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The Suburu still has me thinking. Really the responses you were getting are telling you something. A large population of your viewership are the Vin Deisel/Fast n’ Furious kids. I grew up on old Muscle Cars with big block engines, but they didn’t. They’re all about Tokyo drifting a NOS’ed Toyota n’ such….and that’s a large part of your popularity. You’re a Toyota/Honda man! You’re helping them keep that rusting $1500 dream alive! You’re like, they’re hero dude!
So give them what they want. Not the Suburu but the right car.(whatever that is-to me its an SS Camaro cuz I don’t know Hondas, but we’re not talking about me) Anyway,take them through the process of finding a used car-(show them shopping the ads./checking it out/dragging it out of the pasture).. and pulling it into the shop for a complete pimp job. Show’m what they’re getting into. Throw a NOS system in it! Put a big stereo in the back that goes boom at the stop lights! ..and lots of bling bling on a canary yellow/lime green paint job! Make it into its own little series. You’d pick up 5 thousand viewers on the stereo and NOS system alone-(remember, this is a business decision)
You could segment your show into catagories like that. The Hotrod, bread n’ butter repairs, ecomodder, etc. …a broad audience appeal. Everyone feels included and everyone is getting what they want from Eric the Car Guy…the Advertiser gods will smile upon you.
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That don’t describe me at all. I like both import and domestic vehicles. I just like Japanese due to the cornering ability they have. A muscle car such as yours wont go around a corner at a speed were my import will. But yes most muscle cars are not designed for cornering, designed for the 1/4 mile times. I also hate the use of NOS..destroys an engine from the inside out. I am more of the “sleeper” person. May look stock, but don’t race me, I will fly past you. But I do like the Fast and Furious movies, dont get me wrong; just those cars belong on the big screen, not on the street.
I hear and understand where you’re coming from with that suggestion, in fact that is exactly what I had in mind for the series not so much showing how to make a car perform better but to also explore the theory and practice behind it. In a way I was hoping to encounter a lot of difficulty just to show it’s much easier to SAY you want to make something old and slow go fast and that it’s quite another to actually do it. During the series I wanted to show that it often involves more than people think to do that type of work. Just bolting on a bunch of ‘go fast’ parts isn’t going to cut it. In the end I felt I my audience would be better served by covering some of the background on those systems in a basic way i.e. showing the principals of making power and how engines and transmission operate normally before modification so that the engineering behind them would become more clear. I feel this would be key to the performance videos because if you don’t understand the principals of how those systems work it’s no good trying to modify and re-engineer them.
That said I didn’t feel the Subaru was a good candidate for that type of work and at some point I’ll seek out another vehicle that’s more in line for performance and more practical for upgrades. In the mean time I hope to continue to cover the basics and also keep up with the repair videos that made my show what it is today. To be honest I would also like to see if I could get a production crew to come in, it takes FOREVER to make these videos I make because I have to do EVERYTHING. It would be great to just focus on the content and not have to worry about production for once.
In short I’ve thought about this, I’ve thought about this a lot. ETCG is my life and I want it to be the best repair show I can make it. Thanks for your suggestions.
A production crew would kill ya economically unless you were doing a sponsored show for Sears or someone. There should be ways around that though, and who would want to be Sears corporate b**** anyway. Video can be uploaded and you can probably find someone on the Internet to do your editing for you for a nominal fee, some RTF student trying to make a few bucks for college for example.
You also could use a second set of hands. Maybe an internship for an aspiring/tech. saavy future mechanic/film student who could shoot the footage/set up lights, etc. for you while you work and explain what’s going on and focus on content.
This would probably allow you to double your production, focus more on content and viewership, and, though I don’t know how you get paid; I’m guessing by advertising hits, justify a modest expense and maybe a few headaches having to deal with other people. Hell, you could get interns to work for free from the local college just to get their feet wet at producing a show. That would be quite shiney on their resume, turning a youtube hero into an even slicker production with major viewership. (I worked in Television once upon a time, for a TV station and a consulting firm just so ya know. It’s such a tough field to break into that you could get an intern with a Masters degree who would do it for free just to get his/her feet wet.)
You’re in a very cool position. It’s a new frontier and the only thing that limits it is your imagination/creativity and energy you put into it.
By the way you do a great job all by yourself! …a very slick production and you have something of a celebrity personality. People like you. That’s important…you can’t imagine how important. Your kung fu is good! Just need to expand viewership, pull more people in, get more folks involved, which means more cash-flow for anything you want to do.If you feel a full production crew is within the budget, by all means that’s exactly what you need to do. Sounds like we both know though, through real world experience, that getting other people to produce what we’re looking for is always more trouble than doing it oneself.
