If you watch a lot automotive YouTube, you’ve in all probability seen a slew of “why we’re leaving” movies being posted by folks working for a few of the largest automotive YouTube channels on the web. Donut. Hoonigan. CarThrottle. It seems like all people is quitting, however it additionally feels completely different than the group of huge YouTubers who introduced they’re retiring or taking a step again from their channels. So what’s the deal right here? These are dream jobs that so many individuals would kill to have, and now they’re simply strolling away?
The reply comes from YouTuber AutoTea, who used to work for Donut Media. If you don’t acknowledge him, it’s in all probability as a result of he principally labored behind the scenes. He labored on 136 movies between 2021 and 2024, so he’s in all probability acquired a reasonably good concept of what’s taking place at Donut and different related media firms. According to him, the reason being cash, however not the form of cash you’re pondering of.
It’s true that the auto business doesn’t pay properly. You get to do some actually cool stuff, however your precise wage is mostly fairly low. Like, “good luck ever having kids without a spouse who makes bank” low. But whereas lack of revenue is definitely a difficulty, AutoTea claims the larger downside is enterprise capital and personal fairness. Investors have purchased up most of the largest automotive YouTube channels, and as soon as they took over, their objective was to make as a lot cash as attainable in a enterprise with persistently low revenue margins.
They additionally add layers of further administration, and people soft salaries should be paid for one way or the other. The solely possibility is to chop prices. So workers and budgets get slashed, however the remaining staff are nonetheless anticipated to extend income by doing extra with much less. The new administration additionally tends to not belief the individuals who initially constructed the channel into what it turned and sometimes refuses to fund initiatives that it sees as too dangerous or costly.
New house owners additionally consider the model is extra necessary than the employees who constructed the model, treating everybody like they’re interchangeable and replaceable. So they’re not rewarded for making movies that earn extra money for the corporate, which means all their onerous work simply goes to line the pockets of executives who didn’t even hassle to study the enterprise within the first place. After years of being advised to do extra with much less simply to allow them to make different folks richer, they find yourself quitting. It’s a bummer.
Source: jalopnik.com