Rhett and Link - fans now get YouTube Red

LOS ANGELES - YouTube fans totally misunderstood Red at first, but now they're getting it.

So says Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, the comedy team who have been producing wacky videos for YouTube for over a decade, to the tune of over 3.5 billion views.

The duo, who host the Monday through Friday YouTube talk show "Good Mythical Morning," have a new series, Buddy System, for the YouTube Red subscription service. When word got out to their fans about it, they were not happy.

"On the Internet, whenever's there's any sort of change, it's frowned upon by the audience," says McLaughlin. "`I've been enjoying YouTube all these years and now I have to pay for it?" was a common comment, he says.  "They thought this was the beginning of the end, when no, you're getting something else from us, this is something you wouldn't have gotten."

Rhett and Link guested on an extended version of the #TalkingTech podcast, chatting up their new show, how the duo met as first graders in North Carolina and remained best friends for three decades and about the unique world of producing entertainment for the YouTube generation. You can listen to a highlight by clicking the link below:

The complete 48 minute interview is available here:

The Google owned YouTube Red service is about a year old, and primarily offers original programming from home grown YouTube stars like Rhett and Link, PewDiePie and Rooster Teeth, along with ad-free use and free access to Google Play Music. The cost is $9.99 monthly to watch, although the first episode of Buddy was available for free. New episodes post every Wednesday.

When Buddy was first announced, commenters said `"I hate this," recalls McLaughlin. "I'll never pay for YouTube Red," but a year later, they've softened, he said. "They get it now."

Big-name brands fuel Rhett & Link's funny videos

YouTube has yet to announce any subscriber numbers for Red, but at a recent conference, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said she's pleased with its performance and "optimistic" about Red's survival. Tech analyst Mike Vorhaus, the president of Magid Advisors, estimates Red's audience at just under 1 million subscribers.

(New tech initiatives are often touch and go. This week Google pulled back on its Fiber high-speed Internet project, halting rollout in 10 cities while Twitter killed its popular Vine app, which at one time boasted of over 100 million viewers.)

Buddy's crazy premise is that Link loses his cell phone, and all sorts of bad things start to happen from there.

Here's a preview clip:

Follow USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham on Twitter, @jeffersongraham and listen to the #TalkingTech podcast every day on Stitcher and iTunes.