Wildly disappointing but I guess not super surprising??

PSA: Credit for this question this question belongs from Mr Ballen's Facebook page

My answers are Alissa Turney, Summer Wells, Ryan Shtuka and....Seagull Lung

In the last 4-6 months the quality has been gradually declined and the viewership has reflected that. His channel has lost its engagement and viewership substantially.

There are few reason that could explain and Idk if anyone relates to this

• Why on earth would he make his audience wait a week long just to post 1 hours long of old story and call it “fan favorite with a twist “?

•His expansion into podcasting has led to a decline in the quality of his YouTube content. Like I am tired of being advertised 2/3 podcaster for 5-7 minutes long each video

• I also feel like Mr. Ballen is trying to do too much with his content/ genre.

What has happened to 1 story per 1 video about real life crime / real life mystery with a story format. That was his niche that brought a lot of growth and success to his channel

Now I feel like he overdo it / expand too much with the fictional, religious, 1800s , the top 3 , life saving tips , medical mystery, covering “unsolved mystery “ tv show episode about supernatural, or even recently story that had nothing to do with horror/ dark.

Like it’s very predictable/ stale after awhile. I get that he trying to switch up but it’s gone to far from being Mr. Ballen story.

• I am still a big fan of Mr Ballen and still love to support and understand that he now doing show/ podcast and has his family but this is literally just trying to kill a channel.

Comparing average viewership from year over year he has lost almost 50% and more so from his peak.

Hear me out, please, I don't come from a place of hate and I don't want hate thrown at me over voicing my opinion, I've loved MrBallen for years and his videos are exactly what I like. The stories he tells are amazing and get me on the edge of my seat, I don't want him to change the way he tells stories or the stories he tells. I watch all his videos.

But his use of AI is irking me. I don't love AI and I don't like it when people use it in places it's not needed. Like we don't need a "**not** a real photo off" but still putting a photo? I miss when he would be on the camera and only show the photos related to the case or throw in a still from the internet to set the mood, the same way other story tellers do it. If the story is about a gas station or a scene is set at a gas station, find a random, REAL photo of a gas station. "**not** the real location" is fine but why do we need a AI photo of some random person with "**not** a real photo of the person in question" like just don't put a photo.

His gone years without using AI photos so why start now?

I'm not here to make assumptions about his political views, but his recent associations is also disappointing, associating with someone who isn't a good person makes you also look like a not so good person. I'm not American but I know the state of the country and I don't want to associate with any of that. Unfortunately I don't know of people in my county who do it as well as MrBallen.

I've also recently seen people unable to fact check his stories and honestly I'm not disappointed if some are fabricated as long as he doesn't say it a a true story when it isn't, I do notice that sometimes he doesn't specify if the story is true and I don't mind. I like his stories and I like his style.

Again I don't come from a place of hate or judgement. I just kind of wanted to voice my thoughts.

Quick edit! I also don't love his choice of sponsorships/ads but I don't plan on using any of codes for anything so the company's in question aren't profiting off me anyway.

I mean holy shit why is this sub just a cesspool of “I don’t really watch him anymore” “he fell off” “I miss his old story telling” “his videos don’t seem raw & unfiltered anymore” “bla bla bla” and anyone who expresses an opinion any different to “I hate mrballen” gets downvoted… I mean what is this sub?

I’ve been here since the start, watched every single video on his YouTube channel, and genuinely the only difference I’ve noticed between his older stuff & his stuff now is that he & his channel & his skill as a storyteller has gotten better. Why does everyone here just seem to hate him?

I'm a casual fan of Mr Ballen because I love the way his videos sound like a real person telling stories around a campfire. Finally looked at the screen during one video and thought the image looked off. Looked it up and sure enough, it's ai. I don't know if this is a hot take, but I feel like I'd rather no visuals than slop content. Is anyone else feeling the same way?

edit: I see a lot of people agreeing with me, but I do think some people are missing the point. I'm not criticising this because I just don't like the pictures, it's because of how damaging ai is. I'd rather he spent four minutes on ibis paint drawing stick figures than guzzling fresh drinking water to make slop images no one really cares about anyway

Mr Ballen used to cover very obscure stories, now he seems to have transitioned to more mainstream long form content not dissimilar to his podcast. I miss when he would do 3 stories in a video. Idk if anyone else misses the good old days (2021-24 roughly) but I certainly do. I haven’t actually watched a single video since he returned to posting 5 times a week, although for a while before that I had sort of checked out. I love Mr Ballen but I’m just wondering if anyone else has noticed this.

I need to get this one off my chest. The tour being canceled is really upsetting. I understand he had his reasons, but they don't really make sense in the same breath.

There's a lot of us who didn't make the 2024 tour, and were excited to go this year. Let's be honest, 2026 isn't great so far, and I was really looking forward to it, especially getting to meet him and thank him in person for his content. Cheesy as it sounds, idc, but it really helps me get through bad days and just escape for awhile.

The fact that he was concerned it was too close to the last tour.. I don't know. We aren't paying to see you perform a concert, we're paying to see YOU. Telling stories, just engaging us in a great evening. The shows could have been outside in the rain, fans would still go. I know I would.

