[F1Venom]

I know that Chris Harris is revered by most of us as the best automotive journalist in this day and age, but where the hell are his car reviews?! I know he's with /Drive and a couple of months ago they signed something with CNBC sports, but Chris hasn't posted a car review in nearly two months (last one being the BMW i8).
I've been waiting for his M4 review since April when most other journalists reviewed the car, but he's gone AWOL. Anybody have any info as to when he gets back?

[See5]

He's been racing. Check his Twitter.

https://twitter.com/harrismonkey

[F1Venom]

I saw the /Drive channel uploaded a 2 min clip of Chris Harris driving the LaFerrari. If we want to see the rest of the video we have to subscribe to /Drive+ for $4/month.

[KingOfJericho]

Not surprisingly, he's probably under contract with several outlets so I don't think he'll be posting nearly as many reviews as he has in past years

[AW335TT]

Someone else posted the full video of the LaFerrari

[M3WC]

Originally Posted by AW335TT

Someone else posted the full video of the LaFerrari

Link

[Year's_End]

Check out Matt Farrah's reasoning behind the inconsistent content delivery and need to switch to a subscription network by viewing his commentary on reddit.

Profile link: http://www.reddit.com/u/thesmokingtire

The main gist is that they were initially backed by YouTube funding for their initial bout of content. YouTube doesn't exactly pay well, and apparently they don't choose to pay on a regular basis, so funds were irregular or nonexistent at times.

Their filming and editing incur heavy overhead; that F40 Harris episode cost something like $9,000 to shoot. They need sustainable income in order to keep the network alive now that their agreement with YouTube has ended. This new /DRIVE network will be a little different. There will still be free content, although it will be a little briefer than what we're used to seeing. Pay-to-view content will be lengthy and frequent, and the subscription rate is inline with other PPV channels. It's entirely reasonable and anyone who likes the guys at /DRIVE should show some support. Unlike other channels such as EVOtv, Motor Trend, etc., /DRIVE doesn't have any other form of income. I want to see the channel thrive. Harris, Musto, and Farrah all have a unique style and voice and it would be a shame to see us lose this.

[M3WC]

Watched the Harris's LaFerrari review. Wan't that great.

[Year's_End]

The irregular YouTube funding also went hand in hand with the occasional drought of content, like lack of CH reviews or any videos from the rest if the crew.

[M3WC]

If Drive ever loses Chris, their subscriptions will plummet.

Won't be hard to find free sources of the full length content.

[Year's_End]

Possibly. Viewers will have to vote with their wallet and show how much they actually support him. Me personally? I like Harris's work and appreciate his abilities, but I get more actual enjoyment watching Musto (pure passion like Chris, just less pomp) and even Farrah at times.

A good analogy by Matt that hit home and will make me a subscriber:

That's fine, but understand our position too. here's a scenario:
let's say, hypothetically, I had a baller house on the beach, right? And every weekend I threw a raging party. Hundreds of people would come, drink my booze, eat my food, smoke my weed, whatever, and all for free. For 2 years, I had a rager every weekend, and people came and had a great time.
Now, I've gone broke, but I still want to have a party every weekend, and the people who come to those parties have been coming for years, for free, but I'm asking them to chip in for the booze, or the food, for once, because otherwise I can't have a party at all.
People don't just refuse to chip in, they get mad, because they supported you and came to your parties all those years. you're turning your back on all those people who won't came to "support" your party, Even though it was free.
Feel me?
I can understand Jay Z "thanking all his fans and supporters" because they buy his concert tickets, and his CD's, and his Vodka, or whatever. They spend money on his shit.
So while we're very happy to have fans, and we're sorry to see some of them go, they were just enjoying the free party, so we don't really owe them anything anymore, do we?

There are no sustainable, predictable alternatives to a subscription model besides this. Kickstarter/crowdfunding is a one-time deal. You don't do that shit every year. YouTube ad revenue doesn't cut it. And the only sponsors for car shit with enough cash to float our boat are the OEM's, and we have no plans to ruin the impartiality that is /DRIVE content.

that's fine, we only need 2% of our 1.4M subscribers to sign up for + in order to keep the lights on. So while, mentally, it sucks, financially, we can alienate 98% of our audience and continue to produce videos for the small percentage who will appreciate it. That may sound cold, but we're in survival mode and the alternative is not making videos at all.

People don't realize that the reason for those gaps in content from /DRIVE were because we counted on YouTube's money to produce shit. When you're YouTube, you have the option to just... not pay people sometimes. Or pay late. Or pay whenever you feel like it. So if you saw a gap in content, it was because YouTube elected not to pay us that month, leaving us dead in the water. After 2 years, (like, back in January), the money stopped entirely. Which is why you haven't seen regular videos; we had no money and had to figure out what the fuck to do.
The whole point of the subscription model is not to be greedy and line our pockets, it's to set up a sustainable, predictable business where we know how much cash is coming in, YouTube can't fuck around with us and hold us up, and we can produce content consistently.
So while you have a valid point about "knowing there's a beer there," the goal for us is to produce great content consistently, year round. And the ONLY way for us to do that is to have a guaranteed, consistent source of income: subscribers.

[M3WC]

Only show I would possibly pay to watch on youtube would be Roadkill. Find that show amusing. Jay Lenos Garage isn't bad either.

Besides Chris, the other content on Drive I couldn't care less about. I actually enjoy Evo, Autocar, Auto Express reviews better lately, than Chris Harris.

[Year's_End]

Originally Posted by JetBlack5OC

Only show I would possibly pay to watch on youtube would be Roadkill. Find that show amusing. Jay Lenos Garage isn't bad either.

Besides Chris, the other content on Drive I couldn't care less about. I actually enjoy Evo, Autocar, Auto Express reviews better lately, than Chris Harris.

I agree with that last sentence, especially regarding EVO. I subscribe to their e-magazine and that's a size able fee too...like $50 a year.

It all comes down to how much value you think you'll get out of it. I think $4/month is definitely worth roughly 3 hours of content per month. Then again, I like everything that /DRIVE pumps out.

I'm just not a fan of people leeching off of content and then expecting to get it free without question. Unpopular opinion here, but I think torrents are scummy.

[F1Venom]

I agree. Getting mad that they want to make a buck is stupid. I mean in a perfect society the free YouTube videos /Drive puts out would continue to come, but if they don't have the money to drive the cars and do the shoots, then their channel will disappear. And apparently they only need 28k subscribers to continue running the channel which isn't that bad. That's $112k/month?

[PINeely]

I thought Ferrari had banned him from driving their cars. Did he review a customer car again?

[MikeyV]

Originally Posted by PINeely

I thought Ferrari had banned him from driving their cars. Did he review a customer car again?

He bought an FF last year.

[PINeely]

Originally Posted by MikeyV

He bought an FF last year.

Right, but I mean their press cars. Sorry I should have clarified.

[jhon hilpher]

he is been racing