MKBHD Panel wallpaper app backlash explained - Marques Brownlee gets reviewed
How the tables have turned for Marques Brownlee. The reviewed gets reviewed.
For 15 years, tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, has seemingly made no missteps in building his media empire. He’s even expanded beyond content with collaborations on shoes and wallets. But his latest project, a paid wallpaper app, has sparked a backlash and several hilarious memes.
Currently, the app holds a 2-star rating on the Apple App Store and a 1.7 on Google Play.
In this article, I’ll be dissecting what went wrong and the recommendations I would make to MKBHD to salvage this debacle.
The expectation and reality mismatch
The Panels app promises to provide high-definition wallpapers for phones and comes with a hefty price tag to match at $50/year or $12/month ($144 a year).
The App
Having tested the app myself, it does not feel premium for several reasons:
The UI is very generic and basic, likely due to the fact that it was designed to work for both iOS and Android.
The wallpapers currently available, in my opinion, are not premium. One of the options is just orange — see image below.
The UX of the ad supported free tier is terrible. In order to download a SD version of the wallpaper, users have to watch 2 video ads for a total of 30 seconds.
Additionally there are display ads running in the feed of the app — see image below.
The Price
At $12 a month, Panels is slightly cheaper than Spotify ($13.99/month), but the value users get from Spotify is significantly higher than from a wallpaper app.
The $50 per year option breaks down to $4.16 per month, which is more reasonable, but the real issue is that most people don't pay for wallpapers — they typically use photos they've taken themselves.
The Privacy
Another concern that has surfaced is the staggering amount of data the app requests — see image below. While most of these data requests are likely tied to the app’s advertising functionality, it’s still a surprising amount for a simple wallpaper app.
It feels like a cash grab
Influencer cash grabs come in all sorts including NFTs and overpriced cosmetics — and consumers have become increasingly wary of them. Even if Marques didn’t intend for this to be a cash grab, it certainly feels like one.
What’s more puzzling is that Marques likely didn’t need the revenue from this, as he’s built what appears to be a successful business with 13 employees, a state of the art studio, and unparalleled access to tech CEOs.
Three years ago, entrepreneur Noah Kagan estimated that Marques was generating around $6.4 million in total revenue. It’s likely that figure is significantly higher today.
Consumer app expert Nikita Bier is guessing that the app can bring in around $2-3 million dollars, which is a significant sum for any creator but at what cost.
Is it worth risking the sponsorship dollars and advertising revenue for an app that Marques himself admitted has an insanely small target market?
The breaking of trust
As a tech reviewer, the most valuable currency you possess is trust.
It’s trust that Marques has painstakingly earned over 15 years of creating reviews.
It’s trust that his viewers have given him, expecting objective and unbiased analysis of technology products.
And it’s trust that he has now jeopardized with this app.
As the saying goes, the internet is forever, and now Marques’ old tweets, which highlight his hypocrisy, have resurfaced — see below.
His fans have watched him criticise the flaws of tech products ranging from the Rabbit R1 to the Fisker car, with harsh titles - see image below.
Several of these flaws are now being levelled back at Marques and his app.
How to turn it around
Scrape the app — it’s very unlikely the app can recover from the negative reviews, not to mention people have extracted the wallpapers and uploading it for free. From a brand reputation perspective, the best option is to can it.
Make a video explaining your thinking — admit that the product wasn’t what people accepted and move on.
If Marques still wants to launch an app, he should invest the time, money, and resources to properly create a product that his audience wants and will pay for. Ideally, conduct some beta testing with a small pool of his audience, who would’ve no doubt provided valuable feedback on his wallpaper app.
It’s rare for a reviewer to get reviewed.
This serves as a cautionary tale for content creators: take careful when monetising. Chasing short-term profits can harm your long-term reputation. Then again, the internet has a short memory, and in a few weeks, everyone may have already moved on to the next thing.
Things that caught my attention
Lucas Sin Shows You What Ingredients Build A Chinese Pantry (video) - Food52
The Google Update That Crushed His Business Overnight (video) - Ahrefs
Le Sserafim x Sony Headphone Collab (article) - Rolling Stones
KFC Japan made Colonel Sanders a hot anime guy - h/t
1. I bet he'll scrap the wallpapers and try custom ringtones next /s
2. Lol @ hot Colonel Sanders making the cut