In truth, the sixth year of the Old Timey Computer Show was fairly uneventful compared to the previous year, so I have little to report. The most significant event was the channel reaching 33,000 followers in March of this year. Thank you for your support.

I had planned on launching a new schedule to replace the current one that started on March 21, 2023, but the current structure of Mr. OTCS provides no flexibility for modifying the schedule when it is active. In addition, I want to adhere to the formula of eight-hour blocks, and inserting new material after the schedule launches without breaking the daily structure is very challenging. Throughout the last two years, I have continuously found more content that I want to showcase, and it's forced me to put off charting a new schedule repeatedly. I'm awaiting certain series to be uploaded in full before moving forward, and having it in full will make filling gaps much easier.

As a result, this post will focus entirely on summarizing the annual survey, which was held from May 8-15, 2025. 142 responses were collected, down from 161 in 2024. Several new questions were added to this year's survey. The purpose of the surveys is to track changes in viewer behavior, so commentary will be provided for these answers only for notable shifts from last year's responses.

Repeat Responses

These questions were included close to the bottom of the survey form, but I'm placing them before all other answers because they provide some context for the following data.

Did you respond to the 2024 viewer survey?

Answer	Result	Last
Yes	21.1%	22.4%
No	78.9%	77.6%

If you answered Yes above, how much do you watch OTCS today compared to 2024?

Answer	Result	Last
Less than in 2024	19.2%	22.2%
The same amount	65.4%	59.3%
More than in 2024	15.4%	18.5%

Discovery

How did you discover OTCS?

Answer	Result	Last
Twitch recommendation, including the channels list, front page, the Retro category, etc.	57.7%	52.2%
Twitch raid or shout-out	21.8%	22.4%
Searching, including search engine or searching Twitch itself without using recommendations	4.2%	6.2%
Browsing Twitch categories (write-in answer)	4.9%	n/a
Word of mouth, including communities such as Discord	9.9%	6.2%
Social media post (including Twitter, Mastodon, etc.)	1.4%	3.7%
Blog post (Cohost, Tumblr, etc.)	0%	1.2%
I don't remember (write-in answer)	0%	5.6%

A small number of respondents answered that they discovered OTCS through browsing the Retro or Always On categories, rather than using the search feature. OTCS has always streamed on the Retro category, as I've considered Always On to be the domain of those who stream licensed material. No responses for blog posts or not remembering were recorded.

Viewing Habits

How long have you been watching OTCS?

Answer	Result	Last
A few days	1.4%	4.3%
1-3 weeks	4.9%	2.5%
1-3 months	6.3%	6.8%
3-6 months	2.8%	8.7%
6-12 months	11.3%	10.6%
1-2 years	30.3%	31.1%
3+ years	40.1%	36%
I don't remember (write-in answer)	2.8%	n/a

How many hours each day do you watch OTCS?

Answer	Result	Last
0-1	45.1%	47.2%
1-3	44.4%	36%
3-5	8.5%	9.9%
5-8	1.4%	3.7%
8-12	0.7%	1.9%
12 or more	0%	1.2%

What times of day do you watch OTCS? (Multiple answers allowed.)

Answer	Result	Last
Early morning	21.8%	22.4%
Morning	30.3%	30.4%
Afternoon	40.1%	37.3%
Evening	50.7%	57.1%
Late night	34.5%	62.1%
(New) Bedtime	35.9%	n/a

How do you watch OTCS? (Multiple answers allowed.)

Answer	Result	Last
Desktop/Laptop PC	88.7%	86.3%
Television (game console app, screencasting, etc.)	19%	22.4%
Mobile device (including tablets)	28.2%	24.2%

On a scale of 1-5, do you watch OTCS actively, or leave it running in the background?

Answer	Result	Last
1 (Running in background)	7.7%	5.6%
2	27.5%	26.7%
3	34.5%	45.3%
4	24.6%	13.7%
5 (Watching actively)	5.6%	8.7%

There is more of a spread among the middle three options compared to last year, which indicates to me that more viewers are watching the content actively, even though the schedule has not changed since March 2023.

