Contrary to some reports, I have not lost motivation to continue operating the Old Timey Computer Show just because the Twitch channel was shut down. I did not run a 24/7 TV channel consisting entirely of historical material for over six years by myself to be called a quitter.

In August 2025, the Old Timey Computer Show channel on Twitch was closed down as part of an effort by Twitch to crack down on unmonitored 24/7 channels that exclusively broadcast pre-recorded material. Due to the nature of OTCS as a pseudo-television channel, I knew from the beginning that this fate was an inevitability and I do not hold it against Twitch for doing this, as Twitch was never designed for this kind of content and copyright concerns abound with every other channel like it that do not possess the proper licensing. I built OTCS out of inspiration from channels that ran current television shows and movies that operated around the same time and were shut down not long after, as the content they were broadcasting was far less defensible. OTCS ran on Twitch nonstop for six years, far longer than many other, if not every other, 24/7 channel on the site, and I was prepared for when they would make the decision to terminate it as well. Even though all of the content on OTCS is sourced from public video sites like YouTube and the Internet Archive, the majority of which is still on those sites now due to less copyright interest, it is still against Twitch policy to run channels like this without regular interaction from the broadcaster. Channels that briefly show recordings of TV shows and VHS tapes with running commentary still thrive on Twitch, and OTCS is, by design, not one of them.

When the channel got its third strike for violating Twitch terms of service, the time came to host OTCS elsewhere. I briefly considered competing video streaming services but concluded that self-hosting my own dedicated video streaming service would ensure the channel is not subject to any platform policy changes that force it to shut down. In order to do this, I needed to upgrade my server hosting with enough resources to constantly encode video server-side and stream it to any number of viewers. otcs.minuspoint.com was changed from the home of the dynamic schedule page to the Old Timey Computer Show channel itself running on Owncast on September 2, 2025.

Due to running a self-hosted service without support from large entities like Twitch, daily viewership has dropped off by over one-third. The only service that provides discoverability is the Owncast Directory, a selection of Owncast instances that opt-in to indexing. Though OTCS is often featured close to the top of this site, it has yet to approach the viewership that it enjoyed on Twitch. Nevertheless, I pledge to remain committed to keeping the Old Timey Computer Show active for as long as I can afford to, and more than ever before, it is only possible with support from generous viewers. The operating costs have increased significantly as a result of the migration from Twitch to self-hosting an Owncast instance on an upgraded server, and in January 2026, I increased the minimum Patreon pledge for Sponsor status from $3 USD to $5. Despite this change, the patrons remain supportive, and as of this writing, there are three members in the new $10 Gold Sponsor tier introduced at the same time. Thank you all for your continued support.

Due to the reduced viewership and exposure, the fifth annual viewer survey got a fraction of the response of previous years, only 20 responses compared to 142 from 2025. Because the sample size is so small, I believe the responses to the demographic questions are not truly representative of the current viewership of OTCS. As a result, these sections will be very brief.

Many new questions were added to this year's survey, so the repeat responses will be shown first. Because of the severe disparity in sample size between 2025 and 2026, the previous year's responses will not be compared after the Repeat Responses section. Also because of the small sample size, answer totals will be shown rather than percents.

Repeat Responses

Did you respond to the 2025 viewer survey?

Answer	Result	Last
Yes	10	21.1%
No	10	78.9%

This question presents several implications about the portion of the viewership that answers these surveys. The ratio of those who answered the previous year's survey and those who did not has always been roughly 1 in 4, and of the 20 respondents for this year's survey, it is an exact 50-50 split. This suggests that many of the same people had been answering every survey while the channel was on Twitch with a large amount of new respondents, but it is not clear here which of those people have answered this one.

If you answered Yes above, how much do you watch OTCS today compared to 2025?

Answer	Result	Last
Less than in 2025	4	19.2%
The same amount	5	65.4%
More than in 2025	2	15.4%

11 respondents answered this question even though only 10 were instructed to. With only 10 valid responses, I don't believe I can draw any meaningful conclusions. Though the raw percentages suggest that many people are watching OTCS less than this time last year, it does not account for why this may be, whether it's from the move away from Twitch, the repetitiveness of the content being shown for seven years, or some other reason. This assumes these answers are truly representative of the larger audience, which I doubt.

Discovery

How did you discover OTCS?

This question was asked in all previous surveys, but the answers are different to account for discovery on Owncast.

Answer	Result
Twitch recommendation pre-September 2025 (channels list, front page, etc.)	16
Twitch raid or shout-out pre-September 2025	2
Owncast Directory post-September 2025	1
Word of mouth, including communities such as Discord	1

Other answers that got no responses include social media posts, blog posts, and search engines.

The Old Timey Computer Show transitioned to a self-hosted, dedicated video server on September 2, 2025. How would you compare the service on this site to the old Twitch channel? (New)

Answer	Result
Much worse than Twitch	0
Worse than Twitch	1
The same as Twitch	7
Better than Twitch	7
Much better than Twitch	2
I did not watch OTCS on Twitch	1
Other	2

The two Other responses are general comments about the channel being less discoverable on Twitch.

