A bleak or promising future?

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Unprecedented and Rapid

As explored earlier in our second post, the digital revolution has changed almost all industries, and auto journalism is no exception. Print titles have all faded into obscurity and have suffered gravely from online competition – including their own websites.

More change on the horizon?

For the auto industry however, the future seems bright, and it has the rapid advancement of technology to thank. Forbes projected a roughly US$82 Billion dollar uptick in investment by this year, likely as a result of evolving car tech and increasing digitalisation of the industry surrounding it. The instant exposure of their products to their audience on social media has transformed their relationship with consumers. Therefore, responding to their wants and needs has never been easier.

Johan Sammy of MotionDigest.com points out how Buyers are turning to social media with user’s reviews before making a decision. This recent craze for digital content, whether reading or otherwise has meant the industry needs to adapt accordingly. The unprecedented access to car previews, means auto advertisers have to work hard to convince consumers to buy in. Therefore, auto journalists must do the same to ensure they properly inform the consumer on such products.

‘The instant exposure of their products to their audience on social media has transformed their relationship with consumers.’

The addition of online mediums from traditional print titles, and the ever-increasing digital sector indicates that instead of lamenting modern changes, industries are embracing them.

To conclude 

The future is seemingly pointing towards to the continued success of the auto journalism industry in the digital age. However we accept that new web and mobile communications have all but decimated the paper-back versions of these titles. Traditional publications such as AutoCar are having to work doubly as hard to catch up with more modern counterparts like auto-trader, who live and breath the digital space. They thrive in this space as it’s where they built their platform, so they are at an advantage going forward.

Conversely, age-old issues remain and new issues have arisen as a result of these advanced technologies. Modern resources such as the internet and streaming services, have given way to some titles over-monetising their content. This rears its ugly head in constant ad interruptions (see: case study) persistent promotion of unrelated products in the content among other issues. Conflicts of interest, saturation of content and subjectivity are among these. This could stand to threaten the viewer experience if not controlled.

Despite this, new media has made auto content both easier to access and consume. Alongside this, new mediums are constantly being thought up as the industry and tech evolves

Summing up 

There is no escaping this truth. The digital age has made easier for both automakers to sell their products, and auto writers to tell us about them. So long as the trend continues in this direction, the industry should not panic.

Social Media and Streaming – Expansion of the Industry

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Are journalism degrees completely optional now?

Auto Journalism is no longer exclusive to column writers with degrees or celebs because of streaming sites like YouTube. Anyone, irrespective of status or qualifications can take advantage of the wide reach and accessibility that the platform offers. Therefore, It’s actually possible to generate a handsome income in this industry simply by uploading quality content online independently.

Streaming platform YouTube rewards those who generate traffic on their sites. For YouTubers with a large audience, they get paid $2 – $7 per 1000 monetized views after YouTube takes its cut.

There are a number independent motoring personalities that have made the most of this format and Doug DeMuro is one of those. His channel boasts over 3.5 million subscribers, and his total viewership tops 1 billion. As a result, his net worth is around $3 million. Which is a far cry from the £20k annual salary you can expect with a bachelors and 3 years experience in the field.

This partly explains why sites like feedspot can list off over 100 well-known motoring youtube channels. Many include creators without a background in the industry.

 

(D)evolution of the sector?

As we touched on in the prior post, this all comes with some caveats. Number one being the accelerated saturation of content which is due to the ease of access to content-creating resources. This means posts, videos and articles are looking more and more alike than ever in a race to increase viewership and engagements.

This is coupled with the potential lack of knowledge or experience of well-known auto content creators. Since the point of entry to streaming sites is much simpler, they may not have the education and industry know-how and may end up misinforming potential buyers. Not to mention they aren’t bound by any journalistic principles or laws, which could aggravate this further.

‘Posts, videos and articles are looking more and more alike than ever in a race to increase viewership and engagements.’

