Are these Vloggers just a scam? SOL or Shmee etc? (Vol 2)

[jon-]

pincher said:

How does Kickstarter usually work? Presume that the impetus and fastest donation rate is in the first few days and it tail off gradually after that? If so, he’ll do well to get to his target in just over three weeks, I’d have thought?

He'll have certainly had the peak of pledges as his core audience will have seen it and chosen whether to donate or not, but he'll be able to activate in all his coming videos so should keep getting a lower rate of donations.

[Beefmeister]

And all he needs is a few of the corporate donations and he’ll be set.

[e30m3Mark]

Davey S2 said:

e30m3Mark said:

Beefmeister said:

If he's going to try and do this 'world drive' in a classic though, I would definitely go with air cooled 911 or something strong and simple, like a BMW 2002.

So would I but that won't cut it with the 'yoof' who will want something newer and more exotic.

My guess a few days back was a 911 of some type. Possibly a 964? At least he can be assured of reliability and relative easy access to a network of repairers, should the situation arise. Assuming there isn't already the offer of a car from some classic car dealer or other?

[Shmee]

red_slr said:

You would think after all this time he would have a bit of mechanical knowledge and general knowledge about cars. Just goes to show.
IIRC S150 had a similar faux pas moment when his mini hit a bump and triggered the fuel cut / crash sensor which he could not bottom and ended up calling the AA who came out and pressed the button and got him going again...

I'm not sure if that was really unreasonable on my behalf given how few people knew of the cause. On the phone to a number of people prior to calling the AA I had asked if a violent bump would trigger anything, and even calling the AA I asked the same. When the guy did arrive I mentioned the same but it still took him a while to work out what it could be, and he's trained at that.

Anyway, I definitely wish I could know everything, it would make life much easier! End of the day, we all have slightly different interests and I can tell an awful lot of things about cars that many wouldn't know.

[Shmee]

Vocht said:

Shmee, I've noticed you have started to put full videos up on Facebook recently (specifically the AMG GT 4 Door) and was wondering why now? Have Facebook started to pay view/ad revenue like youtube or is it something the manufacturers request when partnering with them? I'd be interested to know what affect (if any) it has on your Youtube views and if you think it's something we'll see more of from yourself and others.

It's simple, they introduced monetisation. We are looking more into viewing the different platforms as publishing outlets and considering where we post 'first' based on what brings in the most income. Facebook has a very, very long way to go before it rivals YouTube but the immediate numbers available purely by uploading the same files are very attractive. The reason we stagger them later than YouTube is to prevent detracting from the audience on our most profitable platform.

[WilsonWilson]

Can someone who knows US car regs explain what's happened to Hoovies Testarossa?

He said that: "the title showed up for my Testarossa last week with a serious issue. It was serious enough to completely void the title, to the point that I can't register it in Kansas."

Does that mean that the California equivalent to the DVLA has it down as a write-off or stolen so the Kansas equivalent to the DVLA are effectively blocking it from being officially imported into the state by refusing to issue a log book/V5C?

[Truckosaurus]

I don't think it was something as serious as being a write-off etc. but there was certainly some paperwork issue (he said it could be corrected, but would take time) but it gave him the excuse to back out of the sale (buyer's remorse?).

[nyxster]

The problem will likely stem from the importation type approval. The problem was most famously highlighted in the film Rain Man where Tom Cruises Lamborghini imports were held up in port because they didn't meet regulations. In the '80's italian cars weren't really built to federal spec and usually required the importer to do the modifications 'on the dock' to get them registered, specifically the emissions regulations varied by state. If the type approval wasn't done properly or recorded properly then getting it registered in another state would likely require going through type approval again which is time consuming, costly and as Hoovie indicated there is no assurance it would actually pass.

Moving title between states is effectively reregistering the car - the seller can sill sell the car to a in state buyer without issue but if there is a problem with the original type approval then exporting it out of state would be costly and time consuming.

[nyxster]

Shmee said:

It's simple, they introduced monetisation. We are looking more into viewing the different platforms as publishing outlets and considering where we post 'first' based on what brings in the most income. Facebook has a very, very long way to go before it rivals YouTube but the immediate numbers available purely by uploading the same files are very attractive. The reason we stagger them later than YouTube is to prevent detracting from the audience on our most profitable platform.

I'd personally be wary of investing in facebook as a platform - they are masters of the bait and switch. When you look at how they got busineses to build their audience with pages then removed organic reach down to nothing unless you paid to boost posts I suspect they'll pull the same trick on video. It'll start out very attractive until you are vested then the'll start rattling the tin for boosting videos and kill your organic reach, they've got their eye on the people willing to pay to get audiences like corporates, they're purely using creators as a lure to build an audience they can then sell paid video views off.

The best thing you could do at this point is start investing in your own CDN and delivery channel, that way you can take control of your own audience and advertising revenue -,we found to our cost with amazon that whoever owns the customer relationship owns the customer which is why mailing lists have become the go to way to circumvent the algorith lottery.

Put a iphone / android app out, enable advertising for free viewers and offer a no ad version plus premium feature content using in app purchasing subscriptions. The benefit is your users get push notifications when you release new content and you get 70 oercent of all your revenue without being at the mercy of the CDN. Then use youtube / facebook to funnel users onto your app with exclusive app only content - you'll get a backlash from the freeloaders and entitled brigade, but at the end of the day subscriber count is a vanity metric - 100k paying customers generating revenue is better than 10m generating little to nothing.

