/DRIVE frontman and motoring journalist Chris Harris is currently feeling the pinch that many newspapers are feeling around the world right now: you make someone pay for content online that they had always received for free.
After reading some of the savage comments on the Ferarri FF video he uploaded on /DRIVE this week, Harris took to Twitter to once again defend the decision to monetise the motoring channel:
Woke up and assumed I’d machine-gunned a classroom of primary school children. But had in fact only put 4min free FF video on YT. #comments
— chris harris (@harrismonkey) August 21, 2014
Some corking comments in there! And virtually no discussion of the car itself. Which is a bit odd. I REALLY miss the FF. It was so good.
— chris harris (@harrismonkey) August 21, 2014
Key thing to remember is this: If I could make enough cash through ads and sponsorship, I’d still give vids away for free. For now, I can’t.
— chris harris (@harrismonkey) August 21, 2014
The hate all stems from /DRIVE’s decision to make viewers start paying for the frankly excellent content the channel produces.
In an explanation on PistonHeads, Chris Harris says that when the channel was born in 2011, it was funded by YouTube for two years. After that arrangement ended in 2013, the team had to make alternative plans to keep the show going.
Splashing out £9000 for production costs on a video like the Ferrari F50 vs F40 track battle, /DRIVE has only made £4800 in advertising revenue in the 11 months since that video hit the world’s largest video sharing website. The trend continues with the other content that the team produces, and they get only 55 per cent of the total ad money with the rest going straight to YouTube’s coffers. The plan that they’ve come up with is that to survive, a flat-rate per-month subscription fee is necessary — on a new channel that will host the same 10-15 minute videos as you’re used to watching for free, as well as newer segments and longer, more detailed reviews.
Since then, commenters have spent their days savaging Harris and /DRIVE for the decision. It’s probably time that stopped, to be honest. Grow up, you lot.
If the din of haters gets too loud, who knows: maybe Harris and the /DRIVE team will just give it away. Then there’s no supercar fun for any of us.
Bottom line: pay for it if you want more, otherwise, watch the free stuff and keep quiet.