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

[CityS]

Bernie Sanders said:

Maybe he´s shouting all the time.

I don´t remember exactly, but 135k seems a bit more than STG paid.

It includes the Larini exhaust. 120k he paid?

[ambuletz]

KHK said:

I feel the issue right now is all the major automotive related channels on YT have reached their peak and they're running out of ideas. The other issue is a lot of YT'bers are intertwined with each other compared to couple years ago which has resulted in the same content been uploaded multiple times. I'm not sure what these channels can do differently to grow their viewers/subs because they're limited financially plus when it comes to automotive content there's really nothing exclusive or groundbreaking you can film nowadays because every other channel has access to the same media events and track days.

With all that been said, I still support these channels, watch the content daily with no adblocker so they can make money because at the end of the day it still takes a lot of time and effort to upload content daily as good or bad it might be.

before it used to be the case that they would not rush it and make a quality car review or comparison. but now it seems like they all just want to be the first one out with a video. new fiesta out? quick! lets bait people into watching a 2min video about the '10 facts' about the new fiesta. and then when it comes out you'll get 5-6 reviews from different sources all come out within minutes of each other with poor quality. I've noticed this with autocar/autoexpress, terrible video editing and in some cases they will do a review that isn't in HD or uses a horrible tinny soundig mic.

[Dimebars]

TopGear7 said:

It doesn't matter how far up/premium the car market you go, you just can't stop some dealers USING CAPS LOCK IN THE WHOLE DESCRIPTION!

CAPS LOCK and pi$$ poor spelling

"SECURITY PAC"
"MORRORS"
"STELTH"
"HALF SEIDE"
"BRAKE CALIBERS"

But yeah, give me your £135k

[RSbandit]

TGETV said:

Agree the abuse is pretty vile, and uncalled for. Make it constructive or shadddapppppp. Got to take your hat off to the guy regardless.

Further re the 'driving around London in a GT3RS' comment - that was the whole point of my last video. And I live in London, with a GT3RS. Inevitable there's going to be footage of it in London. And if I was to smash it around a track I wouldn't broadcast that endlessly anyway. Although I did commute in the GT3RS this morning for lols

If you have some track footage definitely upload it fair enough that you wouldn't post every vid with that sole content. I have a V10+ R8 and I wish I had time to drive it more but am tracking it at the ring end of Aug which cant come quick enough! Anyway I like your channel despite the comment above, keep it up!

[Yipper]

Beefmeister said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

As an aside.... Henry Catchpole just turned up on CarFection reviewing the 720s spider...

570S....

That would be because Drivetribe is dead. May not be public yet, but funding has been pulled so expect the main guys to turn up elsewhere soon.

No surprise if Drivetribe goes down the pan. The brandname is terrible, the user-experience is terrible, the content is terrible, and none of the big American or Asian markets was in the slightest bit interested.

Edited by Yipper on Tuesday 25th July 11:44

[jon-]

p1stonhead said:

Beefmeister said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

As an aside.... Henry Catchpole just turned up on CarFection reviewing the 720s spider...

570S....

That would be because Drivetribe is dead. May not be public yet, but funding has been pulled so expect the main guys to turn up elsewhere soon.

Surprised funding has been pulled. They had some pretty good videos albeit yeah they were pretty much all Catchpole ones...

It's been discussed on the drivetribe thread a bit. They've definitely not run out of money as they're still spending HARD on advertising, but they didn't renew any of the expensive EVO guys after their 6 month contracts. New person at the top doesn't see it as wise use of money.

They probably will run out of money, but they're doing good traffic at the moment.

[trowelhead]

TGETV said:

Agree the abuse is pretty vile, and uncalled for. Make it constructive or shadddapppppp. Got to take your hat off to the guy regardless.

Further re the 'driving around London in a GT3RS' comment - that was the whole point of my last video. And I live in London, with a GT3RS. Inevitable there's going to be footage of it in London. And if I was to smash it around a track I wouldn't broadcast that endlessly anyway. Although I did commute in the GT3RS this morning for lols

Got to agree with what you said in that video RE Cayman GT4 being a pain in the arse as a daily.

