Are these Vloggers just a scam? SOL or Shmee etc???????
Discussion
Credit where credit is due. I am not here to sing these guy praises but I do have a certain amount of respect for Shmee. I am in my mid 50's therefore am not his target demographic plus I find his complete lack of critical analysis highly irritating. I have never heard him say anything negative about any of the cars he has driven.
But on the flip side, if you look at his early videos when he first appeared in front of the camera they are almost painful to watch, today he is much more confident and assured.
He does not come from a poor background; his dad still has an Aston Vantage if I am not mistaken, plus he did not go to Uni. Apparently he was a bit of a wheeler dealer at school. His journey to where he is now he has explained in his Q&A videos and I have no reason to doubt his word
What a lot of people seem to have trouble with is how he has managed to finance nearly £550,000 worth of cars all within a 3 week period, which for a guy who has yet to hit his 30th Birthday and with no discernable income is impressive.
But here is the thing. The Shmee brand is not just Tim; he has a team of seven working for him. He has moved beyond snapping cars in London to being able to borrow a Porsche 991 GT3 RS direct from Porsche for a weeks blast around Europe. Was given a BMW M6 on a long term lone, and was recently invited and flown out to the McLaren 570S launch in Portugal and then onto Audi in Germany for the new S8 launch. This guy is connected. The manufactures realise the power of social media and see him as an asset.
You may not personally like the guy’s style but you have to admire what he has managed to achieve
But on the flip side, if you look at his early videos when he first appeared in front of the camera they are almost painful to watch, today he is much more confident and assured.
He does not come from a poor background; his dad still has an Aston Vantage if I am not mistaken, plus he did not go to Uni. Apparently he was a bit of a wheeler dealer at school. His journey to where he is now he has explained in his Q&A videos and I have no reason to doubt his word
What a lot of people seem to have trouble with is how he has managed to finance nearly £550,000 worth of cars all within a 3 week period, which for a guy who has yet to hit his 30th Birthday and with no discernable income is impressive.
But here is the thing. The Shmee brand is not just Tim; he has a team of seven working for him. He has moved beyond snapping cars in London to being able to borrow a Porsche 991 GT3 RS direct from Porsche for a weeks blast around Europe. Was given a BMW M6 on a long term lone, and was recently invited and flown out to the McLaren 570S launch in Portugal and then onto Audi in Germany for the new S8 launch. This guy is connected. The manufactures realise the power of social media and see him as an asset.
You may not personally like the guy’s style but you have to admire what he has managed to achieve
My view:
The way we consume media is changing significantly - The move from Print & Broadcast to Online forums and sites like Pistonheads has been a significant change over the past 10-15 years. 'Journalists' were few, and the 'audience/readership' was large.... We have been seeing the change where we can all be contributors to a specialist/Interest based discussion. I work with retailers that are recognising this change and building models that enables them to benefit from this change....
What we have with Shmee, Seenthroughglass, SOL, and Seb Delenny is a bunch of young enthusiasts that have developed a small to medium online following of their spotting content, which has opened doors to new 'Journalistic' opportunities. I think we would all love to have a job like Chris Harris This is not an established career, and there is no textbook or guide to how to succeed. These guys are feeling out what works, and what does'nt, I feel to try and work their way into the business. Jeremy Clarkson, Chris Harris, LJK Setright and the like all started somewhere (maybe even while still living at their MUM's house), we just don't have access to all their work in the same way... What we are seeing on these youtube channels is the new medium of top gear type content - some about cars, some cocking about etc. What we are seeing is varying degrees of quality.
Have a look at Tim's (Shmee150) early videos - no talking, just smooth panning videos of cars... later he starts talking a little while filming, never in front of the camera. Then, he starts more presenting as he has become more 'famous'... I agree most of the reviews are far too positive and fawning, and that still goes on. But, I can understand why. He needs to be allowed/invited into the auto-journalist clique from very much an alternative/outsider approach. This means doing sponsored content (like the Esso Synergy videos up there now) or using his cars to get him into brand events... Since he has started presenting (over the last year or so), see how he has developed - much more comfortable in his own skin, more confidence and a little less giggly. The recent video where he was explaining his source of funding for the cars was very good - as he was showing a little more of the real person. Frustration and a hint of anger. I liked that.
