Why are so many car YouTubers quitting? | Hacker News Reader

Why are so many car YouTubers quitting?

theverge.com

45 pointsrkwz31 comments

In January this year, a lot of independent YouTubers, unrelated to private equity and cars, also quit:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/20/24044533/mkbhd-weighs-in-...

The car YouTubers are just a little behind the curve.

There was a pandemic bubble in 2020 - 2021 where ad spending on video was huge, tech companies increased their headcount substantially, and creators were riding high. Twitch and YouTube were dropping eight-figure exclusive contracts left and right. Those days are over, the money isn't there anymore, and we are seeing the tail end.

Google is taking the money from ads and instead of going to creators, it's going towards AI

Google pays the majority of ad income to creators, 60/40 split for full length videos (and the inverse for shorts)

yes, according to Google, that's the split. But you are relying on Google to correctly report the revenue and correctly report which videos it should be attributed to. How sure are we that Google is being honest with how they are handling things? They have been proven to be quite the liars in the past.

THIS. I know many creators who have quit because they are simply not getting the ROI for the level of effort they put in before. Call it what you want, or put the blame on them, but at a certain point a vast majority of people saying "we aren't making any money anymore" can't all be wrong.

I wouldn't trust Google or Sundar in the slightest to the what is the best interest of users. They can only be counted on doing what is best for them first, shareholders second. Users are seen as a gadfly that must be managed, like employees.

No, that is according to the contract that creators agree to. This is widely reported by creators.

Yes, I realize that is the contract. But are they allowing their view counts to be audited by an unbiased 3rd party? I wouldn't be surprised if they are using "Hollywood accounting" to calculate those revenue shares.

Some of the YT people I'm following seem to be having a really tough time with the lack of control over outcome.

Like they put effort into a vid and it just bombs for unclear reasons. Or it goes great for unclear reasons.

Having your financial health depend on that sort of dynamic seems really rough

That sounds like a B2C venture. Show biz or otherwise everyone’s hoping to hit something no matter how off the wall it may be. Kincaid wasn’t a big fan of the style of paintings he did but in his own words it paid the bills and made him well off so he continued doing it.

By design. An element of randomness in the reward drives creators to put more and more content into the Skinner box.

I could say the same for anyone working in marketing, some ads where we put a lot of effort just bomb, while other works. If your line of work has something to do with an algorithm or black box, it's the cost of doing business in that line.

I don't think it is comparable psychologically. Marketing people still get paid their salary if a campaign goes poorly. Youtubers might not be able to make rent if the algo screws them.

I noticed that the car YouTubers I watch all recently got divorced. Very odd.

Well, the money ran out.

Maybe your algorithm is optimizing for divorce content.

Or the married creators found that their content is popular with divorcees...

Is it really quitting when they leave one channel to start their own?

Click-bait title.

I don't really like the production values / content is these channels and don't watch them. I don't know but maybe they are at the mercy of the 'algorithm' and huge ambition. The channels I do watch seem more stable and somewhat more satisfied with their views.

Then there's Cleetus McFarland which has diversified and taken business to the real world but even they have been pressured by the popularity of 'stupid' auto related channels* to make more jackass style videos.

*WhistlinDiesel

Seems fairly simple. The collectible car market was insanely bubbled during Covid, with ma y things double in price or more what they weee gen a year or so earlier. This attracted a ton of people who rushed to start making video content about these cars.

That bubble has truely burst, and now those same cars are back to pre-pandemic levels.

That's nowhere close to what the article is claiming, can you cite anything backing this assertion?

https://ls1tech.com/forums/what-worth/1972347-don-t-overpay-...

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/news/auction-market-reset-2...

https://browncarguy.com/2024/05/01/why-classic-car-values-ar...

Collectible cars have nothing to do with it. Most 'car' youtubers aren't even remotely into cars that are collectible. Jay Leno would be the obvious exception

Hoovies Garage and Vinwiki are two of the most watched car YouTube’s and both deal exclusively with collectible cars. (And tgeee are plenty more similar guys… Matt Farah, he’ll even Doug Demuri is don’t more or less exclusively high end stuff these days. Daily Driven Exotics, Rob Ferretti…)

Hoovie just announced that he is having to sell some stuff to cover debts because his collection has dropped in value over a million dollars.

Used to be those guys could buy some super car, make videos with it for 6 months, making money on the videos, and then be virtually guaranteed to sell the car for more than they bought it for, because the whole market was up 5-10% a month. Some models literally doubled in value or more in under 6 months.

Hoovie also took out a huge lien against the lamborghini countach for the new house expansion. Plus the divorce.

Hoovie is not like the rest of the car YouTubers. His father has multiple fast food restaurants called Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers. Which Hoovie has worked for.

Hoovie also has “car issues” which is a Motor Trend Channel TV show.

Confidently incorrect take

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-running_script...

I think just like TV, very few creative endeavours can keep even fans entertained for more than single digit "seasons". Even the biggest pop stars can only keep their parasocial relationships lasting so long. People grow up along with creators, and sometimes creators stops being the kind of person you are invested in following at new stage of life. And like TV, production value of earlyTube is not great, very few worth revisiting, and most are filler "content" not worth remastering.

Creative souls build successful startup, but sell to big media/private equity, then instantly regret it when big media/private equity squeezes fun out of it and want ROI. News at 11.

Seems like a lot of the people quitting were just workers and producers that never had any real ownership stake in the business. After Covid they were already working like individual creators, so going and doing their own thing doesn’t seem like that big of a change.

You’ve captured the lions share of the problem.

My personal hobbies as well as an off-road race we started amongst friends years ago accidentally becoming insanely popular has lead to me getting to know and becoming friends with auto related content creators, TV personalities, and professional drivers through the last decade.

- A bunch of money came in just before but especially during the pandemic and the capitalists want ROI.

- This means the creators don’t get to do all of the fun stuff they used to do, and now have to justify and get approval for projects that they used to just do on a whim.

- Things get “grown-up” quick and the internal culture goes from likeminded folks “just figuring it out” to planning, meetings, and being forced to produce more repeatable and formulaic content on tighter schedules. Sometimes working with brands you do not want to work with, but have to.

- A lot of these deals happened 2-4 years ago and earn-out clauses have hit their expiration. Now they can bail and realize as much gain as they can.

- Some people are leaving because they realize how royally screwed they’ve gotten.

Finally, the whole industry is a grind. I’m only tangentially related to it as a hobby and seeing what my friends have to do seems EXHAUSTING.

Not surprising at all. If your creation is being bought by some entity whose raison d'etre is to maximize profits, you shouldn't be surprised if they behave like an entity that wants to maximize profits. When success comes in the form of a great offer, just sell and move your creativity elsewhere before becoming part of the enshittification; loyal followers will follow and you'll keep your reputation intact.

i find that the automotive/gearhead youtube channels i enjoy most tend to be ones run by individuals who do it on the side and enjoy documenting and sharing their work. the content on these channels is also very technical in nature.

a few to check out are Dieselcreek, I Do Cars, and Watch Wes Work.

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