Enough with the Sponsored Content. (5/6 Latest LTT Videos are sponsored)

[lewdicrous]

3 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Floatplane is $3/month per channel you subscribe to.

But you don't have to get it, that's what I'm saying. You will get all the content floatplane users get, just a week or so later

[Spotty]

1 minute ago, lewdicrous said:

But you don't have to get it, that's what I'm saying. You will get all the content floatplane users get, just a week or so later

Yeah but it would never be Floatplane delivering the content - it would be Youtube.
It would have made far more sense for you to have used Youtube as your example. Using Floatplane which is a paid service as being a free product is just incorrect and unnecessarily hurts the argument you're trying to make.

 

Just now, Pangea2017 said:

$3/month per channel. This summs up to a lot (≈$45+Netflix (10.99)+Spotify (9.99)≈ $65 per month).

This is just my speculation, but I think in the future when there are more content creators on the platform, there are more users, and the site is in a more 'finished' state, there hopefully will be some different plan prices available for people who want to subscribe to multiple content creators. Maybe a VIP pass or Premium account First Class Ticket for $X/month or something that gives more/unlimited access.

[lewdicrous]

1 minute ago, Spotty said:

- snip -

I get what you're saying, I used floatplane as an example because the person I was replying to used something you have to buy (a game) an theirs

 

I said Linus gives us free content, meaning youtube videos.. I guess I wasn't that clear

[LAwLz]

33 minutes ago, lewdicrous said:

I kinda get the analogy, but you can't compare something we get for free with something you have to buy.

I disagree.

To me, as a consumer, the only thing that matters is the quality of the product. I am not going to excuse a poor product because "well, they have to make money". As soon as a company starts sacrificing customer satisfaction for profits, I think the customers should speak up. It is a very dangerous spiral that is easy to slip down.

 

To me, consumers telling other consumers to stop complaining when a company puts profits above them is completely bonkers.

 

At the end of the day, it is the responsibility of the business to satisfy their customers and balancing that against making money. It is not the responsibility of the consumers to put up with bad products just because the consumers for some reason feel an obligation to help the company make money. They are companies, not charities.

[abazigal]

2 hours ago, Spotty said:

That vacuum was quite the fuck up. I don't think LTT expected that every youtuber and their dog would have been given a Dyson to review with them all releasing the same day when the embargo lifted.

Well, when I say every youtuber... GamerNexus' sponsorship deals must have got lost in the mail...

 

That was hilarious. The way I launched the YouTube app on my Apple TV and saw like 6-7 vacuum ads in my subscription feed. 

 

Then LG repeated the same stunt. 

 

And now Oneplus. 

 

Seriously, do they never learn? 

[LinusTech]

We agree. We ended up with a bit of a log jam of sponsored content this week. It wasn't our goal and we are going to try to avoid this kind of thing in the future. 

 

Sometimes sponsor opportunities are easy to space out, and other times embargoes - which in this case ended up being moved right on top of each other - make it difficult. 

 

So there's another sponsored video coming on the 23rd (but that day is getting two uploads so I'm not counting it) and then the next one is on June 2 (but it's one people have been asking me to do for quite a while - workflow update) 

 

Hope this helps. As always we appreciate your feedback and will keep trying to do better. 

[LAwLz]

1 minute ago, abazigal said:

That was hilarious. The way I launched the YouTube app on my Apple TV and saw like 6-7 vacuum ads in my subscription feed. 

 

Then LG repeated the same stunt. 

 

And now Oneplus. 

 

Seriously, do they never learn? 

Wait, are you blaming the companies behind the products for marketing campaigns? The companies behind the products, such as Dyson WANTS your feed to get flooded with videos about their product. That is the reason why they paid a bunch of youtubers to make ads for their vacuum, and it seems like it was a very effective marketing campaign. People are still talking about it and mentioning Dyson's name, which spreads their brand recognition even more.

 

The blame is on the people agreeing to make sponsored content. They are the ones agreeing to push ads to their viewers in order to make some quick money at the expense of their viewers' enjoyment.

 

And as long as there are no repercussions or pushback to the youtubers, they won't stop either. Why stop making easy money if your fanbase doesn't aim their dissatisfaction against you?