I couldn’t help noticing in many ways you seem exhausted and could use some help, and I didn’t know if you had considered the ‘intern’ alternative or not, so I threw it out there. A couple of your videos even had a frustrated tone to them, and I’ve been around the block too many times not to know that comes from being overwhelmed and over-worked.
Anyway, I’m a big fan, not only because you’re showing me how to work on all these old cars I have around here (having a ball doing it now that I’m armed with knowledge), but also because I’m in awe of what you’ve accomplished. You’re pulling off something that most people just daydream about when they’re unsatisfied with their career drudgery. You’ve taken it ‘outside the box’ and created something new…took a tangent and made it work. That must be the artist in ya…that right-brain looking at things a different way. (I do metal work and sculpture so I recognize how your wheels turn).
By the way, don’t feel obliged to respond if this is taking up too much of your time. I’m just enjoying your community and shooting the breeze. I can’t offer any automotive advice but I’m a little more than ‘wet behind the ears’ on video production, so I just thought I would throw my two cents in for what its worth.I don’t think I need a ‘full’ production crew, just a shooter and an editor would be nice but as you pointed out it’s not easy to find good people these days. I’m actually in contact with a local school that does video I just need to find the time to get down there and talk with them.
Perhaps I do need a break however that’s difficult as I’m concerned about loosing relevance if I stay away too long. If I were to take a break from anything I’d rather take a break from the forum and email as those things take up more time than anything and also take away from production time. Thing is that I advertise that you can get help from me on this site so I have to be available at least to some degree. As you pointed out what I do is so ‘new’ it’s hard to figure out where the balance is.
Thank you for your understanding and comments on my work, not many people relate to what I do and it’s nice to be recognized for it. I’m also a little disappointed that I’m not a better actor as I try very hard to come off in a positive way in my videos but it seems that’s not the case based on your observations. I suppose I’ll have to work a little harder at that.
I’ve always thought that the “cool import” mods should be left to MightyCarMods. They do exactly what you have mentioned, and they do it well. ETCG is more of a serious repair channel IMO.
I guess it depends on what the goals are, LJ. If viewership means revenue, the important thing is to pull in as many viewers as you can. Make things too exclusive and cliquish (is that a word?), and you start alienating viewers. …i.e. “we only cater to ‘techs’. We only work on Hondas.” So 5000 viewers are passing ya by to check out ‘MightyCarMods’ and the target audience ends up being a hand full of middle-aged gearheads who are too busy making a living to spend much time on the computer anyway.
The money is in the numbers and there’s no reason that I can think of not to capitalize on ‘MightyCarMods’ popularity where their viewers are ‘clicking’ right on over to Eric’s channel too. It’s just like the gas stations figuring out why let dollars roll down the street when people getting gas can buy that soda pop and newspaper here.
But then again, getting spread too thin for a one-man-show is also a jeopardy.You’re right about it being a numbers game but my proposed partnership with MCM is more because I really like their channel and their work. I don’t know if you’ve watched any of their videos but they do real world testing on performance parts, they don’t appear to have major sponsors selling their wears on their channel getting in the way of their content either. So in a way I see them as offering to the performance world what I offer to the repair world. I see this as a good opportunity to bring 2 great channels together for a little collab. I’m not saying I want this to be the future of ETCG but I like to give credit where credit is due. This video is a prime example of why I like their channel so much.
ALL of the collaborations I’ve done have benefited both parties, I think they’re a great way to grow an audience but also a way to get a different perspective on a given topic which in my opinion this industry could use more of. There seems to be a lot of close-mindedness in the repair field and personally that’s something I’d like to see change.
Actually I didn’t know of any collaboration or ever heard of MightyMods until now. I was just pointing out the importance of not neglecting a demographic who spend a lot of time clicking on videos.
I really like the idea of “so ya want a hotrod, kid? Here’s what you’re getting into, cuz I know your mind is made up.” I think that appeals to me because, as I’m typing this, I’m looking at a pic of my old 68 SS Camaro. I was way in over my head but I didn’t care and it was absolutely glorious…lolI didn’t know about the collaboration either, I was only using them as the first example that came to mind of a channel centered around “souping up” your cheap import for cheap.
I always DREAMED of a 69 Camaro SS/RS 396 4 speed in my driveway, never got it though. Perhaps some day.
Make it happen dude. You have the skilz. You could find a shell and the World would watch ya put it together!
Perhaps some day but I’d rather put together some money to put my kids through collage. Cars like that are money pits in so many ways and you become afraid to drive them for fear of rock chips or someone doing something stupid on the road. Besides I think it’ll be a while before I have that kind of disposable income. I will continue to dream though.
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