I think mine will end up in the sea shortly.

[Otispunkmeyer]

RobDown said:

Sorry to hear that about Drivetribe.

But I guess it just shows how difficult it is to make money/a living out of this. Social media provides opportunity, but that opportunity means there's a degree of over-crowding too.

If I want a review of the 720S I have all the usual magazines and a gazillion different YouTube Vloggers/reviewers to choose from now. Advertisers can afford to be choosy and presumably have the whip hand in negotiating rates - you don't like the deal? We'll offer it to the next guy instead....

I don't see a lot of the vlogger types as being in the same league as Catchpole, Harris et al in terms of production and quality of insight. Perhaps that is not quite fair to say... what I mean is, they aren't really producing the same sort of content or targeting the same audience; its not really car review content. Its lifestyle content.

But thats what is drawing people in. Only a relative handful give a stuff about the size of the silicon-carbide brake discs and how maximum torque is on tap from 1500RPM thanks to a 48V electric machine pre-spooling the turbos. More people are interested in the softer side of "flash cars"; how to get one, how to buy one, what its like to own one, what to wrap it in, the fuss that follows them about when they show up at places etc.

When the likely-hood is most people will never own such cars, coldly discussing the minutiae of a Ferrari's delicate handling holds less appeal than the offer of experiencing the super-car ownership lifestyle through a video. The latter is something more tangible somehow, something people can watch and think "hey, maybe I could do that one day too". More real? More relate-able? something with more stock to believe in?

For every 1 petrol head who wants a Ferrari because of the history of the marque, the engineering and love of the brand, there'll be ten times as many who want one because they want to be able cruise around in a mobile badge of honor, to look good, to show everyone they've made it, Enzo who? That is the world we live in. That is not a slight on the vloggers btw, many do genuinely seem to be car people, but that demographic is sure to be tuning in to their videos over a bearded/balding man punting one down a welsh B-road creaming over the gear change.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Tuesday 25th July 13:33

ETA: Oh, and therefore, in conclusion.... that is why the more traditional types (Drive, Driven, CH on Cars, Evo etc) don't pull in the views.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Tuesday 25th July 13:35

[camshafted]

Otispunkmeyer said:

I don't see a lot of the vlogger types as being in the same league as Catchpole, Harris et al in terms of production and quality of insight. Perhaps that is not quite fair to say... what I mean is, they aren't really producing the same sort of content or targeting the same audience; its not really car review content. Its lifestyle content.

But thats what is drawing people in.

I think the lifestyle point is important. SOL's video on him deciding to sell his Lambo to buy a house has had more than 135,000 views.

[Otispunkmeyer]

camshafted said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

I don't see a lot of the vlogger types as being in the same league as Catchpole, Harris et al in terms of production and quality of insight. Perhaps that is not quite fair to say... what I mean is, they aren't really producing the same sort of content or targeting the same audience; its not really car review content. Its lifestyle content.

But thats what is drawing people in.

I think the lifestyle point is important. SOL's video on him deciding to sell his Lambo to buy a house has had more than 135,000 views.

Indeed. People want to be where he is. Ergo, people want to see what its like and how you can achieve it. The cars are just part of the story, not the whole story.

[camshafted]

Shmee is now being included in the Porsche 'newsroom' stories!

https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/company/porsche-ul...

[jon-]

Otispunkmeyer said:

RobDown said:

Sorry to hear that about Drivetribe.

But I guess it just shows how difficult it is to make money/a living out of this. Social media provides opportunity, but that opportunity means there's a degree of over-crowding too.

If I want a review of the 720S I have all the usual magazines and a gazillion different YouTube Vloggers/reviewers to choose from now. Advertisers can afford to be choosy and presumably have the whip hand in negotiating rates - you don't like the deal? We'll offer it to the next guy instead....

I don't see a lot of the vlogger types as being in the same league as Catchpole, Harris et al in terms of production and quality of insight. Perhaps that is not quite fair to say... what I mean is, they aren't really producing the same sort of content or targeting the same audience; its not really car review content. Its lifestyle content.