[lewdicrous]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

- snip -

Problem is, consumer satisfaction is subjective and no matter how hard a company tries to appeal to/please their consumers there would always be a group of people who wouldn't like it.

 

Yes there were more ads than usual but my point was that you don't have to watch them, no one is forcing you to watch their sponsored vids. 

As someone said earlier in the thread, "vote with your eyes"

[Spotty]

1 minute ago, LAwLz said:

That is the reason why they paid a bunch of youtubers to make ads for their vacuum, and it seems like it was a very effective marketing campaign. People are still talking about it and mentioning Dyson's name, which spreads their brand recognition even more.

All publicity is good publicity as long as they spell your name right.

Every LinuxTechTips viewer knows that.

[lewdicrous]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

- snip -

To add to this, this kind of thing is to be expected whenever an embargo is lifted on whatever product the youtubers were paid to advertise; everyone wants to be the first to post their vid

[Crunchy Dragon]

3 hours ago, lambrosgg said:

Noticed a theme on the latest uploads of the LTT channel:

 

OnePlus 6 Leaks Confirmed! - Hands On = Sponsored by OnePlus

OnePlus 6 Quality Control EXPOSED = Sponsored by OnePlus

Save Money on RAM.. with Optane?? = Sponsored by Intel

CUTTING OPEN A LASER KEYSWITCH! - Bloody Gaming LK Switch Showcase = Sponsored by Bloody Gaming

What the heck is an AI Phone?! - Honor 10 Showcase = Sponsored by Honor

One Plus 6 Review = NOT Sponsored (I guess)

 

I mean come on Linus.... That's 5/6 Videos in 4 days. I know Linus called them "Extra Videos, beyond the 1 video per day" but are they really? Its 4 days, so there should be 4 "normal" videos. Instead its only one (WAN show doesn't really count)

 

I hope this was just a coincidence, and the sponsored content will be spaced out again. I think its ok to have 1 sponsored video every week, even if its not "extra" or 2 at most, with 1 being extra, but that's just my opinion.

Linus Media Group is a legitimate business. They need to get money in just about every way they can, sponsorships and advertisements just happen to be some of the best.

[asus killer]

i seriously thing one can never have to many oneplus phone videos, make more please 

[TacoSenpai]

The biggest thing that I'd worry about is how objective these sponsored videos are.  I'm not trying ding Linus or anything and realize it is a business but thats what you have to take into account when compared to the guy who point and shot a review out of his room on a product.

[Jtalk4456]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

It's kind of bizarre because to me, defending Linus' crappy videos by saying "they have to make money" makes about as much sense as defending Battlefront 2's terrible lootbox system with "but EA has to make money!".

I get where you're coming from, but at the same time lootboxes isn't part of the job. We pay them (or not) to make games. So them doing lootboxes is extra for them, it's not related to the purpose of the game and only exists for greed. With sponsored videos, the video and the sponsorship IS the product. The sponsorships allow them access to product to review and money to pay employees with. So I think it's an integral part of what they are offering and is not just a greed play on the side. That being said, I agree that any review channel will in some way or another become an ad channel by nature. The reason I like his videos and I think many like his videos is he is very objective with his reviews compared to some other channels. I've seen many where they get sponsored by a case or something and spend 2 minutes at the beginning of the video reading off a scripted ad straight from the manuf. With linus not only is there personal opinion input in every review, but he's not afraid to tell the company they messed something up. And because of his honest criticism, manufacturers seem to respect his opinion. They keep coming back to sponsor him even after he says their product isn't good enough.

That's just my opinion about it.

[LAwLz]

32 minutes ago, lewdicrous said:

Problem is, consumer satisfaction is subjective and no matter how hard a company tries to appeal to/please their consumers there would always be a group of people who wouldn't like it.

I don't see why that is relevant. Will there always be some people dissatisfied? Probably, but that is not an excuse for making things which most people will probably dislike.

I am not sure if I am misinterpreting your post, I might be, but if I am reading it correctly your argument is that since LTT can't satisfy 100% of their fans, they should not try and make content their fans will enjoy.

That's like saying they shouldn't replace a broken microphone that makes a constant static noise, because some people would still not like the video even if the audio was good.