Now, if you see some of Seb Delenny's videos, you see Tim in the background, not always the smiling, giggling person in his own video - much more real, and you can see there is much more to him, which will come out as he becomes more established. You can see that he is working with the others, helping them grow their own channels (Seb Delanny's channel has almost doubled its subscriber base in the last 10 days). Tim certainly appears to be the person that you can see developing this social medium for car content over the next few years. Maybe becoming and Agent for the 'talent', and getting them the work - covering events and Manufacturers' releases.
When it comes to content, I am really beginning to enjoy some of Sam's (Seenthroughglass) content. He is smarter than he makes out and has a fun sense of humour that comes across quite well. You could see him working as a bit of the comic of a Top Gear type trio... even cutting across to more conventional media with the right sort of support.
The younger generation generally fund their cars differently to us older people who prefer to 'own' our cars outright. If Supercars of London's Paul, can have a Gallardo with £15k down and £500pm, and he can afford that, then, great. Is he going to recover that on his youtube revenue, probably not, yet. Will in widen his audience and be a source for more content and more views, yes. If he uses that to develop more content relationships that will eventually enable him to deliver a career, great. If he does'nt, he won't be the first.
So, my view may be very different to others on here - I don't like all of the content, but some of it is fun (the recent Monaco content has been enjoyable).. I don't care how they fund their car passions, its none of my business, and really will not be that different to the indulgences of Journalists of the past - that need alternative sources of income, be that from family or other side jobs to keep them going until they are established and self-sufficient. I am keen to see how this develops over the next 10 years and I wish them all the best, as they are working heard to produce content they hope will entertain.
The way we consume media is changing significantly - The move from Print & Broadcast to Online forums and sites like Pistonheads has been a significant change over the past 10-15 years. 'Journalists' were few, and the 'audience/readership' was large.... We have been seeing the change where we can all be contributors to a specialist/Interest based discussion. I work with retailers that are recognising this change and building models that enables them to benefit from this change....
What we have with Shmee, Seenthroughglass, SOL, and Seb Delenny is a bunch of young enthusiasts that have developed a small to medium online following of their spotting content, which has opened doors to new 'Journalistic' opportunities. I think we would all love to have a job like Chris Harris This is not an established career, and there is no textbook or guide to how to succeed. These guys are feeling out what works, and what does'nt, I feel to try and work their way into the business. Jeremy Clarkson, Chris Harris, LJK Setright and the like all started somewhere (maybe even while still living at their MUM's house), we just don't have access to all their work in the same way... What we are seeing on these youtube channels is the new medium of top gear type content - some about cars, some cocking about etc. What we are seeing is varying degrees of quality.
Have a look at Tim's (Shmee150) early videos - no talking, just smooth panning videos of cars... later he starts talking a little while filming, never in front of the camera. Then, he starts more presenting as he has become more 'famous'... I agree most of the reviews are far too positive and fawning, and that still goes on. But, I can understand why. He needs to be allowed/invited into the auto-journalist clique from very much an alternative/outsider approach. This means doing sponsored content (like the Esso Synergy videos up there now) or using his cars to get him into brand events... Since he has started presenting (over the last year or so), see how he has developed - much more comfortable in his own skin, more confidence and a little less giggly. The recent video where he was explaining his source of funding for the cars was very good - as he was showing a little more of the real person. Frustration and a hint of anger. I liked that.
Now, if you see some of Seb Delenny's videos, you see Tim in the background, not always the smiling, giggling person in his own video - much more real, and you can see there is much more to him, which will come out as he becomes more established. You can see that he is working with the others, helping them grow their own channels (Seb Delanny's channel has almost doubled its subscriber base in the last 10 days). Tim certainly appears to be the person that you can see developing this social medium for car content over the next few years. Maybe becoming and Agent for the 'talent', and getting them the work - covering events and Manufacturers' releases.
When it comes to content, I am really beginning to enjoy some of Sam's (Seenthroughglass) content. He is smarter than he makes out and has a fun sense of humour that comes across quite well. You could see him working as a bit of the comic of a Top Gear type trio... even cutting across to more conventional media with the right sort of support.
The younger generation generally fund their cars differently to us older people who prefer to 'own' our cars outright. If Supercars of London's Paul, can have a Gallardo with £15k down and £500pm, and he can afford that, then, great. Is he going to recover that on his youtube revenue, probably not, yet. Will in widen his audience and be a source for more content and more views, yes. If he uses that to develop more content relationships that will eventually enable him to deliver a career, great. If he does'nt, he won't be the first.
