Frustrations with the marketing of LTT merchandise

[Forbidden Wafer]

1 hour ago, Needfuldoer said:

Three-minute baked-in ads for subscription meal kit services, anyone?

You don't like Vite Ramen?

 

[PrawnyUK]

34 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

No.  Most people would not agree, you nor I can't possibly know either way.

 

It is NOT a necessary part of their business.  Yes, it helps sell products.  No, they do not have to do it this way.  Hell, enough of them use the products or wear them in the videos you never once have to mention them.

 

Also, they make enough revenue off their other streams (which they've been transparent about) to cover things.  Merch sales are icing on the cake.

 

If Linus mentioning the screwdriver to the camera, which he is using to build the PC, is what it takes you to buy one... you are a LEMMING (generic you, not you you).  100% plain and simple.

 

So yes, they could do product mentions in other places and not interrupt things.

Agree there are other less egregious ways to promote and sell products. For example focusing on the LTT brand, they need to build confidence in the content for both accuracy and quality. Would personally be more likely to buy something if I respect the values of the brand/company and what they represent. 

[IrishDiem]

I have floatplane and I have YT Premium - I watched on whatever one I happen to be on. In any given LTT thing I watch I dont think that any more than 15 seconds is actual advert. Is that really so hard to stomach? I get that the kids today have no attention span and would be agast at the infomercials we would have to watch with no fast forward or skip in the 80s and 90s but nothing on LTT is agressive marketing. 

[ScoggsUK]

1 hour ago, PrawnyUK said:

Agree there are other less egregious ways to promote and sell products. For example focusing on the LTT brand, they need to build confidence in the content for both accuracy and quality. Would personally be more likely to buy something if I respect the values of the brand/company and what they represent. 

Almost like how you need to build confidence in the validity of the point your making having joined 5 hours ago...

 

Comes across that you just want to moan.

[BabaGanuche]

3 hours ago, Mertrodome said:

Used to be that Firefox let you still turn the screen off and have stuff still play, but that stopped at some point.

Firefox mobile still does, I just tested it.

[PrawnyUK]

21 minutes ago, ScoggsUK said:

Almost like how you need to build confidence in the validity of the point your making having joined 5 hours ago...

 

Comes across that you just want to moan.

Well of course isn't that the point of a discussion to explain your argument or point of view? If you disagree with my opnion please explain?

[djenson]

I do think were crying a bit too much about the LTTstore.com ads. They are *seconds* long. If you don't like the humour, you're on the wrong channel. 
Sponsors are a necessary evil and generally only at the start and end, which i respect unlike some where they put it slap dash in the middle of content. 

[ItTakes2ToMango]

3 hours ago, Dedayog said:

No.  Most people would not agree, you nor I can't possibly know either way.

 

 

That's not true actually. The fact that they continue to do it is proof enough that people either do not mind or like it because it's the most successful option for them.

 

3 hours ago, Dedayog said:

It is NOT a necessary part of their business.  Yes, it helps sell products.  No, they do not have to do it this way.  Hell, enough of them use the products or wear them in the videos you never once have to mention them.

 

It's the second MOST necessary part of their business, easily bringing in the most cash aside from sponsors. They don't sell even half as many without mentioning it, and if you think they do, then you understand literally nothing of marketing.

 

3 hours ago, Dedayog said:

If Linus mentioning the screwdriver to the camera, which he is using to build the PC, is what it takes you to buy one... you are a LEMMING (generic you, not you you).  100% plain and simple.

 

 

That's just rude, man. You don't have a logical reason for this being somehow inferior to whatever it is that makes you buy something. It's their money, dude.

 

[Soid]

Their merch plugs are pretty quick, and there are only a couple a video. They timestamp their videos so sponsor spots are really easy to skip if you want (though theirs are far better than most). I find their marketing relatively inoffensive, and it's the price I pay to get the content I consume.

 

I do find it amusing that people in this thread claimed they stopped watching... but then what are they doing on the forum?

[RobGMun]

Doesn't bother me in the slightest, as you say it's so fast that it only last a couple of seconds and I always skip the segway at the end. 

 

It only bothers me a bit on the WAN show because at times a 3rd of the show can be about the LTT store but then I use the Time Stamp guy to get around that

[SansVarnic]

On 8/18/2023 at 4:19 PM, Soid said:

then what are they doing on the forum?

Not uncommon. We have a lot of members that are here for the community but not the channel.

[e22big]

On 8/18/2023 at 10:45 PM, PrawnyUK said:

Subscribe to YouTube premium specifically to avoid advertisements and marketing. Had unsubscribed from the LTT channels long ago because of the aggressive, unnecessary and distasteful marketing strategy. Have never understood why LTT think it's acceptable to constantly peddle their products (merch) at every available opportunity in some pseudo-comedic diatribe, it wasn’t funny the first time!

Understand that advertising/marketing is sometimes a necessary evil, especially as an aid to organisational and channel growth. Perhaps during the recently announced period of self-introspection LTT can re-evaluate the marketing strategy and make it more palatable for the audience.

 

Are there other members of the community who feel the same way?

 

Note to Mods: Have tried to avoid overt reference to the current situation. Thought now is a good time to post my frustrations with the channels marketing of merch in an objective manner. Hope this is acceptable.