Where do you watch OTCS? (Multiple answers allowed.)

Answer	Result	Last
At home	97.2%	95.7%
At work (Not while working from home)	10.6%	10.6%
While working from home	30.3%	29.8%
At school	0.7%	0%
While commuting	2.8%	3.1%

How frequently do you participate in text chat?

Answer	Result	Last
Never	29.6%	28%
Occasionally	49.3%	51.6%
Sometimes	16.9%	13%
Often	2.8%	5%
(New) Always	0.7%	n/a
(New) Only to use commands	0.7%	n/a

Opinions on OTCS

On a scale of 1-5, how satisfied are you with the current programming schedule format?

Answer	Result	Last
1	0%	0%
2	4.2%	1.9%
3	21.1%	23.6%
4	47.9%	41%
5	26.8%	33.5%

There is an appreciable shift toward the lower answers in this question compared to last year. As noted at the top of this post, I am still in the process of gathering material before a new schedule can be finalized, but the effort is ongoing.

What is your opinion on the ratio of computer-related content and video game-related content?

Answer	Result	Last
Far too much computer content	0.7%	1.9%
Somewhat too much computer content	6.3%	9.9%
A good balance between both	67.6%	65.8%
Somewhat too much video game content	17.6%	17.4%
Far too much video game content	6.3%	1.2%

How important is the show title information on the sides of the screen to you?

Answer	Result	Last
1	1.4%	1.2%
2	4.9%	3.1%
3	7.7%	8.7%
4	26.8%	29.2%
5	59.2%	57.8%

How would you rate the overall educational value of the content on OTCS?

Answer	Result	Last
1	0%	0%
2	4.3%	2.6%
3	16.7%	20.5%
4	47.8%	46.2%
5	31.2%	30.8%

Non-English Content

What is your opinion on non-English content on OTCS?

Answer	Result	Last
Strongly dislike	7.6%	6.9%
Dislike	10.6%	13.1%
Neither like nor dislike	40.9%	23.8%
Like	21.9%	21.9%
Strongly like	15.9%	11.9%
No opinion/Do not watch non-English content	3%	10%

Would you be interested in a patron-supported fund to commission translations for non-English content?

Answer	Result	Last
Yes	34.6%	25.8%
No	28.7%	25.8%
Maybe	35.3%	45.3%
Other	1.4%	3.1%

There is another shift in opinion in this question, in favor of either removing non-English content from the schedule or providing translations by any means. Last year, I noted that I assessed the viability of AI-powered transcription and translation tools, and as of this year, the accuracy and overall efficiency of these tools has greatly improved. The quality of automated translations is now at the level that I can start exploring how to provide subtitles for basic programmes, but more research is required before they can be integrated into the schedule proper. All such translations will be given fully manual review and disclosure, and can be replaced by human translation at any time. To date, I have not had success in recruiting translators for this purpose.

External Pages

Are you aware of the Google Sheet of source links for OTCS programming?

Answer	Result	Last
Yes	45.8%	49.1%
No	54.2%	50.9%

Write-in Questions

All of these questions were optional.

What are your favorite/least favorite shows or types of shows on OTCS and why?

There is a roughly even split between computer content and video game content, particularly non-English content, for answers of favorite types of shows. Computer Chronicles remains one of the most popular series, with video game-related series and advertisements, documentaries, and training videos for specialized hardware following. Disliked content includes the same video game and non-English content, videos with distortion, and particularly long computer videos described as "dry". This degree of polarization suggests to me that the current balance of computer and video game material should be maintained. A few respondents remarked that they would accept machine translations for non-English content, and as noted above, my testing showed that AI-powered translation consistently produced higher quality output than traditional machine translation.

What shows or types of shows do you feel are the most educational?

The most common answer here is Computer Chronicles and similar news-oriented shows and documentaries. The second most common answer are the various lectures, such as the Distinguished Lecture Series and the systems programming tutorials.