But thats what is drawing people in. Only a relative handful give a stuff about the size of the silicon-carbide brake discs and how maximum torque is on tap from 1500RPM thanks to a 48V electric machine pre-spooling the turbos. More people are interested in the softer side of "flash cars"; how to get one, how to buy one, what its like to own one, what to wrap it in, the fuss that follows them about when they show up at places etc.

When the likely-hood is most people will never own such cars, coldly discussing the minutiae of a Ferrari's delicate handling holds less appeal than the offer of experiencing the super-car ownership lifestyle through a video. The latter is something more tangible somehow, something people can watch and think "hey, maybe I could do that one day too". More real? More relate-able? something with more stock to believe in?

For every 1 petrol head who wants a Ferrari because of the history of the marque, the engineering and love of the brand, there'll be ten times as many who want one because they want to be able cruise around in a mobile badge of honor, to look good, to show everyone they've made it, Enzo who? That is the world we live in. That is not a slight on the vloggers btw, many do genuinely seem to be car people, but that demographic is sure to be tuning in to their videos over a bearded/balding man punting one down a welsh B-road creaming over the gear change.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Tuesday 25th July 13:33

ETA: Oh, and therefore, in conclusion.... that is why the more traditional types (Drive, Driven, CH on Cars, Evo etc) don't pull in the views.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Tuesday 25th July 13:35

Great post, and I nearly agree with it all, especially the point about the advertisers are starting to understand they can spend a fraction of their budget with the vloggers and get the same reach as doing with the professionals.

There's going to be a big industry shift in spending soon. The ad buyers just care about how many numbers they get for their pound, and the vloggers are cheap and big.

[camshafted]

jon- said:

Great post, and I nearly agree with it all, especially the point about the advertisers are starting to understand they can spend a fraction of their budget with the vloggers and get the same reach as doing with the professionals.

There's going to be a big industry shift in spending soon. The ad buyers just care about how many numbers they get for their pound, and the vloggers are cheap and big.

And ultimately that is very bad news for the automotive journalism industry and for consumers.

[Streetrod]

As a very middle aged guy I have been lucky enough to experience cars develop over my near 40 years of driving, therefore I have developed my tastes to cover a wide spectrum from classics and hotrods at one end to current modern supercars at the other.

This I think gives me a great perspective which unfortunately is not covered by most of the current YouTube Channels.

You would be hard pressed to find a better channel than Petrolicious that truly evokes the real passion that exists within the classics world, be it a 205 Pug or a Ferrari 250 GTO, that then wraps it up in breathtaking cinematography plus interviews with the owners that allows you to really bask in the experience.

Catchpole is great at portraying what the moderns are like and I love the way he describes things, this sets him a league above the other video bloggers.

What none of them seem to be able to do in an engaging way is get under the skins of the cars and make the grubby bits interesting. When was the last time one of the YouTubers actually opened on bonnet or peered under a car to describe how the car is actually able to do what it does??

So what I am trying to say is this. I feel there is a massive gap in the market on YouTube, one that could take the best from Petrolicious, Catchpole, Jay Leno and someone like Mr JWW and wrap it up into a channel that could be seen as a real alternative to The Grand Tour or Top Gear.

Would it work? To be honest I don’t know, but I would love to give it a try as I suspect there are others like me crying out for such a channel at the moment

Edited by Streetrod on Tuesday 25th July 14:44

[CooperS]

jon- said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

RobDown said:

Sorry to hear that about Drivetribe.

But I guess it just shows how difficult it is to make money/a living out of this. Social media provides opportunity, but that opportunity means there's a degree of over-crowding too.

If I want a review of the 720S I have all the usual magazines and a gazillion different YouTube Vloggers/reviewers to choose from now. Advertisers can afford to be choosy and presumably have the whip hand in negotiating rates - you don't like the deal? We'll offer it to the next guy instead....

I don't see a lot of the vlogger types as being in the same league as Catchpole, Harris et al in terms of production and quality of insight. Perhaps that is not quite fair to say... what I mean is, they aren't really producing the same sort of content or targeting the same audience; its not really car review content. Its lifestyle content.

