Thoughts on what's happening to /Drive on youtube?
 

Pretty nuts.
First, you should read this article by Chris Harris...

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/defa...?storyId=30564


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLvRs6JICfw"]Guide to /DRIVE - YouTube[/ame]

I think they're doing it wrong. They should follow the Rooster Teeth path.
Create sponsorships that people can join, get small benefits, exclusive content and even view content early, than non sponsors. I find that reducing the amount of video length on the free channel will kill off numerous viewers.

I'd really hate to see them get killed off, they're the best automotive channel on youtube when it just comes to overall automobiles and motorsports...

I've always enjoyed /Drive, but have never watched them religiously. If they can provide more content that is interesting to watch I'd consider a sub. They will likely lose a lot of watchers who are stout followers of the "I ain't payin' for SHIT" MO, but if it's on the cheap they may attract a good number... I think a sub for $1/mo or $5-10/year from a few hundred thousand viewers should provide them with a hearty budget to supplement advertisement payouts.

$3.99 a month to watch the exact same content they produce now. Basically any video over like 8 minutes will be for paid users only. RIP Drive. People will pay for content, but that price is steep when most cheap asses don't buy 99 cent apps.

I agree with what's been said. If i'm gonna pay for this, they need to be quality, long videos. The stuff they put out now isn't going to be worth the $5 a month or whatever they're pricing it at. If they're going to be, consistently, 30 minute quality videos with frequent releases, then I could see it worth the price. But these 5-10 minute shorts...no thanks...

The paid stuff is 10-15 mins videos.

Drive also said they will be producing more content. Reason for such a long break was to work this out.

I feel like that's a flawed argument. What you're saying is, that you would never see a sequel to a movie you like? Listen to a new record by a band you already like?

It's the same content as in the sense it's about cars. I wouldn't say Drive is the same...compared to the mess it was 2 years ago.

All I really want is for them to start updating /tuned.... That and Chris Harris is all I watch on that channel :p. But not paying $5/month for it lol

@dem00n
Heh I poked them on Jalopnik on whether or not they studied other online production companies but it looks like they really didn't, I was specifically thinking of RT too. Seems like Google told them they were cutting funding, offered them this deal and they took it after some consideration.

http://drive.jalopnik.com/ask-drive-...nel-1613336682


/Drive has never gotten me too excited, a couple good vids here and there but I don't think I could point to an hours worth of content I would pay for over their existence. RT had ~37k people back their movie, they have 7.6 million subscribers, that's less than 0.5% of their youtube fanbase willing to actually give them money.

/Drive has 1.4 million subscribers, optimistically if they managed the 0.5% take rate that works out to a budget of $28k/month to keep the lights on, produce as much content as possible and take home food to the kids. Based on my very limited knowledge that seems pretty low rent for shooting Ferrari's sliding around on empty tracks...

Don't forget the Drive does have the NBC support, as well as a few others. I think they can pull this over. All of stuff will be free anyways, After drive, etc.

I know a lot of people are comparing the $4 worth of content to what Netflix is. But i'm pretty sure me and you would only watch maybe 10% of what Netflix offers? They have a lot of crap if you wanna dig...

These guys produce top notch videos, and the fact that they are promising more content is awesome. I'll spare the price a cup of coffee per month to support /Drive

/DRIVE is hitting on what I think the BIG problem with entertainment delivery AS A WHOLE.

If a product is good enough to generate enough interest/demand then it will fall into 1 of 2 categories:

1: I will consume it for free with the expectations of commercials
or
2: I will pay for it with the expectation of no advertising.

Nothing wrong with either of these.. the real offense is when you combine the 2! This is why I don't pay for Cable TV or services like HULU. The traditional subscription TV model plays us all for suckers.

The problem with monthly subscriptions is that EVERYONE IN THE WORLD wants us to be paying them a monthly subscription. At some point, regardless of amount, we just don't want to be subscribed to anything else! Even if the monthly subscription was only $.50, I wouldn't do it because it's just another thing I'd be subscribed to, another thing to keep track of. Just the other day I sat down and wrote out a list of all the crap I'm subscribed to. It blew my mind.. death by a thousand cuts. I got on the phone and online right away and starting canceling stuff left and right!

/DRIVE really needs to contact Netflix and sell their rights to Netflix and let Netflix make it a "thing" with a bigger budget and better TV personalities. For me, Chris Harris is the only one worth watching. Everyone else is barely even tolerable and should stay in print journalism.

This is one of those "I agree with you, so I hit "Thanks"" But I am unhappy with the information you provided.

I watch /Drive fairly often, but I would be hesitant to buy into it. At least not until they have a lot of "new content".

EDIT: To be clear, I believe Dem00n, I just wish what he said wasn't true.

How is that an argument? They literally said that longer videos are pay to play only. You're telling me that I'm going to pay half the price of Netflix, per month, to watch Chris Harris do nothing but drifts? Not going to happen.

They disappear for 6 months at random, and never tell the viewers when they are starting back up. The release garbage with Leo and Afterdrive where they just sit around and talk about cars. I'm not going to pay for that garbage.

Chris Harris reviews were one of the few things keeping it afloat. That and tuned.

RIP Drive. If they can get enough funding to keep going that's great, but I won't pay money to watch the same crap they put out in the past 2 years. And lets face it, 70% of it was 1 minute teasers for the next episode, or people sitting in chairs blabbing about cars.

I unsubbed from their channel when this news hit. I don't really need a 3-4 minute tease of "IF YOU PAID YOU COULD SEE IT ALL!" bullshit for every video going forward. While I've enjoyed watching some of their stuff, to me it isn't worth paying half of what my Netflix or Amazon Prime subscription costs per month. They should find some sponsors to pay for production costs and put it up for free.

Someone said Drive had 1.4m subscribers? And that was posted yesterday. They're down to 1.14 now, so it just goes to show that a lot of people probably aren't very happy about it.