[vik99]

Originally Posted by amitayu

But in this entire discussion we are not addressing the elephant in the house: people watch these videos because they do not trust reviews of professional portals, because all these reviews are obviously 'paid' and biased...

There is another elephant we are missing, the platforms should be held responsible for the content they host.

Such content encourages reckless behaviour. The content creators are breaking laws and making money out of streaming those videos. The platforms are making even more money thanks to advertising. Self regulation has a hard time being functional when there is profit to be made. This goes under the radar as it passes off as silly fun for most people, but in a country with a road safety record such as ours, it only makes matters worse.

Originally Posted by amitayu

SO, why doesn't Team BHP take things further and posts videos of reviews? We can ofcourse have a detailed written content on the site!

About time

[fhdowntheline]

The question of whether content delivery platforms are responsible or not is a vexed legal game. Because by that definition, anyone on social media is liable.It is the era of cheap bandwidth, good digital cameras and streaming media as an outlet. Who knows, this will transform into something else that will make streaming media as much a part of collective nostalgia as Doordarshan is on YT currently.

[Kln]

Originally Posted by ron178

Safety issues aside, a point I fail to comprehend is how irrelevant these reviews are to the average buyer. Look at a Team-BHP review instead. Sure, there is a detailed description of the top-end performance and fun-to-drive factor, but there is equal importance given to practicality, refinement, safety, in-city drivability etc.

The most incredible thing about youtubers commenting on the safety of a car is how they determine it by the 'thud' of the door closing. No mention of the build materials, NCAP ratings, airbags, TPMS, nothing. Pretty sure most of them actively stay away from that discussions because they don't want to lose access to new media drives.

[vigneshkumar31]

I was so so earnestly meaning to start a thread on this.
Especially Ive seen an exponential degree of irresponsible vlogs/reviews for the Safari 2021. It seems every dummy on the road has access to a Safari to wreck it.

[vik99]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

The question of whether content delivery platforms are responsible or not is a vexed legal game. Because by that definition, anyone on social media is liable.It is the era of cheap bandwidth, good digital cameras and streaming media as an outlet. Who knows, this will transform into something else that will make streaming media as much a part of collective nostalgia as Doordarshan is on YT currently.

The least the platforms could do is remove content once it is reported. They already do it for certain stuff. Unless the platforms start removing such content no amount of dislikes or comments will have any effect. The cycle of will be never ending.

[nettooran]

Originally Posted by Govardhansupra

All these antics are done for views and nothing else.
Would you watch a slow driving video with full of knowledge speaking or a POV video full of rash driving and loud talking?
These kinds of people do not deserve test-drive cars.



Yes, that is my favourite Youtube channel now.
Even his partner Vivek, is a Team-BHPian in the id of Vivekji05.

Yup..They are the best. Sad part is that they talk in malayalam. At least with subtitles , they can reach out to wider audience. Not for their benefit, but for the original car enthusiasts who do not understand malayalam

For car reviews as such, gagan chowdry wins my vote. Mellowed, detailed and crisp.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by Kln

There is a channel by Anshuman Bishnoi that has some really dangerous offroading being attempted by some of the worst drivers I've had the displeasure of watching. I hope someone tells it is incredibly unsafe the way he's encouraging people to drive their vehicles.

Haven't seen them driving on public roads. Massive respect for them (Northern Overlanders) in testing the limits of their off roaders. If they are having fun without harming anyone else or endangering others, am all for it.

Most videos I have seen are of them in deserts or some isolated trials, not climbing over medians or footpaths.

Originally Posted by amitayu

But in this entire discussion we are not addressing the elephant in the house: people watch these videos because they do not trust reviews of professional portals, because all these reviews are obviously 'paid' and biased. More often than not, I have heard narrators simply parrot statements issued from the PR agency, which you can read in the brochure of direct PR content distributed by the company.
These influencers draw legitimacy from their supposed 'unbiased' opinions
SO, why doesn't Team BHP take things further and posts videos of reviews? We can ofcourse have a detailed written content on the site!

Point.
But was more valid 3-4 years back. Before Powerdrift came to the scene. Before that most mainstream reviews were snoozefests, PR parroting and you had to watch them cause you had no choice. Not just the bias or paid reviews effect. People wanted entertainment and action.

They either wanted Topgear style sliding through the corners of a racing track show, or atleast see their potential future purchases doing some tyre smoking 0-100 runs, hard braking or slaloms. Wild YouTube gave it to them.

With just 2-3 race tracks across the country and few testing facilities, we really couldn't expect the mainstream medias to deliver excitement. But they did eventually.

Atleast some of the mainstream auto media have started showing some excitement in their videos post Powerdrift. Though the isolated ghat roads that the mainstream media uses can't really be confirmed as controlled environment. Noticed in the past few months, one can see the top 3-4 mainstream auto journalists doing a powerslide when they get their hands on a RWD BMW, something you couldn't dream of 3-4 years ago.

Originally Posted by superbad

The immaturity & insensitivity of your comment makes me wonder if you are even an adult. I'm sure you would be very happy if such an act results in the death of a person/persons, because then your car would get even more publicity!
I have one more idea, perhaps as a manufacturer you may also want to lend your car to terrorists for a bombing.