As a reminder, with 100 concurrent sponsors between Patreon and Ko-fi, a second channel focusing only on computer content can be launched.

When should the cut-off date be for a piece of audiovisual media to be considered "old timey"?

The most common answers from last year's survey included windows of 20 years, 15 years, or 25 years before the present, and the specific years of 2000, 2004, 2005, or 2007. This year, 2005 is the most common single-year answer, matching with the window of 20 years ago. The next most common answers pivot around 2005, including 2010, 2000, and the 1990s. Some write-in responses added justifications for their answers that included the introductions of certain technology products and changes in video production standards including the adoption of widescreen content.

Would you be interested in OTCS merchandise? If so, name examples of kinds of products you would buy.

There is less interest in merchandise compared to last year, but among those that did express interest, the requests for products remains the same: T-shirts, mugs, mousepads, keychains, and the like.

Demographics

All of these questions are optional, and the majority of respondents chose to answer these questions.

What is your age?

Answer	Result	Last
15 or under	0%	0%
15-30	17.3%	8.8%
30-45	61.2%	69.4%
45 or older	21.6%	21.3%

There is a larger contingent of younger viewers responding to the survey compared to last year.

What is your time zone?

This is asked as an open question. The majority of answers are United States time zones. Standard and daylight saving time zones are combined.

The five most common time zones are listed here.

Answer	Result	Last
Eastern Time Zone (UTC-5)	38.6%	37.2%
Central Time Zone (UTC-6)	16.7%	20.6%
Pacific Time Zone (UTC-8)	13.6%	21.7%
UTC (includes GMT and BST)	6.8%	10.1%
UTC+1 and UTC+2 (includes CET and CEST)	12.8%	4.7%
Other	11.4%	n/a

Where is your home located?

This question asks for broad geographical location, rather than country.

Answer	Result	Last
North/Central America	66%	76.3%
South America	3%	3.1%
Europe	25.7%	15.6%
Africa	1.5%	0%
Asia	0.7%	2.5%
Australia/New Zealand	3%	2.5%

What languages do you speak?

All respondents answered English, but some answers included Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Dutch, Hungarian, Arabic, Russian, Afrikaans, Scots, Portuguese, Korean, and Swedish.

What is your current occupation?

Similar to the respondents who provided an answer last year, the majority of answers include IT positions and students.

How long have you been using computers?

Answer	Result	Last
Since childhood	76.6%	78.6%
Since primary/middle school	16.8%	15.1%
Since high school	5.1%	3.1%
Since college/university	1.5%	1.3%
After graduation	0%	1.3%
(New) I do not use computers	0%	n/a

(New) How long have you been playing video games?

Answer	Result
Since childhood	89.6%
Since primary/middle school	5.9%
Since high school	3%
Since college/university	0%
After graduation	0%
I do not play video games	1.5%

Conclusion

I had hoped to introduce a new schedule and rebranding in time for the 6th anniversary, but I have been finding more content to add to the channel and not enough time to chart a new schedule to do so. I believe the wait for the new schedule will be worth it, with new series and novelty videos to look forward to as the calendar advances. My goal is to do so before the end of the year, to satisfy those who have been patiently watching the March 2023 schedule since it launched. I will close this article with my personal belief that "old timey" is an always-sliding window, and that as more time passes, more material will be indisputably "retro" and therefore worthy of inclusion in the Old Timey Computer Show. This is not something to fear or regret, but a cause for celebration and retrospection for how much progress humanity has made, and has managed to make do for so long without present-day niceties. I reject the notion that you have to be young to be good, that becoming "old" starts before age 30, and that the proper or natural response to aging is despair. Such negative thoughts are unfortunately very popular, because it is itself a denial of progress. Yearn for the feelings when technology was new, but don't think that your favorite internet videos from 10 years ago represent the best years of your life, or you won't think anything else 10 years from now.

Thank you for supporting The Old Timey Computer Show.

• Support the channel on Patreon and Ko-fi
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