I'm sure they'd let you out of the gig if you asked them, Jim.
But seriously, he's pretty obviously going for what I call the Checkerboard Nightmare Gambit. Start with too few viewers, take only actions designed to drive viewers away, and the result is more viewers.
(Then cancel the whole thing to work on a sci-fi webcomic, peak with "WEAR IT LIKE A HAAAAAAAT," settle back making the least effort you possibly can and still get a comic out of it, and finish it all off by launching an impeccably lovecrafted signature work nobody reads.)