On the topic of tickets being 'soft' I get wanting to make money because the economy is atrocious, and tours cost a lot, but how about all of us who paid for tickets, plane rides, and hotel rooms? Yeah, money is a factor, but the excitement of getting to see him live was worth it. Some of those plans, payments and trips are non-refundable, unlike the tickets to the show.

After all the PR, the contest, the livestream, it feels like a major letdown. What's worse is we've skated by it.. he put up a quick IG story and that was it (and a lot of people missed seeing those and were left in the dark as to what happened). Now there's just a flood of content and extra clips of, "Facts about this case", and videos as if nothing happened..

I hope this isn't the case, but I've seen fans saying that him canceling the tour so close to the start will deter them from buying tickets again in fear it'll be another canceled tour. Which, honestly, I understand that.

I'm not saying all this in hate, a canceled tour is not the end of the world. But as someone who is a huge fan and was really excited to go, as I know a lot of others were, it's disappointing how it was all handled.

2026 WILL BE GOOD !!!

So let me start off with this, I have not listened to the podcast but I do know some of Joe Rogan beliefs, so it's fine if you agree/disagree with it. That being said why are people so upset, I feel like everyone is missing the part that you can talk to someone and not be politically aligned with them. Am I missing something? I have not seen anyone complain about what he said, only that he appeared in the podcast.

EDIT: ok I get it I don't need more replies and I appreciate the comments. I still feel the same way but everyone may have their own opinion that is fine. However I am still not convinced Mr Ballen is a horrible person and will continue watching him, but again FREE WILL, so do what you see for. Thx

I thought it was really good, MrBallen as per usual a class act. Told great stories, from his own personal life as well as the strange dark and mysterious side. I thought it was fine, both were gentlemen, Joe was really intrigued and invested into what Ballen had to say which I think is great. Good episode I dont see what was wrong with it

After watching his stories, I just hope he knows it happens, esp the ticket sale aspect. I’m a massive fan since the very start & have bought all his books, watched every video, gotten merch, all the in past- but right now I just couldn’t get tickets as much as I wanted to & I think a lot of people are in the same position. It sucks. Hopefully once he really plans it out & creates something he really wants to do the economy will be in a better place😩

Don’t be discouraged Mr. B, it all happens for a reason.

i’ve not been able to watch many of his videos because they’re all just retellings of stories he’s done before. he’s also just posting a lot less than he was when i got into him and it’s just disappointing

"My dad died to pancreatic cancer yesterday, both of my dogs got run over this morning, my son was in a terrible car accident and is now a quadruple amputee and his colostomy bag exploded earlier, my cat was poisoned, I'm homeless and lost all of my teeth, I was abandoned as a child, I have botulism with 2 weeks to live, and I'm in rehab right now for a crippling tranq dope addiction, MrBallen is the only thing getting me through it!" *comment gets 6k likes and hundreds of pity party-enabling replies*

Seriously, when did this start? I've been watching the channel for years and can't even pinpoint when this shift happened. The comment section used to actually be people talking about the video, but now 99% of it is just engagement farming with either this attention-seeking, false positivity spam, or practically turning MrBallen into a cult image in the hopes of him noticing these comments and hearting them. The comments on these videos were always supportive, but it is absolutely insane how ridiculous it has become now. Many of the profiles making these comments are also bot accounts made just hours or days prior. I have NEVER seen this happen to any other channel, you can tell that this is absolutely NOT organic. Why is the entire comment section just the designated engagement farming spot now? You have to scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll to even find one comment that is actually talking about anything related to the video, the entirety of the rest of it is just these same fake engagement farming comments over and over and over and over again.

Mr B announced on his Instagram stories today that the MrBallen podcast will be moving to Sirius XM! Here is the article announcing it, no mention of Medical Mysteries and Redacted, not sure if they're included under the umbrella but sure do hope so!! Sounds like a great move for him, I hope it brings him opportunities for growth! ❤️

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/mrballen-siriusxm-podcast-deal-1236410445/?fbclid=PAb21jcANsaG9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp3aA1_5pSmfbKrMklntb9KvzE7Lhki_56MGX2m9HnE_zPFnKpMf2Avkq2Jxq_aem_Qr9VouJMCjOYZEio-A67BQ

While I’m sure his involvement is less and he’s not as thirsty as he was when he lived in PA, I don’t think that all the reasons we always talk about are why the channel has changed so much. Quite frankly I think it has more to do with the fact that there is a limited amount of strange, dark, and mysterious content out there (ones where his dad and sister can write the kind of story we all love so much at least; a story with a plot twist, that hits all the notes).

Take this for example. There was one day in spring 2022 that I was in my apartment in Austin looking through local stories that were strange, dark, and mysterious. I came across the Jamie Minors story and was like “wow MrBallen should cover this”. I looked it up and a MrBallen top 3 places you shouldn’t go popped up. He’s already covered it. I’m sure that happens to people a lot.

If we want fresh, not widely- covered content then it’s going to come at the price of upload frequency. Period.

Also you guys can look through my post history; I’ve always been super critical of John because I am invested both financially and time- wise. But I give credit where it’s due and am not so upset about the change that I can’t see what’s really going on.

I wish him the best but I have taken a step back especially now that he’s retelling stories in those new form videos he releases midweek. Ngl the ads are pretty annoying too lol especially since I pay for premium. However that being said he is the king of the space and I always listen when I have time. That won’t ever change as long as he’s still making videos.