But thats what is drawing people in. Only a relative handful give a stuff about the size of the silicon-carbide brake discs and how maximum torque is on tap from 1500RPM thanks to a 48V electric machine pre-spooling the turbos. More people are interested in the softer side of "flash cars"; how to get one, how to buy one, what its like to own one, what to wrap it in, the fuss that follows them about when they show up at places etc.

When the likely-hood is most people will never own such cars, coldly discussing the minutiae of a Ferrari's delicate handling holds less appeal than the offer of experiencing the super-car ownership lifestyle through a video. The latter is something more tangible somehow, something people can watch and think "hey, maybe I could do that one day too". More real? More relate-able? something with more stock to believe in?

For every 1 petrol head who wants a Ferrari because of the history of the marque, the engineering and love of the brand, there'll be ten times as many who want one because they want to be able cruise around in a mobile badge of honor, to look good, to show everyone they've made it, Enzo who? That is the world we live in. That is not a slight on the vloggers btw, many do genuinely seem to be car people, but that demographic is sure to be tuning in to their videos over a bearded/balding man punting one down a welsh B-road creaming over the gear change.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Tuesday 25th July 13:33

ETA: Oh, and therefore, in conclusion.... that is why the more traditional types (Drive, Driven, CH on Cars, Evo etc) don't pull in the views.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Tuesday 25th July 13:35

Great post, and I nearly agree with it all, especially the point about the advertisers are starting to understand they can spend a fraction of their budget with the vloggers and get the same reach as doing with the professionals.

There's going to be a big industry shift in spending soon. The ad buyers just care about how many numbers they get for their pound, and the vloggers are cheap and big.

I'm not in that world at all but surely the ad buyers are driven by eyeball numbers first however eyeball numbers need to convert into people with means to buy that product or its meaningless. To that end I can't see the connection other than worry that people read way to much into what they're shown on how these guys 'made it' because other than SoL they've all made it through their own business enterprise i.e. not Youtube (Tim, Tom, Salamdon chap etc) or come from families of means (STG, Seb, JWW and Archie)

[Warry25]

Streetrod said:

Would it work? To be honest I don’t know, but I would love to give it a try as I suspect there are others like me crying out for such a channel at the moment

Edited by Streetrod on Tuesday 25th July 14:44

There is obviously a market for the hands on, nitty gritty stuff - look at MCM with >2m subs. The question is whether that is only popular because they are working on cars that you and I can afford or whether it also from an interest in how things work perpsective.

If the latter is the case then there is most certainly a gap there to be filled. Only time will tell.

[Streetrod]

Warry25 said:

Streetrod said:

Would it work? To be honest I don’t know, but I would love to give it a try as I suspect there are others like me crying out for such a channel at the moment

Edited by Streetrod on Tuesday 25th July 14:44

There is obviously a market for the hands on, nitty gritty stuff - look at MCM with >2m subs. The question is whether that is only popular because they are working on cars that you and I can afford or whether it also from an interest in how things work perpsective.

If the latter is the case then there is most certainly a gap there to be filled. Only time will tell.

True!

The problem with a lot of people nowadays is that cars have become white goods to a certain extent, how many of this current crop of Youtubers actually own even a basic tool set? I think the tone was set for me when a while ago Shmee replaced the gear knob on his Mini and was also unable to diagnose a simple fault when his Mini broke down once. All of there knowledge is superficial and disposable

Now I don’t expect these guys to be as anal as me about this kind of stuff, but simply quoting a factory spec sheet does not make you an expert or provide insight.

Shmee I think missed a massive opportunity when he did the build series on his GT8 and LT. He had access to the factories but never once asked a probing question that would provide that nugget of really interesting information that would be the cherry on the cake. I would have loved to have seen a visit to Ricardo to see the LT's engine being built and a decent conversation with an engineer to discuss why they did things this way or that.

