Are these Vloggers just a scam? SOL or Shmee etc???????

[ooid]

p1stonhead said:

STG in a fairly open video about him financing his McLaren

https://youtu.be/l4CiFfjhjRg

Not sure a monthly payment that 'keeps me awake at night', even if said a bit tongue in cheek, sounds enjoyable but each to their own.

See to be honest, would not care less about how he or any other chaps afford their cars..For me it's totally privacy issue. I would prefer to see more weekend blasts in beautiful parts of the U.K. where the car and its driving qualities just exposed. That's one of the things most of us probably enjoy channels like petrolicious where owners a bit secondary but the car exposed with great cinematography. That Mclaren looks epic though.

[PaulJC84]

I watched the STG finance video last night and I wonder if these chaps get better rates as long as they advertise the finance broker? Which is fair enough as it did make me think for a minute about car financing.

[jon-]

PaulJC84 said:

I watched the STG finance video last night and I wonder if these chaps get better rates as long as they advertise the finance broker? Which is fair enough as it did make me think for a minute about car financing.

Their youtube channel is their business and sole form of income.

They wouldn't be very good at business if he chose to make an entire video about finance, with name dropping and links in the description to a finance company, without some sort of financial reward!

[AyBee]

PaulJC84 said:

I watched the STG finance video last night and I wonder if these chaps get better rates as long as they advertise the finance broker? Which is fair enough as it did make me think for a minute about car financing.

Of course they do He wouldn't have mentioned the broker as much as he did if he didn't. At the end of the day, if he didn't finance his cars, he'd be driving around in his 695 all the time and wouldn't get as many viewers, so it makes sense that he finances something that attracts a bigger audience. Take Seb Delanney, a Lotus Elise is nice, but it's not a supercar and it shows in his views. If Seb went out and financed a Ferrari, I'd wager that he'd get a lot more views.

[AyBee]

stuart-b said:

This is an interesting site: https://socialblade.com/youtube/youtube-money-calc...

Is it? Put in "Shmee150" and you get an estimated yearly income of $9,180.00 - $146,880.00...not only does it give such a big range that it doesn't actually tell you anything, I also suspect the upper limit is well below what Shmee earns.

[jon-]

AyBee said:

stuart-b said:

This is an interesting site: https://socialblade.com/youtube/youtube-money-calc...

Is it? Put in "Shmee150" and you get an estimated yearly income of $9,180.00 - $146,880.00...not only does it give such a big range that it doesn't actually tell you anything, I also suspect the upper limit is well below what Shmee earns.

Many vloggers are quite open that youtube ads is just a small part of their income, which is all socialblade calculates.

[Slagathore]

p1stonhead said:

STG in a fairly open video about him financing his McLaren

https://youtu.be/l4CiFfjhjRg

Not sure a monthly payment that 'keeps me awake at night', even if said a bit tongue in cheek, sounds enjoyable but each to their own.

It's just an advert for the finance people, isn't it? With videos like that, when you have a subtle plug for a company/product, I very much doubt the rest of the content, as it's been built around the advert.

Like everything else on Youtube, it's all about advertising.

All the big channels do the same, or at least most of the ones I subscribe to. They've mostly become about advertising/sponsors rather than content. You never know if you are getting actual real world experience, or people just doing and saying what the sponsors are asking.

[Shmee]

I wouldn't recommend using SocialBlade at this moment in time, it has a big bug from 24th Jan that carries through the statistics (it stands out like a sore thumb if you actually look at the data) - and the site will return to accuracy when that has been more than a month prior.

Their statistics are actually very interesting if you know a little more about how to use them. For example when it will quote you a realistic earnings range for a channel, the bottom line is very close to what a brand new and small channel can make with no targeted ads, no effort to promote and basically just sticking the content online brand new. The reality though is any channel receiving decent viewing figures doesn't fall into this category and you'll only see those RPMs on small view counts. The top end is much more interesting and actually can be fairly accurate for a channel that receives large views, has a team pitching for ad space and part of the Google Preferred list amongst other aspects. It is not impossible to go over the SocialBlade estimation window too (even when it's based on correct view numbers)

However, for any proper YouTube channel the direct AdSense revenue is a small part of operations alongside: other social pages, affiliate accounts, merchandising, brand deals, presenting roles, televsion/books, formal partnerships, and so much more.

