We gave our thanks and farewells to the late painting guru Bob Ross last week, at the end of a marathon run of his unique blend of artistry and tranquility on Twitch. Ross' PBS show, The Joy of Painting, ended in 1994, just a year before his death, and whether through brilliant planning or blind luck, its reappearance online was a huge hit.
How huge, you ask? Check this out:
- 545,880,000 minutes watched
- 5.6 million unique viewers
- 3.8 million KappaRoss emotes in chat
- 7.6 million chat messages sent in Bob Ross channel
- 183+K concurrent viewers
Because of that popularity, Twitch has decided to bring Bob back. Every Monday night, from 3 pm to 9:30 pm PT, it will run a full season of The Joy of Painting at Twitch.tv/bobross. There are 31 seasons in total, so shows will only repeat once every seven months. On top of that, rights holders Janson Media and Bob Ross Inc. will allow Twitch broadcasters to re-stream these weekly marathons, so anyone who wants can paint along with episodes, add their own commentary, and broadcast it on their own channel.
Proceeds raised through /bobross will be divided between the rights holders, a visual arts non-profit organization called Root Division, the cancer research hospital St. Jude, and Twitch Creative community support. Twitch also plans to run full Joy of Painting marathons annually, beginning on October 29 of each year—Bob Ross' birthday.