 

I am not sure if that is your argument or what point you tried to make, but I am fairly sure most of LTT viewers would be happy if all types of sponsorships and ads disappeared. The product placements and ads don't improve the viewing experience. The money they get from the sponsors might improve videos, but that's the effect of the money rather than the product placements and ads. I mean, they don't sell ad-free videos for 3 dollars a month because they think ads improves the viewing experience. Right?

 

My point is that even though you might never satisfy 100% of viewers, you can't just do things you believe will lower the enjoyment your audience has.

 

30 minutes ago, lewdicrous said:

Yes there were more ads than usual but my point was that you don't have to watch them, no one is forcing you to watch their sponsored vids. 

As someone said earlier in the thread, "vote with your eyes"

I see where you're coming from, but I don't think "don't like it, don't watch it" is a valid argument.

Here is a great video which I think hits the nail on the head regarding this, and a lot of what he says applies to this exact thread.

 

[Spotty]

3 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Here is a great video which I think hits the nail on the head regarding this, and a lot of what he says applies to this exact thread.

Not enjoying LTT videos, but fully endorsing a video titled "6 reasons why..."
Let me guess, I won't believe what reason #3 is?

I'm just playing man

[AshleyAshes]

2 hours ago, LAwLz said:

LinusTechTips is an advertisement channel and has been for the past couple of years. You subscribe to get ads into your subscription box.

People on this forum are generally extremely defensive about this cold hard truth because they like the ads. They feel somewhat of a personal connection to Linus and will therefore defend him religiously.

 

It's kind of bizarre because to me, defending Linus' crappy videos by saying "they have to make money" makes about as much sense as defending Battlefront 2's terrible lootbox system with "but EA has to make money!".

 

I have given up on giving constructive criticism, and I recommend you do too.

I actually disagree with this because a LOT about 'tech fandom' like what we see most of the users here being is all about consumerism.  I mean, people will buy computer fans if they are special edition orange LMG fans.  They're just fans.  People have all kinds of 'brand allegiances' on this forum.  People literally post 'I have $20 so how do I spend this RIGHT NOW on Amazon!?'.  There are kids on this forum drooling over things they wish they could buy something.  We've seen people do full rebuilds to replace 6700ks with 7700ks just because they need 'the new hotness'.

 

All of this 'TechTube' silliness is a LOT less about 'Tech' than it is about 'Expensive Status Symbols'

[Spotty]

1 minute ago, AshleyAshes said:

We've seen people do full rebuilds to replace 6700ks with 7700ks just because they need 'the new hotness'.

Which is fantastic for the used market. Means someone who perhaps otherwise couldn't afford it could pick up a perfectly good 6700k while it's still a high performing chip.

[LAwLz]

12 minutes ago, Jtalk4456 said:

I get where you're coming from, but at the same time lootboxes isn't part of the job. We pay them (or not) to make games. So them doing lootboxes is extra for them, it's not related to the purpose of the game and only exists for greed.

This is false.

Loot boxes are taken into account when doing the financial analysis of developing a game, often used as a source of revenue to fund future development of the game (or game series).

If you believe loot boxes are just 100% profit that goes straight into some exec or shareholders pockets then you have a great misunderstanding of the industry.

 

12 minutes ago, Jtalk4456 said:

With sponsored videos, the video and the sponsorship IS the product.

Well it depends.

The video is the product. If the sponsorship is part of the video then yes, the sponsorship is the product (hence why I say LTT is an ad channel). However, the money LTT gets from the sponsorship is not part of the product. The sponsorship itself, as in the contract or the actual exchange of money/services is not part of the final product that is the video. It is merely the thing that funds LTT.

Think of it like this, when you buy a ticket for Avengers, would you say the product you're buying is the experience the movie provides, or is the product you're paying for the piece of paper that allows you to enter the cinema?

Marvel isn't a company that makes tickets. They make movies.

LMG isn't a company that makes sponsorships. They make videos.

 

 

20 minutes ago, Jtalk4456 said:

That being said, I agree that any review channel will in some way or another become an ad channel by nature.

Who exactly are you agreeing with? I certainly never said anything of that nature, and I strongly disagree with it. I haven't seen anyone mention anything even remotely similar to it either.

