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

[Deisel Weisel]

flibbage0 said:

Also how he made his money... real estate

Yeah, I remember that little lecture he gave us on real estate: “In 3 to 5 years it’s bound to appreciate to double the price” Yeah, right

https://youtu.be/CTcr8_Kp3BY?t=511

[p1stonhead]

Silent1 said:

Shmee said:

On many occasions I have sat finding myself jealous of the type of content that has been created by the likes of Chris Harris on Cars, Petrolicious and to some extent Salomondrin, but the reality of the situation is/was that none of those were running a profit making business and if this wasn't positive in the books for me then I couldn't be doing it in the first place.

In this world you can quite clearly accelerate your social media growth by simply being more ridiculous and in-your-face but ultimately the easiest way to make money out of it is to be very clever with where you spend it in the first place. Sensible outgoings or minimised expenses were key to me in the early stages, for example doing return flight/hotel trips to Dubai inside of £500 to ensure the content would cover it etc.

Renting race circuits, hiring full scale production outlets, or simply being more extravagant without the content to back it up just doesn't work as a business, even if it does bring social media fame. As the numbers grow larger and these things start to have their costs covered then it all starts to piece together and if a person's budget is unlimited then I suppose eventually they will get there but otherwise it's a serious patience game.

With regard to costs it was really interesting to see behind the scenes of the car throttle video when he picked his MX5 up from ring garage after it broke down as I didn't realise quite the number of people, gear and production he had with him for that video which when it was released came across very lo-fi in its filming:

Misha Charoudin's (aka boosted boris) blog of rescuing phil

Edited by Silent1 on Saturday 11th February 22:47

It can obviously get very expensive indeed if 'big' things are done.

Harris has said the F40 vs F50 film he did cost £9k to make. One of those every couple of weeks added up!

[red_slr]

RSK21 said:

red_slr said:

Also one of the richest. It scales quite easily.
For me the best is MCM. That said they are worth a few quid now, but nothing on the scale of him.

Started out as one of the richest before any YT monies you mean ?

Yes. Although youtube probably costs him money looking at the size of the team.

[stuart-b]

Shmee I've enjoyed some of your videos and the insight into certain car ownership. I respect the fact you invest a considerable amount of time on the content, I imagine that it pretty much envelops your every waking moment. Holiday, being sick, personal issues? I imagine it all suffers for that "1 per day" content which is driving the views. What you love as a hobby can end up being a drag when doing it every day. I love watching Harry's videos but they are few and far between and I can see why. I work in the software industry (B2B), I love the privacy this offers.

Being blunt: is it worth it from an economical point of view?

[Shmee]

stuart-b said:

Being blunt: is it worth it from an economical point of view?

For sure, I mean I could earn an equivalent salary in my former job by this sort of age but it would be as much work if not more - and a lot less fun in the process.

[MrwReckless]

Shmee,

I tend to watch most of your videos, and IMO, I find some a lot more enjoyable than others, though I admit seeing your child-like enthusiasm when you are collecting a new car is perhaps the most enjoyable Otherwise I appreciate how factual you can manage to be in posting here amidst every fact, fiction and opinion thrown at you.

The fact you find the time and even bother to reply to a 125pg topic is admirable. Which leads me to my next point, and perhaps take it as constructive criticism if I dare..? I have a bit of a seat fetish. So e.g. when you get to go for a drive in the new Mercedes AMG 63 both the E and C class, I can spot the standard seat controls on the door, however I (think) I spot another set of buttons on the bucket seats as you climb into the car. So I wonder, why is it that you are e.g. so keen to pop open the bonnet to show a (IMO) dull standard plastic engine cover, yet when you go over the interior "fit and finish" you skip these little details that set one automotive maker apart from a lot of the others? Forgive me if I am wrong in my detailed observations or if you perhaps don't feel such details matter in your videos. After all, we are stuck in the seat 100% of the time we are driving so in my humble opinion it's adjustability is important, whether some find 18+ way adjustability more for gimmick than for comfort or anything else.

Regards

PS:
If you haven't handed back the Panamera yet, I would have thought the level of intrusiveness to the distance radar can be set in some sub menu? At least for my old Audi A5 the early warning adaptive cruise control and rear end collision warning can be set in such a manner and would have thought the Porsche to have a similar sub menu option.

Thanks

[stuart-b]

Shmee said:

For sure, I mean I could earn an equivalent salary in my former job by this sort of age but it would be as much work if not more - and a lot less fun in the process.

Understood, but I'm more interested in sustainability. That drop in views you mentioned happened quite quickly - which means you are effectively "working for your money". At what point do your revenues remain constant, but with more flexibility granted? This is an interesting site: https://socialblade.com/youtube/youtube-money-calc...