So, my view may be very different to others on here - I don't like all of the content, but some of it is fun (the recent Monaco content has been enjoyable).. I don't care how they fund their car passions, its none of my business, and really will not be that different to the indulgences of Journalists of the past - that need alternative sources of income, be that from family or other side jobs to keep them going until they are established and self-sufficient. I am keen to see how this develops over the next 10 years and I wish them all the best, as they are working heard to produce content they hope will entertain.
David87 said:
I've only seen some of the Shmee ones, but I quite enjoyed them, to be honest. Yes, there is the inevitable element of 'look how great my life is' with videos like he does, but as long as you can get past that, they can be okay. The one he did recently showing all the little details of his new 675LT was pretty cool (for a car geek), for instance.
Does he really fund all those cars with the money made from YouTube, though? I can't imagine he has an actual job, what with the number of videos he posts.
No, watch the link I posted above where he attempts to explain it, albeit in an extremely vague fashion. He says some businesses be invested in have done well but no mention of what they are...Does he really fund all those cars with the money made from YouTube, though? I can't imagine he has an actual job, what with the number of videos he posts.
johnwilliams77 said:
David87 said:
I've only seen some of the Shmee ones, but I quite enjoyed them, to be honest. Yes, there is the inevitable element of 'look how great my life is' with videos like he does, but as long as you can get past that, they can be okay. The one he did recently showing all the little details of his new 675LT was pretty cool (for a car geek), for instance.
Does he really fund all those cars with the money made from YouTube, though? I can't imagine he has an actual job, what with the number of videos he posts.
No, watch the link I posted above where he attempts to explain it, albeit in an extremely vague fashion. He says some businesses be invested in have done well but no mention of what they are...Does he really fund all those cars with the money made from YouTube, though? I can't imagine he has an actual job, what with the number of videos he posts.
t to me. crostonian said:
And why should he tell us what they are? We can all speculate but at the end of the day it's none of our business, would you like to explain all your finances over the internet?
As I said on my post above, it's no ones business. However, since he responded to the question on a video, we are entitled to our opinion: believe him or not. A rather awesome life he seems to have though.
This is the kind of thing that gets my adulation,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hCPODjJO7s
Well done on having funds to buy a product and it is interesting to hear about it but I find it all a bit one dimensional and trite, sort of a motoring version of a posh in-flight magazine.
I get the impression Harris was much less impressed by the lifestyle aspect so it doesn't seem as cheesy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hCPODjJO7s
Well done on having funds to buy a product and it is interesting to hear about it but I find it all a bit one dimensional and trite, sort of a motoring version of a posh in-flight magazine.
I get the impression Harris was much less impressed by the lifestyle aspect so it doesn't seem as cheesy.
Streetrod said:
What a lot of people seem to have trouble with is how he has managed to finance nearly £550,000 worth of cars all within a 3 week period, which for a guy who has yet to hit his 30th Birthday and with no discernable income is impressive.
He could by the looks of it comfortably afford to buy all 3 car outright within 4 months with his YouTube earnings alone... Not accounting for any brand endorsements such as the bond film / Aston over the last week, plus any shrewd investments on the markets.http://www.statsheep.com/shmee150
Probably even registered in Monaco where he seems to spend a lot of time to save on tax too.
Some of these youtube chaps are now treated very well by the manufacturers (given press cars for 3-6 months etc) however because of that (well I assume that's the reason) you never ever see a bad review of a car now. It seems they are too scared of annoying the various manufacturers (in case the cars stop coming or invites for the promotional events stop) so all the reviews are 'amazing', 'spectacular', 'brilliant', 'great' etc etc.
br d said:
I go on organised tunnel runs around London, they are either held at the crack of dawn or very late at night to avoid being seen.
They are just about the most PH thing on Earth.
Not a chance. London is pretty much the worst place for driving on the planet, at any time of day or night.They are just about the most PH thing on Earth.
ORD said:
br d said:
I go on organised tunnel runs around London, they are either held at the crack of dawn or very late at night to avoid being seen.
They are just about the most PH thing on Earth.
Not a chance. London is pretty much the worst place for driving on the planet, at any time of day or night.They are just about the most PH thing on Earth.
I know this is a completely different style of 'vlogging' but Roman Atwood gets between 1-2 million views a day on his videos. He like many others have done amazingly well through Youtube but people like Paul (SOL) aren't even getting a decent days wage out of this surely?? 50k views is around £50 isn't it?
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