I think it is entirely possible to have a proper review channel that isn't just pumping out ads. Just because LTT ended up like an ad company doesn't mean others can't succeed in becoming a review channel.

Besides, it's not like Linus was interested in becoming a review channel to begin with. He very early said that he didn't want to focus on reviews.

 

 

23 minutes ago, Jtalk4456 said:

The reason I like his videos and I think many like his videos is he is very objective with his reviews compared to some other channels.

I think it is astonishing that you believe Linus is objective. I'd say he is anything but. Most of the videos I have seen (which I should add aren't that many in recent years) seems to be very, very subjective and comprise mostly of him giving his opinion on things.

 

31 minutes ago, Jtalk4456 said:

he's not afraid to tell the company they messed something up.

You sure about that? There have been several times where Linus has avoided saying negative things. I mean, did he ever acknowledge that Dollar Shave Club are just selling rebranded Dorco razors which you can buy for cheaper on Amazon? And if he did acknowledge it, how long did that take him?

He seems to be very firmly in the camp which believes saying a few positive and a few negative things is how you are unbiased, which is not the case at all.

 

 

4 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

I actually disagree with this because a LOT about 'tech fandom' like what we see most of the users here being is all about consumerism.  I mean, people will buy computer fans if they are special edition orange LMG fans.  They're just fans.  People have all kinds of 'brand allegiances' on this forum.  People literally post 'I have $20 so how do I spend this RIGHT NOW on Amazon!?'.  There are kids on this forum drooling over things they wish they could buy something.  We've seen people do full rebuilds to replace 6700ks with 7700ks just because they need 'the new hotness'.

 

All of this 'TechTube' silliness is a LOT less about 'Tech' than it is about 'Expensive Status Symbols'

Not sure which part of my post you disagree with, because I agree with what you wrote.

Here is a post from me in another thread:

2 hours ago, LAwLz said:

LTT is not a technology channel. It's an entertainment channel people watch to see expensive stuff that Linus usually gets paid to act excited about.

[AshleyAshes]

1 minute ago, Spotty said:

Which is fantastic for the used market. Means someone who perhaps otherwise couldn't afford it could pick up a perfectly good 6700k while it's still a high performing chip.

I mean, personally, I like the weird stuff.  I like Scrapyard Wars or seeing Voodoo cards running in a retro build.  I like seeing modern GPUs tested with Sandy Bridge.

 

I'm bored to DEATH with phone reviews cause in my opinion, so many phones are 'pretty good' bare minimum.  Each one is only kinda maybe sorta better than the last one.  I had a Nexus 4 till it was basically so falling apart that repairing it wasn't economical and I have a Nexus 5X that I'll use till a replacement is necessary.  I won't look at phones till then.  I won't toss this in the trash cause another one has 2 more megapixels than the last one.

 

I'm running an i7 4930k which, with it's overclock, is 'close enough' to a non-K i7 8700 that an 'upgrade' would just be me setting money on fire.  In fact, for this reason alone, I'm MORE interested in tech videos about hardware that can demonstrate 'long legs' and be a good use of your dollar.  This thing just gets a new GPU every 2 years and it's 'basically great'.  I think having a hex core CPU that's still pretty great five years later is way more interesting than buying a new CPU.

 

But I also get it.  People LIKE looking at big expensive shinies.  They can emotionally feel like a 'big deal' when they can drop the money on that expensive shiny.  But we def see that all the time around here.  People get things that maybe they never even needed but they wanted to get something.  I've seen people post "I just got this used server... ...What can I use it for?"  They literally acquired something while having no use case for it before hand, meaning they never wanted or needed it to start with.

[RollTime]

2 hours ago, LAwLz said:

LinusTechTips is an advertisement channel and has been for the past couple of years. You subscribe to get ads into your subscription box.

People on this forum are generally extremely defensive about this cold hard truth because they like the ads. They feel somewhat of a personal connection to Linus and will therefore defend him religiously.

 

It's kind of bizarre because to me, defending Linus' crappy videos by saying "they have to make money" makes about as much sense as defending Battlefront 2's terrible lootbox system with "but EA has to make money!".

 

I have given up on giving constructive criticism, and I recommend you do too.