[jon-]

I mean, I'm not sure anyone actually buys the "real estate" line anymore

[Shmee]

stuart-b said:

Understood, but I'm more interested in sustainability. That drop in views you mentioned happened quite quickly - which means you are effectively "working for your money". At what point do your revenues remain constant, but with more flexibility granted? This is an interesting site: https://socialblade.com/youtube/youtube-money-calc...

There is definitely an element of constantly trying to be on top of the algorithms; these are just changes similar to what I've seen regularly over the last 5 years or more. I spend a lot of time studying the Analytics behind the views and trying to decipher trends to ultimately create the content that is going to be most successful or keep my channel in the best position. Then it is a case of balancing that against the type of content I want to create and making the balance; for example I would get more views if I daily vlogged to the extent of showing my breakfast... but quite clearly I have no interest in doing that.

As the business in general grows, all of the other income streams we have behind the scenes are obviously not affected by strict YouTube algorithms but we have the exact same thing with Facebook and Instagram too; so although this thread focuses exclusively on YouTube, that is only a small portion of our day-to-day thinking. There are more and more things that I'm doing that aren't connected to online specifically but have all come from having a large audience, and of course these are going to be more and more important as time goes by and the future becomes less certain online.

[Shmee]

MrwReckless said:

Shmee,

I tend to watch most of your videos, and IMO, I find some a lot more enjoyable than others, though I admit seeing your child-like enthusiasm when you are collecting a new car is perhaps the most enjoyable Otherwise I appreciate how factual you can manage to be in posting here amidst every fact, fiction and opinion thrown at you.

The fact you find the time and even bother to reply to a 125pg topic is admirable. Which leads me to my next point, and perhaps take it as constructive criticism if I dare..? I have a bit of a seat fetish. So e.g. when you get to go for a drive in the new Mercedes AMG 63 both the E and C class, I can spot the standard seat controls on the door, however I (think) I spot another set of buttons on the bucket seats as you climb into the car. So I wonder, why is it that you are e.g. so keen to pop open the bonnet to show a (IMO) dull standard plastic engine cover, yet when you go over the interior "fit and finish" you skip these little details that set one automotive maker apart from a lot of the others? Forgive me if I am wrong in my detailed observations or if you perhaps don't feel such details matter in your videos. After all, we are stuck in the seat 100% of the time we are driving so in my humble opinion it's adjustability is important, whether some find 18+ way adjustability more for gimmick than for comfort or anything else.

Regards

PS:
If you haven't handed back the Panamera yet, I would have thought the level of intrusiveness to the distance radar can be set in some sub menu? At least for my old Audi A5 the early warning adaptive cruise control and rear end collision warning can be set in such a manner and would have thought the Porsche to have a similar sub menu option.

Thanks

Unfortunately the Panamera content is all running behind real time, I handed it back on Tuesday and have since travelled across the world and back offline!

Your point about the seats is very valid, I will try to pay more attention to the seat controls and comfort settings going forward! I didn't used to show the engine bay and that became integrated off the back of requests to do so.

There is a control to adjust the distance sensitivity of the Panamera's cruise control, but I have found from my experience so far that Mercedes just make the best system for it and I've got quite used to driving their cars following recent tests in the E63 S, C63 S and GT R.

[MrwReckless]

Shmee said:

Unfortunately the Panamera content is all running behind real time, I handed it back on Tuesday and have since travelled across the world and back offline!

Your point about the seats is very valid, I will try to pay more attention to the seat controls and comfort settings going forward! I didn't used to show the engine bay and that became integrated off the back of requests to do so.

There is a control to adjust the distance sensitivity of the Panamera's cruise control, but I have found from my experience so far that Mercedes just make the best system for it and I've got quite used to driving their cars following recent tests in the E63 S, C63 S and GT R.

Thanks for the reply, you obviously have a successful channel and have a good recipe for what works. As such my specific seat fetish can perhaps be treated as "one more internet freaks request", appreciate you consider it though

Safe travels!

Regards

[PaulG40]

Bar the obvious ones like Boosted Boris and the vlogs from Misha Charoudin (aka Boris), one channel that I'm always watching nowadays is Wheelie Cool Videos.

His production values far far outstrips his subsibcibers and views. It's almost sacrilege that's he's isn't known more, he does some great modified car drives and reviews much like the Smoking Tire One Take videos but with better camera etc.

[url]https://youtu.be/uHi8dBTVR8E[\url]

[TopGear7]

Shmee - how come you don't associate with the other London based car Youtubers eg SOL, STG? They all seem to link up regularly and it appears in a bid to help create content for each other's channels. Have you decided to keep distance for any particular reason? Or is it just that you have better offers / opportunities?

[Shmee]

TopGear7 said:

Shmee - how come you don't associate with the other London based car Youtubers eg SOL, STG? They all seem to link up regularly and it appears in a bid to help create content for each other's channels. Have you decided to keep distance for any particular reason? Or is it just that you have better offers / opportunities?