Johan from MotionDigest.com concurrs, Someone who takes great pictures and produces great videos but doesn’t have good knowledge of cars, how they work and how the industry works would be able to only present superficially.

Content reliability

With the birth of Internet and social media platforms, individuals can now create content and form new media to compete with traditional media organisations. It is difficult to draw comparisons between the content delivered by new or traditional media outlets.

Despite this, Daniel Sherman Fernandez, cited how Some new media are doing a really good job and they are ‘forcing’ the hand of traditional media to improve and ‘wake up’ from their comfort zone. This change is fostering competition between titles and as result of their attempt to push the best content, the readership experience improves.

However, reliability is also a key factor when a reader chooses which publication to read. Johan said Reliability of reviews and recommendations are very subjective because it depends on the editor or writer’s personal opinion as well as one other important factor: the advertising dollars from the car brand. This links back to both the ethical responsibilities they hold, and suggests auto journalists don’t meet them. He also highlights the funding from automakers which suggest conflict of interest supporting what we discussed previously.

Further digitalisation?

Aside from reliability, attracting readers’ attention and maintaining their loyalty towards the publication could be a key interrogation point. Publications and editorial teams are turning out with various ideas to keep up audience engagement. Supported recent developments, the creation of augmented reality is now arguably the hottest new trend. Not just for readers, but carmakers moreover. It is, however, a replacement technology and it’s yet to fully assimilate into this industry.

Daniel of Automacha.com, noted the cumbersome and expensive nature of VR headsets as a reason for its slow entry. Nevertheless, he believes that virtual reality will bring a 360-test driving experience to consumers.

Written word and visual synergy

Virtual reality (VR) is undoubtedly set to transform a whole host of industries, not least the media. Its immersive capabilities and potential applications in auto journalism make it an intriguing development.

However, Hans Cheong of Carlist.my felt that there is little to suggest that consumers prefer VR-type automotive content over standard videos.”

This may be due to the indelible role that Photographs and video play in automotive journalism. Personally, auto content with these included were both entertaining to consume and also help stimulate the imagination. Which is an important part of the car-buyers process. Informative writing paired with quality visuals helps them envision the car in question and make them more likely to buy.

 

Case Study – Carwow

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Honest Journalism or Pay-to-Play?

In our first post we looked at the duties of auto journalists – such as serving the public interest. Additionally, they need to be impartial in their views and provide an honest assessment of the cars they cover.

However when observing the Carwow review platform, we found issues with the format that inherently fails to meet these ideals.

Conflict of interest?

Back in August 2019 carwow attracted £25m in investment led by Daimler AG, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz. Yes, Mercedes-Benz the German car giant.

This begs the question, how on earth could Carwow possibly say a bad thing about a Merc in their reviews when they’ve put an 8 figure sum in their investment pot? I don’t think they’d be happy if Carwow publicly called one of their cars a pile of garbage, even if it was true. And if they don’t, that would be going against the journalistic principle of serving the public interest.

Their practices also link back to the idea that modern publications are exploiting the audience-growing features of new communications. Allow us to demonstrate.

The link below is a review of the new Audi A1 hatchback;

(Credits: Carwow, Youtube)

Carwow conducts a large amount of auto reviews, but their primary source of income are commissions from dealerships after brokering car sales. And this is a point made clear throughout. If you don’t watch the full video, here’s a short analysis:

0:36 – ‘Click on banner on top hand screen, for new car deals’

Right off the bat, our reviewer points us towards a feature of their product before he says anything notable about the car in question. There is a pattern throughout, of the use of YouTube’s banner feature

2:40 – Audi A1 ‘interior review’

Mat Watson points to another banner only 2 minutes in, now redirecting you to a separate video about the cars interior. He could have included this in a single video, but more content = more views and more Youtube revenue.

4:16 – ‘Try our carwow configurator’

Once again, an endorsement of a Carwow product less than 2 minutes later, to generate online traffic?.