I have to agree, to be fair, I've found their ads better than most. It's not that hard to skip and it's not some like a one minute tutorial on how to install Windows keys or Rage plug-in that just go on and on forever. 

 

But they are walking on thin ice with the amount of ads they've pluged in every video. They must have overhire/overinvest if they needed to plug in that huge amount of ads just to make some bucks off their video.

[Morgan Everett]

On 8/18/2023 at 4:45 PM, PrawnyUK said:

Subscribe to YouTube premium specifically to avoid advertisements and marketing. Had unsubscribed from the LTT channels long ago because of the aggressive, unnecessary and distasteful marketing strategy. Have never understood why LTT think it's acceptable to constantly peddle their products (merch) at every available opportunity in some pseudo-comedic diatribe, it wasn’t funny the first time!

Understand that advertising/marketing is sometimes a necessary evil, especially as an aid to organisational and channel growth. Perhaps during the recently announced period of self-introspection LTT can re-evaluate the marketing strategy and make it more palatable for the audience.

 

Are there other members of the community who feel the same way?

 

Note to Mods: Have tried to avoid overt reference to the current situation. Thought now is a good time to post my frustrations with the channels marketing of merch in an objective manner. Hope this is acceptable.

I find the extent of the advertising a bit much. At least on desktop there's a Chrome extension that can filter it out, but unfortunately that doesn't help when I'm watching on my TV.

[Cooldoe]

43 minutes ago, Morgan Everett said:

I find the extent of the advertising a bit much. At least on desktop there's a Chrome extension that can filter it out, but unfortunately that doesn't help when I'm watching on my TV.

Compared to other youtuber I think their ads is ok. Some other that I watch their sponsor segment can be exhausting

[Heeroo]

On 8/18/2023 at 6:46 PM, ImpliedSilence said:

No just the adverts that are already removed with a youtube sub.

No, the inbuilt sponsor spots are not removed on YouTube premium. 

[Heeroo]

On 8/18/2023 at 11:28 PM, RobGMun said:

Doesn't bother me in the slightest, as you say it's so fast that it only last a couple of seconds and I always skip the segway at the end. 

 

It only bothers me a bit on the WAN show because at times a 3rd of the show can be about the LTT store but then I use the Time Stamp guy to get around that

It’s actually ok for me there. Much deep insights and so on. 

[RobGMun]

56 minutes ago, Heeroo said:

It’s actually ok for me there. Much deep insights and so on. 

It can be if you're interested in the manufacturing side of things, some titbits can actually be interesting. But when it becomes all about introducing new items for the store or just talking about items then my eyes glaze over because I'm in Europe so the chances of me actually getting anything is pretty slim, and these sections can go on for 30-40mins sometimes. Stamp guy to the rescue! 

[Fire_Burns_22]

There's litterally videos about how they make money. lttstore.com is a HUGE part of how they can do what they do. So yes the product plugs are necessary to keep the revenue flowing as it does. 

 

[InABoxMedia]

Wait until you find out about product placements. 

[Lurking]

There are browser addins to prevent YT ads and much of the creator-advertisement. Where they lack, use fast-forward. If that all isn't good enough, unsubscribe.

 

The point of every business is to generate revenue. This isn't evil, just part of reality. For LMG that is ads and the store. Making videos is just a necessity to draw in people. If sponsors would give them money without any videos, and people would buy LMG shirts regardless, Linus would stop making videos. 

 

Except of some pur DIY hobbyists, any larger high quality channel relies on some revenue. LMG has 100 staff and other expenses. What do you think that gets paid from?

[Madpaatch]

Apparently you're not the only one  (courtesy of reddit's u/TheTick42 post in /r/LinusTechTips/)  

[ImperialKnightErrant]

SponsorBlock is a must-have for YouTube, given the amount of built-in ads everywhere nowadays

[Evanga]

It's fine, i like them using it as a running gag. I bought the LTT backpack and i love it. Best bag ever, and I am content with helping to support a company with this amount of employees. 

[captaintemerity]

I grew up with commercial TV and radio and I actually enjoy quality advertising.  I will happily sit through host-read ads over the generic crapfire of ads that pop up from YouTube/Google any day of the week.

As for LLT's merch in general, there are other people out there who review their stuff, and if I'm interested in buying something, I'd go check those beforehand.  Just like anything else.  But I find the 'ads' about their own products are pretty understated verses the paid sponsors.

At this point in time, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple seem to have a quadopoly for online advertising and that's going to mean less incentives for them to pay out to people who display those ads over time (already happening), so I see what LMG is doing is getting ahead of that issue before the whole thing dries up.  There used to be click-through ads on blogs and webcomics.  Notice how all that stuff has gone to Patreon or other methods to get support directly from fans?  That's because that ad-revenue went away.  YouTube and Twitch and whatever will continue to pay less and ask for more.  They're dropping the ability to link from shorts to a heavy degree.

I don't know.  I just think this is a reasonable and smart way to run the business, to allow it to keep being a business.  And, like I said, I generally find the advertising on these videos informative or entertaining (sometimes both). 

[Jerakl]

I've never really had an issue with it.
Sometimes it's genuinely kinda funny and a 4 second "like this/these (product(s)) - L T T store dot com" is way better than a 3 minute montage of them cooking a hello fresh meal lmao.