Linus Tech Tips channels begin to bleed subscribers amid controversy

Linus Media Group’s array of YouTube and Floatplane channels has begun to lose a considerable number of subscribers.

The YouTube empire that Linus Media Group has created has begun to lose subscribers since issues began to arise this week. This spiraled further after allegations of a toxic workplace and harassment were levied against the company.

Now, the real-world results of the controversy are beginning to hit Linus Tech Tips and the many other channels that the company runs. While some of the channels have been dormant for months, they too are beginning to bleed subscribers.

SocialBlade, a tracker of subscriber counts, is currently estimating that the main Linus Tech Tips channel will dip to 15.3 million subs. This is down by 200K, and Reddit users are actually surprised it hasn’t dropped further. However, the same thread speculates that the channel will also be affected by sponsorships and merchandise sales potentially drying up after the controversy.

The second biggest channel, TechQuickie, has lost around 20,000 subscribers. Meanwhile, third on the list, ShortCircuit has only lost 10,000.

All of Linus Media Group hit with loss of subscribers

YouTube: Linus Tech Tips

Meanwhile, Mac Address, the Apple-focused channel, is still on track to retain and even grow subscribers. The LTT subreddit has praised the channel’s output as a model the rest of Linus Tech Tips should follow in the wake of intense production issues.

However, Mac Address still lost 6000 subscribers amid the controversy. GameLinked lost an estimated 13,000 and according to SocialBlade, an estimated 10K subscribers since August 15 have been lost from TechLinked.

Despite the ongoing losses, it is Floatplane that has been hit the most by unsubscribers. Floatplane is Linus Media Group’s competitor to YouTube and provides exclusive behind-the-scenes and extended videos for a paid subscription.

Floatplane sees big drop in paid subscriptions

Source: FP-Stats

Since the controversy began, the Floatplane channel sat at around 41,000 subscribers. It now sits at 36384 subscribers. Estimating that the $5 a month subscribers canceled, would put Linus Media Group out of nearly $300,000 a year. However, the data available doesn’t let us know who is paying $10 or $5.

The Linus Media Group has hired an outside firm to tackle the investigation into the allegation raised and paused production on videos.