6:47 – Ad interruption – Nissan car advert

Youtube’s algorithms notice I’m watching a lot of car videos. Nevertheless, more advertising revenue going into Carwow’s pockets

8:20 – ‘Watch our Car Practicality Review’

Mat points up to another banner, once again directing viewers to a separate video on the same car which he could have included in this video.

11:25 – Ad interruption

13:48 – ‘Click on banner on top left corner to see how much you can save’

Finally, he caps off the review with yet another promotion.

 

Note that this particular model costs around 30k with all options; which by any standard is severely overpriced for an entry-level Audi. Despite this, he still recommends ‘shortlisting’ this car. The review format seems to conflict with the necessity to get cars sold in order to generate revenue.

Is their new business model an indictment of weak auto journalism industry? 

Carwow’s CEO, James Hind initially set up the site (previously named CarBuzz) to put car reviews around the web in one place . He notes we weren’t making any money on car reviews alone. Bear in mind, motoring journalists make only an average around £20k per annum . Only those with a face for TV/Streaming come into 6 figure+ salaries.

The car brokering model is where ‘the serious money’ is raised. And now the reviews are simply an entry point into the primary business model.

Adding further as observed above, the reviews on this channel relentlessly push this product onto viewers. Which is exploitative of viewers who simply searched for a car review for information on a car model, or even pure entertainment.

Compare this with AutoTraders approach in the video attached The presenter here avoids persistently mentioning any products or what the company offers, and instead makes the car he reviews the focus all the way through. No pop-up banners in sight.

 

 

 

The catalyst of change: Accessibility

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The end of an era 

‘You don’t need an oracle to predict that the last fans of print editions will soon follow the masses into the digital domain.’ (Concept car credit).

As noted previously, consumption of typical auto print magazines have shown unprecedented decline. The most obvious justification for this is the ease and convenience that social media, the internet and streaming sites offer.

Why walk into a store and spend your hard-earned cash on magazines? Especially when most of the big-name publications have online mediums? Nowadays you can download (free) mobile apps that share the same content as their print counterparts. The convenience, the extra digital content on offer and the lack of – for the most part – a price tag on what used to be weekly investment make this a no brainer. Right?

Dissecting the arguments

On the one hand, this rings true. If you struggle with reading or don’t have the cash lying around for magazine subscriptions – you could watch a video review of the new AMG Mercedes, for instance. This ease of access is arguably one of the biggest reasons car fanatics are making the switch to digital auto-journalism. Not to mention, the content is much more entertaining. I’d rather watch a charismatic presenter drive a supercar through a racetrack – than read a review in size 6 serif font.

The numbers do support this. Carwow’s Youtube channel has over 4 million subscribers and counting. When you think of each subscriber as an equivalent magazine buyer, then compare that number with the 37,000 weekly readers for Auto Express – the picture is clear. No pun intended. As the print versions of publications fade, this coincides with the insurgence of modern digital mediums.

Furthermore, Auto Express’s Youtube channel has less than an 1/8 of Carwow’s subscriber count. It’s clear that one brand made the quality of its online content the prime focus and the other is playing catch-up.

Traffic, traffic and more traffic

All this convenience and improved content comes with a caveat. Auto publications are arguably exploiting data tracking, streaming site capabilities and other features to increase viewership and revenue. Notice what happens when you visit more than a couple of car videos or blog pages. Your entire social media feed/Youtube home page is now full of content from this category.

“Auto publications are exploiting data tracking, streaming site capabilities and other features to increase viewership and revenue.”

On its own, this isn’t too much of a bother. Most websites track algorithms. However, it becomes one when compounded with the fact that flagship car channels fill their review videos with links to other videos, or their website, or their other ventures. We will conduct a full analysis of this idea in the next post.

Are new cars driving this change?