Would it not be great if Archie did a few vids on his grandfather, the LeMans winner, or used his racing contacts to take us behind the scenes of how some of the lower formula teams do what they do, now that would be really interesting and provide real insight

Content like that would be a lot more interesting that what corporate hospitality is like at a Grand Prix

[NomduJour]

Streetrod said:

Content like that would be a lot more interesting that what corporate hospitality is like at a Grand Prix

Wrong audience, "supercars" are the draw because they think it's some sort of magic entry to an Instagram lifestyle (Lambo/Monaco/AP ROO/Yeezys etc.).

Desire for instant gratification doesn't 't fit with in-depth analysis.

[jon-]

CooperS said:

jon- said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

RobDown said:

Sorry to hear that about Drivetribe.

But I guess it just shows how difficult it is to make money/a living out of this. Social media provides opportunity, but that opportunity means there's a degree of over-crowding too.

If I want a review of the 720S I have all the usual magazines and a gazillion different YouTube Vloggers/reviewers to choose from now. Advertisers can afford to be choosy and presumably have the whip hand in negotiating rates - you don't like the deal? We'll offer it to the next guy instead....

I don't see a lot of the vlogger types as being in the same league as Catchpole, Harris et al in terms of production and quality of insight. Perhaps that is not quite fair to say... what I mean is, they aren't really producing the same sort of content or targeting the same audience; its not really car review content. Its lifestyle content.

But thats what is drawing people in. Only a relative handful give a stuff about the size of the silicon-carbide brake discs and how maximum torque is on tap from 1500RPM thanks to a 48V electric machine pre-spooling the turbos. More people are interested in the softer side of "flash cars"; how to get one, how to buy one, what its like to own one, what to wrap it in, the fuss that follows them about when they show up at places etc.

When the likely-hood is most people will never own such cars, coldly discussing the minutiae of a Ferrari's delicate handling holds less appeal than the offer of experiencing the super-car ownership lifestyle through a video. The latter is something more tangible somehow, something people can watch and think "hey, maybe I could do that one day too". More real? More relate-able? something with more stock to believe in?

For every 1 petrol head who wants a Ferrari because of the history of the marque, the engineering and love of the brand, there'll be ten times as many who want one because they want to be able cruise around in a mobile badge of honor, to look good, to show everyone they've made it, Enzo who? That is the world we live in. That is not a slight on the vloggers btw, many do genuinely seem to be car people, but that demographic is sure to be tuning in to their videos over a bearded/balding man punting one down a welsh B-road creaming over the gear change.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Tuesday 25th July 13:33

ETA: Oh, and therefore, in conclusion.... that is why the more traditional types (Drive, Driven, CH on Cars, Evo etc) don't pull in the views.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Tuesday 25th July 13:35

Great post, and I nearly agree with it all, especially the point about the advertisers are starting to understand they can spend a fraction of their budget with the vloggers and get the same reach as doing with the professionals.

There's going to be a big industry shift in spending soon. The ad buyers just care about how many numbers they get for their pound, and the vloggers are cheap and big.

I'm not in that world at all but surely the ad buyers are driven by eyeball numbers first however eyeball numbers need to convert into people with means to buy that product or its meaningless. To that end I can't see the connection other than worry that people read way to much into what they're shown on how these guys 'made it' because other than SoL they've all made it through their own business enterprise i.e. not Youtube (Tim, Tom, Salamdon chap etc) or come from families of means (STG, Seb, JWW and Archie)

You'd be amazed how stupid the big brands are. Or maybe how little they care. It's just some agency reporting to a marketing guy who's giving headline figures to the management / board.

Vice media delivered "1 billion views" to Michelin for the PS4S launch in California. Apparently they came to that number by multiplying someones following on each social media channel by the number of posts made. EG, if Seen Through Glass made 4 videos with 250k subscribers, that's a million views, when in reality the videos were averaging around 75k.

[TGETV]

Just posted a new video. Interested on feedback.
I know it's not the 'gritty' factual reviews some may crave, but being that guy would be me trying to be someone else. My video is essentially giving the car a pasting and having a laugh with a friend, (Paul Wallace).

Go easy on me...