Viewing Habits

How long have you been watching OTCS?

Answer	Result
A few days	0
1-3 weeks	0
1-3 months	0
3-6 months	1
6-12 months	2
1-2 years	5
3+ years	12
I don't remember	0

This may suggest that the vast majority of current viewers have been watching since the channel was on Twitch, along with the one respondent who discovered the channel on the Owncast Directory.

How many hours each day do you watch OTCS?

Answer	Result
0-1	7
1-3	8
3-5	3
5-8	1
8-12	1
12 or more	0

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

Answer	Result
Early morning	5
Morning	10
Afternoon	9
Evening	8
Late night	8
Bedtime	4

Two write-in responses indicate random hours, and when the schedule suits their preferences.

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

Answer	Result
Desktop/Laptop PC	20
Television (game console app, screen casting, etc.)	3
Mobile device	1

Do you watch OTCS actively, or leave it running in the background?

Answer	Result
1 (Running in background)	0
2	4
3	10
4	5
5 (Watching actively)	1

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

Answer	Result
At home	17
At work (Not while working from home)	4
While working from home	5
At school	0
While commuting	0

How frequently do you participate in text chat?

Answer	Result
Never	9
Occasionally	9
Sometimes	1
Often	0
Always	1

The chat feature in Owncast is lacking compared to Twitch chat. While it allows anonymous chatting and self-authenticating federated identity, the moderation tools are nearly non-existent and the selection of included emojis is much smaller than Twitch. Some respondents and feedback sent on other channels indicate frustrations with Owncast chat.

Opinions on OTCS

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

Answer	Result
1	0
2	2
3	4
4	10
5	4

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

Answer	Result
Far too much computer content	0
Somewhat too much computer content	1
A good balance between both	16
Somewhat too much video game content	3
Far too much video game content	0

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

Answer	Result
1	0
2	0
3	0
4	9
5	11

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

Answer	Result
1	0
2	0
3	2
4	10
5	17

Non-English Content

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

Answer	Result
Strongly dislike	1
Dislike	1
Neither like nor dislike	5
Like	5
Strongly like	6
No opinion/do not watch non-English content	0
Other	2

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

Answer	Result
Yes	6
No	4
Maybe	9

Would you be interested in machine-translated, human-edited subtitled versions of non-English content, with a visible disclaimer that accuracy is not guaranteed and can be replaced with a human translation at any time? (New)

Answer	Result
Yes	5
No	3
Maybe	8

One of the most persistent criticisms of OTCS is the non-English material without subtitles. For as long as these retrospectives have been published, I have put out requests for translators to provide subtitles for the documentary shows, as educational content is a high priority for the channel, especially content from outside North America and Europe. In all of that time, only one person responded but did not follow through.

I am one of the organizers of a small weekly movie watching club, and over the last few years, we've been experimenting with using Whisper to produce automated transcription and translated subtitles for English and non-English movies respectively, which we have dubbed AICC. The results are of significantly higher quality than traditional speech recognition as seen on YouTube, as the subtitles do not have to be created in real-time. The output is still imperfect, but the quality is high enough such that it has enabled the club to watch movies from other countries that we would not have been able to enjoy without it, and the subtitles for English-language movies greatly increases accessibility for those who depend on them.

The success of AICC led me to experiment privately with short videos in Japanese and Russian late last year, with promising results. The atmosphere of our club makes light of any errors that the AICC creates with the movies and shows we watch there, finding entertainment when it makes mistakes such as getting character names wrong or extended periods where no subtitles were created even as people were talking. It goes without saying that such flaws would not be acceptable for a channel like OTCS, so I would have to personally review and refine the outputs before making them public, taking accountability for any inaccuracies in the subtitles (but only if it introduces any inaccuracies that were not in the original video; any such mistakes that were present in the video itself should be faithfully reproduced in subtitles no matter who writes them). Any text on screen will obviously not be translated by speech recognition, so such text will need to be manually translated as well. No subtitles will be presented without a full review from me.

I included this question in this year's survey to gauge interest in expanding this to OTCS, with the caveat that a highly visible disclaimer be added to videos with these automated subtitles that have been reviewed, fact-checked, and edited by humans (namely myself), under the belief that these automated subtitles would be better than no translation at all. A fully human translation can replace automated translations at any time if the quality is similar or superior. I expected controversy with this question and got a very split response. I expect the quality of AICC to increase over time as models become more refined, so further experimentation is needed.

With that said, more constrained domains like video game promotional tapes produce more reliable translations, and unlike educational content, inaccurate subtitles would have trivial consequences. I do not plan on moving forward with AICC with factual content at this time because I cannot accept any errors and I have limited ability to fact-check the output, though I have high hopes that this technology will eventually pass my threshold for output quality and make these older foreign technology documentaries accessible to audiences worldwide.

External Pages

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

Answer	Result
Yes	15
No	5

How likely are you to recommend OTCS to others? (New)

Answer	Result
1	0
2	1
3	1
4	7
5	11

Write-in Questions

All of these questions were optional. A small selection of questions from the survey are included here, due to the small answer pool.