Ever since the advent of the Internet, the pace of news has accelerated. Today, the relevance of a publication is measured in minutes and hours and no longer in weeks or months. (concept car credit)

This idea gives further context to the decline of traditional auto print journalism. Most auto-print publications are delivered weekly. Conversely, news on new or upcoming vehicles come   daily and in some cases hourly. Alongside this In recent times, innovation in the car industry is happening at unprecedented speeds. Cars have advanced more in the last decade than they have in the previous 30 years. And with so many updates and pioneering tech being introduced in a short space of time, web and mobile communications are simply better suited to keeping up with the changes. Traditional forms of journalism take time to print, distribute and while that is all happening, Top Gear probably posted 4 new videos of the new Tesla on all their social media.

 

 

 

Auto Journalists and the state of the industry

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What is their role? 

A quick look at myjobsearch highlights the important work in this growing sector. Your average auto writer road-tests new cars entering the market, visits launches and prepares opinion pieces. Typically, their primary role is to ‘advise public consumers and affiliates about auto-related news, reviews and opinion’. Importantly, the intention of their work should be to educate the consumer about the present auto market and help them come to an informed choice on a prospective car purchase.

They usually give out a verdict on a new vehicles quality, efficiency, handling and compare it to rivals. Occasionally, a show such as Top Gear (BBC) would crop up in the auto journalism farm and try mixing this informative brand of journalism with more entertainment.

Changes afoot?

Over the years, the focus has been placed more on being entertaining than being informative. However the formula seems to work. The guardian notes 350 million viewers tune in worldwide to watch their weekly broadcasts. It’s questionable to suggest that EVERY SINGLE ONE is a petrol-head with an extensive knowledge and obsession with cars. Personally, I wasn’t as interested in  Jeremy Clarkson’s car stats and lap times – as I was watching them race through one end of Japan to the other. I’m sure there are millions who felt the same.

But that’s only TV, it can’t alter the sector that much can it? But that’s it really, for the rest of the auto journalism sector it’s business as usual.. mostly anyway.

Obstacles and Obligations?

Motoring journalists are entirely objective in the views and content they impart to us, right? Well they should be. Ellie Williams of the Houston Chronicle highlighted their legal duty to serve the public interest as a priority. This is alongside not crossing the boundaries of libel and defamation laws.

Achieving this would require objectivity and the suppression of personal opinion while maintaining the good graces of the auto execs who supply them with press cars (Alex Roy , THE DRIVE).

Therefore, they need find a balance between heavy praise and heavy criticism to avoid seeming biased to consumers. They also need avoid expensive lawsuits and loss of partnership from carmakers. Which could put them out of business I’ll add. Phew.. easier said than done.

Their relationship with employers

In concept, it works like this – auto publications hire journalists with an affinity for or experience in car writing. Those journalists test and review new cars, and deliver their own verdict on them. They seldom reference the company they work for or push to get cars sold, unless they reviewed and genuinely enjoyed a vehicle. To sum up, they are independent of their employers – and the publications give them a platform to express their views.

However as introduced in the O&O segment, it’s not as simple as that. Firstly auto print-writing is a quickly declining industry.  Readership has dwindled among the top UK print magazines, such as Auto-express.

In 2011, Auto Express sold 60,840 copies weekly, which made it the top-selling car mag in the country. Today, that number has dropped to just below the 37,000 threshold. it will have lost half its readership over the last decade if this decline continues. Traditional auto-writers such as described above, are fading into obscurity – as more and more publications are slashing their workforces as a result of declining demand.

“Auto Express will have lost half it’s readership over the past decade”

Adding to this, at CJ&T we argue that the advent of the internet and streaming services such as Youtube – have contributed most to the demise of auto print publications.

Car-selling broker platforms such as Auto-Trader and Carwow traditionally never played a part in this industry. But they are the latest to seize on the growing streaming segment of the auto-reviewing sector.

To sum up

Over the course of this blog, we will thoroughly examine what exactly has lead to this change, the effects on the industry as a whole, and what this means for the future of the auto-journalism industry.