Erm...Please do read his entire post. He was just stating what would be the manufacturer's mindset on such a situation, not his personal opinion.

He stated the truth. Manufacturers want the maximum publicity for their products. Remember the Thar launch. Except for the top journalists, all others in the first phase of media drive were just vague influencers. In Kerala a travel vlogger got his hands on the Thar before any of the auto journalists. All he could say was, "superb, mass, wow, adipoli, kidilam, heavy". But then, he could reach millions of viewers, whereas the auto vloggers may reach a few thousand. Mahindra prioritised more eyeballs than who reviewed it. Business.

[Nithesh_M]

Funny thing about this guy in particular is he owns a Creta with panaromic sunroof. 2 months ago he took his friends on a Manali trip and recorded his friends, all 3 of them sitting on top of open sunroof(glass) putting their bodyweight on it while the vehicle is in motion through hills.

Next vlog surprise surprise is him saying Hyundai provides defective sunroof because his sunroof motor is kaput.

[asm3899_CHD]

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M

Funny thing about this guy in particular is he owns a Creta with panaromic sunroof. 2 months ago he took his friends on a Manali trip and recorded his friends, all 3 of them sitting on top of open sunroof(glass) putting their bodyweight on it while the vehicle is in motion through hills.

Next vlog surprise surprise is him saying Hyundai provides defective sunroof because his sunroof motor is kaput.

No the car is not his, it is his friend's. He owns a Kia Seltos. I know because I also watch his videos. Guilty pleasure

[Tubeless_tired]

This thread is something else. I remember a channel "turbo extreme", mostly big bike stuff. Says in the beginning of the vid that it has been shot on closed roads. Proceeds to touch 300kph on a highway on a Hayabusa. Instant loss of any respect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWtEin3-ryE

p.s.: First post on t-bhp on road safety, wouldn't have it any other way.

[CEF_Beasts]

Originally Posted by superbad

The immaturity & insensitivity of your comment makes me wonder if you are even an adult. I'm sure you would be very happy if such an act results in the death of a person/persons, because then your car would get even more publicity!
I have one more idea, perhaps as a manufacturer you may also want to lend your car to terrorists for a bombing. It would give you major international publicity! The car would be covered under insurance & families of the people killed would also be compensated by the government. Win win situation!

Sir I feel you are being a bit too rude, when he had quoted my post and written this I was also a bit taken aback first! But then reading his post again made me realise what he is saying is completely true!

Sometimes just reading something again changes one’s outlook .

[Carpainter]

Seriously speaking when I first watched these videos, I thought who would enjoy such maniac driving. But then looking at their number of subscribers, I thought I was a minority. Finally I know that I'm not alone. Knowing that fellow bhpians share the same view is a relief indeed. These so called reviewers are neither good drivers, nor give enough good information to help a prospective buyer decide whether to go for the car or not. They just do whatever stupid stuff they can to get more views and some cheap publicity.

To be honest the only Indian car review I follow is from Autocar and sometimes powerdrift. But I must mention two names Ashis Masih (spelling?) And Vikrant Singh as the best of the rest and I enjoy their reviews. They are mostly practical and to the point and cover most of the things you need to cover in a video review.

[superbad]

Originally Posted by DicKy

Erm...Please do read his entire post. He was just stating what would be the manufacturer's mindset on such a situation, not his personal opinion.

He stated the truth. Manufacturers want the maximum publicity for their products. Remember the Thar launch. Except for the top journalists, all others in the first phase of media drive were just vague influencers. In Kerala a travel vlogger got his hands on the Thar before any of the auto journalists. All he could say was, "superb, mass, wow, adipoli, kidilam, heavy". But then, he could reach millions of viewers, whereas the auto vloggers may reach a few thousand. Mahindra prioritised more eyeballs than who reviewed it. Business.

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

Sir I feel you are being a bit too rude, when he had quoted my post and written this I was also a bit taken aback first! But then reading his post again made me realise what he is saying is completely true!

Sometimes just reading something again changes one’s outlook .

I've myself read the post multiple times, just to make sure I was reading right. If you notice I've used the words " perhaps as a manufacturer you would like to ...". So I know he was not referring to his personal capacity. I just found it insensitive that even in a hypothetical situation, one might justify wrong doing.

[DieselWanderer]

The only reason why youtube is filled with such spam today is LAZINESS of the common man. These so called youtube reviewers be it desi or videsi, all they do is take test drive car from showrooms use cameras and upload them, once they have a following they become self claimed influencers and hire marketing companies to push there content, increase followers. All that they care here is how many followers they have and how much can they make out of ads on youtube. No one gives a damn about the car or content theyre uploading as in the first few hours they have achieved there targeted views. I watched most of them during the lockdown and none made any sense to me. The best way to know about a car is walk in to a showroom and get a test drive(even if u dont wish to buy the car).

[Alterlife]

Originally Posted by Tubeless_tired

https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=lWtEin3-ryE

This is nuts. I watched more of it than I intended to.

Knowing YT, it is probably going to recommend stuff like this to me in the future.

Wish I hadn't watched it .