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

The response here is similar to previous years: the most commonly cited shows as favorites include Computer Chronicles and similar educational programs and documentaries. For the least favorite shows, stage shows and long-form non-English content are the most commonly named. One respondent voiced support for using Whisper on foreign material.

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

The most common answer here is in the range of the early 2000s, with no responses indicating anything earlier. The survey from 2025 had similar responses of 15-25 years before the present.

What topics do you most enjoy seeing discussed or explained in OTCS content? (New)

Common answers were the expected responses: computer content, retro technology, early web culture. One respondent mentions seeing people talk about personal experience with older computers and games.

Demographics

I did not get enough responses here to comfortably infer anything about the current state of the channel's viewership, so I will instead summarize the answers generally.

The viewers who responded to the demographic questions are of the same age range and geographic location as last year's survey: More than two-thirds are age 30-45 with the rest split between younger and older than that bracket, and about 25% of respondents are located in the EST time zone with a flat spread among other time zones. 42% of respondents are based in North and Central America, 37% in Europe, and a flat spread in the rest of the world. All respondents speak English as a primary language. All respondents use computers and play video games, with the vast majority having done so since childhood and the next largest segment starting in high school.

Interacting with Vintage Technology

This is a new section of the survey that asks how viewers engage with the computers and video games of the era shown in the channel. Some of the questions earlier in the survey were moved here.

Do you own any vintage computer systems? Examples include Apple, IBM, Commodore, Acorn, Sinclair, Atari, etc.

Most answer they do not, but a few answered they own Commodore machines and older PCs and Macintosh computers.

What computer systems and operating systems do you have experience with? Specify if these include original hardware, clone or modern reproduction hardware (including FPGA replicas), or software emulation/virtual machines.

There was a split here between various versions of Windows, macOS, and Linux. Some respondents answered Amiga and Atari ST.

Do you attend any vintage computer or technology meetups, conventions, workshops, festivals, or similar events? If so, do you loan equipment for public use or provide other services for these events?

All respondents answered no, except for one who said they do not loan equipment.

Do you own any vintage/retro video game consoles?

A wide variety of consoles are spread among the answers, including various Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Microsoft consoles from all eras of video game consoles.

What vintage/retro video game consoles do you have experience with? Specify if these include original hardware, clone or modern reproduction hardware (including FPGA replicas and flashcarts), or software emulation.

The answers here were similar, with three answers mentioning FPGA products and the rest being original hardware.

Do you attend any video game meetups, conventions, workshops, festivals, or similar events?

Half of the respondents answered no and the other half said yes. Half of the yes answers clarified occasional attendance.

What types of display technology and scalers do you use for vintage computers and video games? Examples include period CRTs with composite or VGA input, professional broadcast CRTs with RGB input, LCD/LED/OLED televisions or computer monitors, etc.

I added this question mostly as a curiosity, to measure how important video display technology is to the survey respondents. It got fewer responses than the other questions, but most answers were for modern flat panels with upscalers on consoles, with a few mentioning scanline filters with software emulators. Two answers mentioned CRTs.

Where do you buy vintage technology and video games? Examples include online retailers, second-hand retail stores, regular or one-off swap meets, etc.

Most answered eBay and local second-hand stores.

What do you miss most about vintage technology?

The answers here are difficult to summarize. There is a general notion that vintage technology is easier to maintain and more trustworthy compared to modern technology, and that it had more personality than present-day devices.

Conclusion

The migration away from Twitch was only a matter of time, and I knew this from the beginning. It's been a challenge to restore the viewership it once had, and without the ability to transfer large amounts of viewers on a regular basis with Twitch raids, getting new viewers has been extremely difficult. The only avenues I have to do this is to rely on word of mouth and my own personal Twitch stream, which I have had very little time for this year.

At the top of this post, I wrote that I resent people claiming I have given up on OTCS because Twitch has decided it does not have a place there. OTCS was made out my own personal passion to spread the history of technology telling itself, and it does not matter to me how this is done. With a self-hosted video site, I do not have to answer to anyone else's terms of service except my server provider. It's still not completely immune from any actions that would shut it down again, but I still have other means to show my library of over 3,000 curated videos in television channel format. As I've written in the past, OTCS is the single most successful venture I've ever undertaken in my life, and I intend to keep it running as long as I'm able to.

Again, sponsor support from Patreon and Ko-fi are now crucial to keeping the channel active, as the costs of OTCS include not only electricity and bandwidth costs for myself, but also the increased server costs for elevated CPU utilization. I may consider multicasting OTCS to other streaming services to capture their new viewerbases or even hazard returning to Twitch under a different name, but at the moment, the current self-hosted arrangement will be the only one. There may come a time when the channel has to temporarily go offline for any number of reasons, but if it ever comes, it will return as soon as it can. You are invited to subscribe to any of the channels at the bottom of this page to keep updated on it.

Thank you for supporting The Old Timey Computer Show.

• Support the channel on Patreon and Ko-fi
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