair with an employee, damaging the group’s relationship with advertisers.
“We got to a point where it cost more money for us to make the shows our audience loved than we got in from YouTube,” Kornfeld told CNBC.
Another group of popular YouTubers launched a separate subscription service, Watcher Entertainment, earlier this year, provoking fan backlash over plans to limit the amount of episodes released for free.