They key to making it work is transitioning - regular taster vlogs to keep the existing audience happy with premium content exclusive to people who'll pay. The prevailing advice has been to start moving users off facebook/youtube et al onto your own property - youtube will likely follow facebooks / amazons model and introduce pay 2 play where boosted videos get on the recommended list and higher search priority with organic reach sunstantially reduced - they've got wise to creators circumventing the ad model with sponsorship and promo deals and they are going to want their slice of that pie - if advertisers don't pay them directly then they'll expect creators to pay from the sponsorship revenue.

[Vocht]

Shmee said:

It's simple, they introduced monetisation. We are looking more into viewing the different platforms as publishing outlets and considering where we post 'first' based on what brings in the most income. Facebook has a very, very long way to go before it rivals YouTube but the immediate numbers available purely by uploading the same files are very attractive. The reason we stagger them later than YouTube is to prevent detracting from the audience on our most profitable platform.

Thank you for your reply! It'll be interesting to see how Facebook develops monetisation as a platform and how it contrasts to Youtube and dictates how content is created. My suspicion is that we'll start seeing shorter video edits for Facebook and full/extended edits for youtube to suit both platforms user styles.

[Superdry]

Shappers24 said:

Finding SoL videos more and more cringeworthy as time goes on... and last nights video where he struggled to take a wheel nut off his lambo... what a joke!

This has puzzled me also. For someone who runs an automotive channel, I would have assumed that he would have some basic knowledge of vehicle mechanics.

[aji621]

Superdry said:

Shappers24 said:

Finding SoL videos more and more cringeworthy as time goes on... and last nights video where he struggled to take a wheel nut off his lambo... what a joke!

This has puzzled me also. For someone who runs an automotive channel, I would have assumed that he would have some basic knowledge of vehicle mechanics.

to be fair without sounding like im sucking him off, he is insanely busy with being the face of the channel, off doing all these press stuff etc. Not everyone has hours to spend learning about how cars go together, whilst they're out getting paid to drive them

[slk 32]

aji621 said:

Superdry said:

Shappers24 said:

Finding SoL videos more and more cringeworthy as time goes on... and last nights video where he struggled to take a wheel nut off his lambo... what a joke!

This has puzzled me also. For someone who runs an automotive channel, I would have assumed that he would have some basic knowledge of vehicle mechanics.

to be fair without sounding like im sucking him off, he is insanely busy with being the face of the channel, off doing all these press stuff etc. Not everyone has hours to spend learning about how cars go together, whilst they're out getting paid to drive them

Working a wheel nut isn't exactly replacing a cylinder head though is it?

Wallace seems to be stuck in the buy car / wrap / new exhaust / sell circle of hell. It just smacks of laziness / desperation to me

[e30m3Mark]

aji621 said:

to be fair without sounding like im sucking him off,

Dude, that's an image I could so have done without being put in my head!

[Superdry]

aji621 said:

to be fair without sounding like im sucking him off, he is insanely busy with being the face of the channel, off doing all these press stuff etc. Not everyone has hours to spend learning about how cars go together, whilst they're out getting paid to drive them

I can understand I guess, I know people who are massively into cars but have no idea mechanicallly how they work.

Usually these are the kind of people that quote facts and figures at but then ask me where the air for the tyres should go.

[KHK]

Tim, tons to do in TO and car scene is pretty sick. You should try to make a side trip out to Vancouver if you're making your way to Canada...

[BlueHave]

Stopped watching all the big car bloggers months ago. Same old rubbish titles and long drawn out 'Should I Buy, I have Bought, etc etc. Most of them seem to keep cars for six months then flip them for something else.

Now a usually just follow and watch genuine less click bait bullst channels like HubNut which is run by Ian Seabrook of Classic Jaguar magazine. Would rather listen to his honest quips with equal drizzle of sarcasm than Shmee or his ilk.

[Truckosaurus]

Superdry said:

...I know people who are massively into cars but have no idea mechanically how they work....

Indeed. I have been driving cars for nearly 30yrs and my entire mechanical knowledge is 'righty tighty, lefty loosey' and I haven't ever done anything more complex than change a flat tyre.

Whereas, I have a friend who is an ex-aircraft mechanic and does all his own servicing and repairs but has no real interest in cars as objects or driving for pleasure.

[e30m3Mark]

I must admit, I’m one of those people that thinks folk should have at least a basic understanding of how cars work and be able to do basic maintenance at the very least!

Wasn’t it Mr “I’m a racing driver” who didn’t know how to check and top up his oil?

[WilsonWilson]

nyxster said:

The problem will likely stem from the importation type approval. The problem was most famously highlighted in the film Rain Man where Tom Cruises Lamborghini imports were held up in port because they didn't meet regulations. In the '80's italian cars weren't really built to federal spec and usually required the importer to do the modifications 'on the dock' to get them registered, specifically the emissions regulations varied by state. If the type approval wasn't done properly or recorded properly then getting it registered in another state would likely require going through type approval again which is time consuming, costly and as Hoovie indicated there is no assurance it would actually pass.

Moving title between states is effectively reregistering the car - the seller can sill sell the car to a in state buyer without issue but if there is a problem with the original type approval then exporting it out of state would be costly and time consuming.

Thanks for the explanation!