Off camera we are all close and talk regularly as you would expect, after all nobody really understands what this world is like more than the people who are in it. However, there are two very specific reasons I don't collaborate with the core group as much as they do with one-another, and it is down to who are the specific audience watching our content.

It's my belief that if you take the audiences of each person as a Venn diagram, for example let's say SOL, STG, MrJWW and SD then I believe the overlap into the S150 circle would be spectacularly high, there is only a small amount of potential for my channel to grow from the collaboration with channels from the exact same field. Creating joint content only really works if you have a loosely connected audience, but not one that is so similar. Working with a beauty channel would be a total fail, but working with a mechanic or motorcycle channel could have significantly better resents. Simply put it otherwise hugely helps the smaller party and we haven't yet found a solution that works out equally in this respect, outside of individual content pieces for example like with Sam's new 540C.

The development of this is what then happens when you put out matching videos. If multiple channels create content from the same event or feature and the audience is the same, then the watch rate drops substantially because very few people will watch two, three or even four videos of the same thing. The direct result is that I find if I shoot collab content it hurts my channel with a video that performs to a lesser extent than normal, bringing down my algorithm positioning, and growing the audience of a competitor that is ultimately fighting for the same ad revenue. Yes there are ways to do it, but generally speaking it just doesn't work based on what we know now.

Since the very beginning I have always tried to make my channel about fairly unique content; 7 years ago that was car spotting before it became 'a thing', then it grew into the ownership experience and joining car rallies/road trips before that became regular too, now it's trying to work out what happens next that isn't being duplicated and becoming mainstream.

[TopGear7]

Shmee said:

TopGear7 said:

Shmee - how come you don't associate with the other London based car Youtubers eg SOL, STG? They all seem to link up regularly and it appears in a bid to help create content for each other's channels. Have you decided to keep distance for any particular reason? Or is it just that you have better offers / opportunities?

Off camera we are all close and talk regularly as you would expect, after all nobody really understands what this world is like more than the people who are in it. However, there are two very specific reasons I don't collaborate with the core group as much as they do with one-another, and it is down to who are the specific audience watching our content.

It's my belief that if you take the audiences of each person as a Venn diagram, for example let's say SOL, STG, MrJWW and SD then I believe the overlap into the S150 circle would be spectacularly high, there is only a small amount of potential for my channel to grow from the collaboration with channels from the exact same field. Creating joint content only really works if you have a loosely connected audience, but not one that is so similar. Working with a beauty channel would be a total fail, but working with a mechanic or motorcycle channel could have significantly better resents. Simply put it otherwise hugely helps the smaller party and we haven't yet found a solution that works out equally in this respect, outside of individual content pieces for example like with Sam's new 540C.

The development of this is what then happens when you put out matching videos. If multiple channels create content from the same event or feature and the audience is the same, then the watch rate drops substantially because very few people will watch two, three or even four videos of the same thing. The direct result is that I find if I shoot collab content it hurts my channel with a video that performs to a lesser extent than normal, bringing down my algorithm positioning, and growing the audience of a competitor that is ultimately fighting for the same ad revenue. Yes there are ways to do it, but generally speaking it just doesn't work based on what we know now.

Since the very beginning I have always tried to make my channel about fairly unique content; 7 years ago that was car spotting before it became 'a thing', then it grew into the ownership experience and joining car rallies/road trips before that became regular too, now it's trying to work out what happens next that isn't being duplicated and becoming mainstream.

Thanks for your detailed response. Very interesting and valid points which I hadn't really thought about. Overlapping content does appear to be an issue within the car community as well other sectors of YouTube. Collab videos are great, but like you say, if they're with people who have almost all the same subscribers as you, the opportunity and potential to grow your channel is minimal.

I may be wrong but I reckon if you went down the luxury lifestyle route eg collabs with high end watch collectors or yacht tours etc you'd end up with a boost in subscribers but that's probably against what type of audicience you're after. You've put a lot of effort in to crafting your channel.

[InitialDave]

The MCM/Roadkill collaboration was a good example of the exercise done well: To get all the content, you had to watch both videos, and so it cross-pollinated both channels with new viewers.

[p1stonhead]

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.

[Butter Face]

Large payment that keeps him up at night, wondering where he's going to get the money from for the payment.

I bet he didn't give those answers to the affordability questions for the finance

[Silent1]

Butter Face said:

Large payment that keeps him up at night, wondering where he's going to get the money from for the payment.

I bet he didn't give those answers to the affordability questions for the finance

He's being honest, probably 98% of professional youtubers don't have a job outside of YouTube especially vloggers, they also don't often have a meaningful income stream outside of the advertising on their channel, this leaves them ridiculously vulnerable to the whims and wishes of YouTube and its algorithm, the sensible ones are at least trying to diversify and turn their audience into a group of people willing to go off YouTube, that way at least they can have a second income not tied to the channel and negotiate far better CPM rates directly.

[SydneyBridge]

makes you wonder how he could obtain the finance with an irregular income