Watch it Played’s Rodney Smith cuts ties with Game Night Picks, accuses owner of unethical advertising practices towards publishers

Rodney Smith, the founder and host of board game ‘how to play’ video giant Watch It Played, has accused long-time site colleague Chaz Marler of misleading advertisers on the latter’s Game Night Picks YouTube channel by paying to boost viewer numbers on its videos.

A detailed report distributed by Smith to board game publishers yesterday said Marler had used YouTube advertising to boost views on Game Night Picks – formerly known as Pair of Dice Paradise – in November and December last year, with typical viewers per video rising from the low thousands to an average of 36,700 across those months.

While that might seem ideal for publisher advertisers, Smith added that Game Night Picks had transitioned to a ‘per view’ fee structure early last year – and said more than 90% of viewers in November and December left the videos within the first minute, well short of the point at which publisher advertising was shown.

Smith said in the report, “Despite the sudden influx of 145,300 subscribers, the behind-the-scenes analytics (which only those with access to the YouTube account can see) showed that traffic ‘from subscribers’ did not change in any perceptible way.

“If even 1% of the new subscribers had returned to watch future videos with some regularity, traffic ‘from subscribers’ would have increased by roughly 1,453, but there was no noticeable change. It suggests that you can pay to have the ‘YouTube Advertising’ feature provide you with subscribers and/or views, but it cannot make those subscribers (or viewers) engage with your content.”

He added, “Would a publisher agree to pay a ‘per view’ fee if they knew only 3% to 6% of the viewers were still watching a video by the time their ad aired?

“It would seem that this advertising model can only be effective if the publisher remains unaware of the underlying data (which only the channel owner has access to) – I also had access to it, due to our working relationship.”

Smith said that after he noticed the change in analytics he approached Marler in December, telling him he believed the latter was “engaged in a deceptive practice” – and was told some publishers who bought ads in November and December had been issued discounts of ‘half or more’.

Speaking in a separate YouTube video published to the unlisted section of the Watch It Played channel, Smith said, “In my conversation with the owner of Game Night Picks I perceived no acknowledgment of wrongdoing and received no apology for the potential threat to my work and reputation.

“He expressed that providing discounts to publishers would fix what he was doing, but it was clear in my mind that discounting unethical practices do not make them ethical.”

Smith continued in his written report, “I assured [Marler] that his activities would be discovered due to the overt and unnatural viewer and subscriber growth he had obtained through ‘YouTube Advertising’.

“Once uncovered, publishers might reasonably (but incorrectly) assume I was also engaged in this practice due to his six-year association with Watch It Played. They might reasonably assume I’d instructed him on how to do it.

“Although I have never engaged in any of these activities personally, his actions threatened to undermine the relationships and trust I have cultivated with publishers and viewers over the past 15 years – risking irreparable damage to my career and reputation.”

Marler confirmed to BoardGameWire yesterday that he had made use of YouTube’s built-in promotions tools in November for Game Night Picks “to see how it works”, but added that the tool “didn’t produce the results I was looking for, in terms of viewership quality or sustainability” and was no longer being used by the site.

Marler would not comment on the accusation he had willingly engaged in unethical behaviour towards advertisers, or say whether he had properly reimbursed advertisers featured on Game Night Picks during the period in question after the issue was raised with him by Smith.

Marler did tell BoardGameWire, “While I’m not going to detail specific invoices here, I can say that each invoice and project has always been taken on a case-by-case basis.

“That same approach was applied to the invoices incurred during the time in question. It would gain a channel nothing to overcharge clients, especially in an industry as intimate as ours.”

He said that while he had stopped using YouTube advertising, “if a solution does become available that benefits the sponsors, viewers, and the channel, while removing ambiguity, I think that would be worth looking into. The trick would be accomplishing that, while also ensuring clarity and transparency for all parties.”

He added, “I don’t think that anyone is making the case that investing in promotion in-and-of itself is unacceptable. The objective, as with any endeavor, is to set expectations and responsibly provide value to those you’re serving (including both viewers and sponsors).”

When asked what changes Marler planned to make to Game Night Picks, and how it offers advertising to publishers, he said, “Part of the plan is to continue communicating as openly as possible to sponsors, colleagues, and viewers. For example, in late November, a newsletter was sent to all the sponsors I work with informing them of the surge in viewership numbers that was being experienced.

“Subsequent newsletters have outlined updates to the way sponsorships are billed, to accommodate when experiencing lower overall viewer retention due to any reason.

“The channel’s ‘Video Services’ document, which is provided to sponsors, was also updated during that time to restate this updated policy. That policy is also included in cold-call and follow-up emails related to advertising that are sent out.

“The cornerstone of any collaboration process is communication and mutually setting expectations between colleagues, viewers, and sponsors. That has been the focus since the sponsorship system was launched, and it will continue to be, into the future.”

He did not respond to BoardGameWire’s request to see copies of those sponsor-focused newsletters or the channel’s ‘video services’ document.

Marler also runs the website TableTop Media Makers, which says it aims to handle the “sponsorship grunt-work” of running a board game-focused YouTube channel by “securing sponsorships, tracking down ad assets, writing ad copy, reporting video views, billing advertisers, and managing the financials”.

Further Fallout

Watch It Played, which was launched by Smith in 2011, has grown to become the hobby’s biggest YouTube channel for videos explaining how to play specific games, with more than 413,000 subscribers.

The vast majority of its videos up to 2020 were fronted by Smith, with support from members of his family, and Pep MacDonald also involved in making instructional and gameplay videos for the site between 2015 and 2019.

A slew of new faces began appearing on the site from 2020, however, as Smith expanded its scope to include content such as news roundups and top ten lists.

Collaborators who began appearing on Watch It Played from that time included Marler, who had been running his Pair of Dice Paradise YouTube channel since 2013, as well as actress and comedian Paula Deming, who has her own hugely popular board game video channel, and Matthew Jude, who also runs travel-based YouTube channel YesLand.

Smith announced seven days ago during a Marler-fronted video on Watch It Played that the site would return to a solo operation exclusively focused on tutorial videos – without offering an explanation as to why – with the rest of its hosts leaving to continue at their other respective outlets.

They include Marler, Deming and Jude, as well as Monique Macasaet and Naveen Sharma from board game playthrough and review YouTube channel Before You Play.

Of those, Deming and Jude also both appear on Game Night Picks videos – but Smith said in his statement, “I have no reason to believe any of the other people appearing in Game Night Picks videos have knowledge of the underlying data that would demonstrate how these inflated channel numbers were gained, nor would I imagine they know the full extent of the advertising practices the owner of Game Night Picks is using.

“Unless they chose to share it, only the YouTube channel owner would have access to that data.”

He added, “I also do not believe this is a widespread problem in the board game media community. I do not want the actions taken by the owner of Game Night Picks to reflect on other media creators who have grown their channels organically through the creative work they have published.”

Smith also spoke on yesterday’s video about his decision to pare back the site to a solo operation, saying, “This whole situation brought me to another hard-learned realization. I’m just not comfortable having my channel, and my reputation, entangled in the decisions other people might decide to make.

“Again, I have no reason to doubt the character of Matthew, Paula, Monique or Naveen – quite the opposite.

“But I would have said the same about the person who did engage in unethical behaviour that we’re now discussing. I imagine you can appreciate, my trust has been a bit shaken.

“I don’t want what has happened to make me cynical, and I would like to believe I could revisit collaborations in the future. But you’ll likely understand if I would just like Watch It Played to go back to being fully my responsibility, and not tied to the actions of anyone else.”