How the Dr. Phil Show Gives Free Income to YouTube Gaming Scammers— A Cautionary Tale

Let me start at the beginning, as most of my readers come from Europe, Australia and the UK, while this show is licensed in the U.S. The Dr. Phil Show — a prime-time talk show based on psychology and discussing what the host calls ‘hidden epidemics’ — has been around for 21 years with its final run ending in 2023. Dr. Phil McGraw made a name for himself as Oprah’s very own psychology expert for some years during her prime days on TV. After she ended her run, he took over.

Dr. Phil has not once or twice claimed to have been trained in forensic psychology, having worked in family courts and civil trials, probably some criminal ones, too. I am not really an avid viewer, being outside of the US myself, so I cannot guarantee which statements I read about come directly from his show. However, I wonder what he would think once he sees how his show is being used for practically misusing YouTube’s advertisement and monetising programs outside of the U.S.

Innocent viewers from mainly the U.S., since they do know the show instead of Europe, are being farmed for worldwide partnerships and sponsorships. This is an issue for many reasons, but in this article, I will focus on just a few.

Disclaimer, because I need to add one: some of the information provided on this website, apart from screenshots, cited works with sources and quoted content, are currently just allegations. I may be right, but I also may be wrong. As just an external observer, I am not able to provide behind-the-scenes information or ‘leaks’.

Case Studies

One user I looked at for this study is DRPHIL0001:

As you can see, there are some videos, which at the time of writing this article, are six-days-old and have 33,000 views. They are compilations of multiple Dr. Phil show episodes.

What you will see, though, is that at the end of these videos, we have gaming content. Here is a screenshot of the final minute or so of the most-watched long-form video on this channel:

If you are wondering, the oldest videos are the shortest, and the ones with the most views. This is because they also used to be farming videos with possibly hours of Dr. Phil show before the tiny gaming content.

However, gaming is an exploding business nowadays, and sponsors are swarming to fund popular gaming channels.

Other examples include: MaishasDiaryBD currently has six Dr. Phil show videos with over 80k views total, first one is 12-days-old. It also bears the proud name ‘Dr Phil Full Episode’ which can be edited later. At the end of these videos, you can witness everyday life in what seems to be a central Asian country (I could be wrong here, as I am not familiar with the language they speak.)

What Is the Problem?

Oh, I’m such a party pooper, right? Well, not really. Coming from a gaming background myself, and with many contacts within multinational YouTube and streaming communities, I have seen how much sweat and work goes into creating a valued gaming channel with good ROI.

Most videos involved in this phenomenon seem to be using the same methods, the same content and the same technology. There is not enough to differentiate the content, and it spread throughout different sub-genres and subcultures.

What is this is a new way to ‘farm’ YouTube? Content farms have been around for ages, and YouTube is struggling to keep them at bay. A creator I value from Australia, Ann Reardon, had made multiple videos covering the issue, but here is one of them.

Content farms are taking up the money, sponsors and viewers from quality content creators. I truly hope I am not right in my deduction that these channels are trying to farm the gaming community, like craft and food channels farmed other industries.

The Method

The method to getting free views is easy: you scrape the internet for Dr. Phil show episodes, hide the show’s logo, mirror the image and do a slight voice change by speeding up or slowing down the show or lightly switching the voice tune.

Once you do this, you upload a loud title that has all the right keywords, some emojis and then you get quick 10,000 views.

Once you reach these 10,000 views or within 24 hours of releasing the show, you can put it on private and use YouTube’s native trimming option to remove any traces of the Dr. Phil show and be left with what was added to it. The best part is you get to keep the views!

Here’s the sweetest moment: you can put anything at the end.

• gameplay videos
• opinions
• cooking or crafting videos
• original songs
• music covers

Depending on what your next step is, you can do it all, and the users don’t mind, because they will be getting their Dr. Phil dose without paying for it.

What’s in It for You?

I do not have insider information, but as a marketing specialist, I do research some phenomena on the internet. And this one provides several income possibilities:

1. Pitch your channel to direct sponsors based on what content is left after trimming the Dr. Phil show.
   I have seen Dash Legends, Minecraft and even some racing games being played which are usually paid for.
2. Use your views and eventual subscribers for monetisation. It’s easy to reach the minimal requirements for watch time and subscribers when using this trick.
   Again, I have witnessed one episode with up to 5 advertisement pauses, which would bring thousands of U.S. Dollars to the channel owners.

I have not seen other uses for now, but if you have — share them with me in the comments! I am interested to see what people are scamming YouTube with in 2024!

What If You Get Caught?

To be fair, this is part of my whistle blowing article: I pray for small-sized businesses who are trying to promote their indie game to NOT fall into this trap, because they will spend their money and get the literal ZERO in return, because those subscribers and those views on the seemingly gaming-themed content are actually coming from the Dr. Phil show and not a soul in those lists cares for gaming.

How to Not Get Scammed as a Small Business Owner?

1. Check the age of the channel: is it logical to have that many views and subscribers and be a day old? This will help you see fraud right away, regardless if it’s bought subscribers or the type of scam I’m writing about here.
2. See all videos of the channel: are there any off-topic videos? What is at the end of these videos? This will be extremely useful for the newer videos, as they will need to gain these precious views and get trimmed.
3. Read the comments: most often, these trimmed versions will not have the comments unlocked, but if they forget to close and delete them, you will see many related to the Dr. Phil show or a similar title rather than the gaming content you are being pitched.
4. Look at the author: if the name of the channel is something which can have more than one meanings such as ‘SA Studio’ or ‘MaishasDiaryBD’, you could be looking at a scam channel.