[stuart-b]

AyBee said:

Is it? Put in "Shmee150" and you get an estimated yearly income of $9,180.00 - $146,880.00...not only does it give such a big range that it doesn't actually tell you anything, I also suspect the upper limit is well below what Shmee earns.

It is if you know how to use the tool. See post above.

[n17ves]

PaulJC84 said:

I watched the STG finance video last night and I wonder if these chaps get better rates as long as they advertise the finance broker? Which is fair enough as it did make me think for a minute about car financing.

I would take a guess and assume they are running these cars as a business (they all seem to be Ltd companies). If this is the case, then I would expect they will be offsetting the interest on the finance against company profits.

[jon-]

n17ves said:

I would take a guess and assume they are running these cars as a business (they all seem to be Ltd companies). If this is the case, then I would expect they will be offsetting the interest on the finance against company profits.

Surely when starting out it would be far more interesting to run these companies as a sole trader.

The rules about company vehicles are way more flexible than a Ltd Co, so in theory STG could offset most of the car costs against profit, as it's a business vehicle with a very small amount of personal use.

[eztiger328]

n17ves said:

I would take a guess and assume they are running these cars as a business (they all seem to be Ltd companies). If this is the case, then I would expect they will be offsetting the interest on the finance against company profits.

I was just about to ask Shmee exactly that. If I were to embark on a similar venture I'd certainly setup a Ltd and put the cars down as company assets, surely there must be some advantages, but I'm not an accountant.

[n17ves]

eztiger328 said:

n17ves said:

I would take a guess and assume they are running these cars as a business (they all seem to be Ltd companies). If this is the case, then I would expect they will be offsetting the interest on the finance against company profits.

I was just about to ask Shmee exactly that. If I were to embark on a similar venture I'd certainly setup a Ltd and put the cars down as company assets, surely there must be some advantages, but I'm not an accountant.

I agree, and exactly what I would be doing if I was doing what they do! The loss in deprecation be offset against profits, which would explain the 'value' of changing cars so often for greater likes, followers and general content. However, this model wouldn't work for appreciating assets such as the GT4, GT40, GT8, and AMG GT R as corporation tax would be due on the profits....

Not sure if Shmee is Ltd, but then I think he has a more robust, longer term business model than some of the others that are living for the here and now only.

Edited by n17ves on Thursday 16th February 16:25

[trowelhead]

p1stonhead said:

STG in a fairly open video about him financing his McLaren

https://youtu.be/l4CiFfjhjRg

Not sure a monthly payment that 'keeps me awake at night', even if said a bit tongue in cheek, sounds enjoyable but each to their own.

Refreshingly open, fair play to him.

I wish i had the balls to be quite frank, we are only here once after all.

Salamondrin and his "crew" were discussing finance in this podcast too which was an interesting listen.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-talk-abou...

[JiggyJaggy]

Which episode is it please? Far too lazy to listed to them all... thanks

[stuno1]

Sadly these types of channels attract a lot of people who just see money as life's only goal. So many comments are about how they afford their cars. Who actually cares if they lease? Stradman goes one better if people really care and talks actual numbers. They own a car in a way they can afford to... end of...

[trowelhead]

JiggyJaggy said:

Which episode is it please? Far too lazy to listed to them all... thanks

Latest one - Ep 4

It's well worth a listen really entertaining

[405dogvan]

Can I just include (and it may already have been shown) Youtube's most direct mention of our very own forum?

https://youtu.be/hWB6vTboO5I?t=196

Given our reputation in this respect, we can hardly criticize Youtube's commenters for wondering how people get into their flash cars

[SkrrSkrr]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V06-fsDtJ40

Mo vlogs gets to drive an enzo

[red_slr]

I see PW is probably getting a Lambo.

A good move IMHO as everyone else seems to be in love with McLaren.