That's frankly ridiculous. LMG does have a lot of sponsored videos, it's true, but from what I've seen they do try and remain objective. The cold hard truth is that LMG is a much bigger operation than most youtube channels. They have a warehouse, around 20 employees, and expensive cameras. Compare that to someone like Austin Evans which is a two-three person outfit. LMG is also no longer just a channel. They are a "media group" and Linus definitely has plans for expansion of what they do. All this requires a lot of cash, and it has to come from somewhere. 

 

In terms of your comparison to Battlefront 2, you have to pay $60 for Battlefront 2 outright. LMG is free to watch unless you want Floatplane. Capitalism works off exchanging currency for goods an services. You give EA money and you get to play the game. You watch Linus' ads and you get to enjoy his unique content.

[AshleyAshes]

18 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Not sure which part of my post you disagree with, because I agree with what you wrote.

I disagree with the comparison to Loot Boxes.  As I see it, people are playing games to PLAY GAMES and the dev uses that to try to sell them a lot of extra crap they don't necessarily need or that they engineered the game to make them need.  In contrast, at least with a lot of TechTube, people are coming to SEE THE COMMERCIAL.  The whole video is a commercial and that is what they came to see.  They didn't come for something else and get tricked into consumerist desires, they came to feed consumerist desires in the first place.

[LAwLz]

2 minutes ago, RollTime said:

That's frankly ridiculous. LMG does have a lot of sponsored videos, it's true, but from what I've seen they do try and remain objective.

When you say "objective", do you mean unbiased?

I can see why some believe they are unbiased (I strongly believe they are heavily biased and conflict shy when suggesting products) but I can't for the life of me understand how someone can think they are objective. A huge portion of all of their videos are entirely subjective.

Just take the recent OnePlus video as an example. It was mostly a product overview rather than a review. Whenever he did review something about the phone (and by review I mean appraised something) it was almost entirely subjective. For example saying the screen looks good is subjective. This is what an objective (and in-depth) screen review looks like.

 

 

21 minutes ago, RollTime said:

The cold hard truth is that LMG is a much bigger operation than most youtube channels. They have a warehouse, around 20 employees, and expensive cameras. Compare that to someone like Austin Evans which is a two-three person outfit. LMG is also no longer just a channel. They are a "media group" and Linus definitely has plans for expansion of what they do. All this requires a lot of cash, and it has to come from somewhere. 

I don't think you understand how companies work. Again, LMG is not a charity which relies on the good will of their viewers to stay afloat. They are a business and the reason why they got all those employees, cameras, warehouse etc is so that they could produce more and better videos, which in turn should provide them with more money.

Imagine if people started justifying the loot boxes in Battlefront 2 by saying EA just bought a bunch of really expensive computers and employed some more people. That is what you're doing right now.

 

Again, you and I as viewers should not give two craps about their financial status or how they manage their budgets. What we should care about is the quality of work they deliver to us, their customers and viewers. If a company do not deliver the quality you expect, or start shifting the balance too much towards revenue at the expensive of customer satisfaction then I think people should complain. People should not take pity on companies and go "I don't like what they are doing but they need the money so I'll endure it". Again, LMG is a company, not a charity.

[LAwLz]

13 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

I disagree with the comparison to Loot Boxes.  As I see it, people are playing games to PLAY GAMES and the dev uses that to try to sell them a lot of extra crap they don't necessarily need or that they engineered the game to make them need.  In contrast, at least with a lot of TechTube, people are coming to SEE THE COMMERCIAL.  The whole video is a commercial and that is what they came to see.  They didn't come for something else and get tricked into consumerist desires, they came to feed consumerist desires in the first place.

But, that is what I said in my post.

I said:

Quote

LinusTechTips is an advertisement channel and has been for the past couple of years. You subscribe to get ads into your subscription box.

People on this forum are generally extremely defensive about this cold hard truth because they like the ads.

 

Me bringing up loot boxes was just an analogy to how bizarre I think the entire "this company needs to make money, so I as a consumer will put up with crap" mentality is to me.

I wasn't saying the situations were the same. Analogies are usually not 1:1.

My point was that, consumers should only care about the quality of product a company puts out. They should not start taking pity on companies and put up with worse quality just because it might make the company more money. The entire thing is extremely bizarre to me.

[SLCH]

Im fine with it.