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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.

 

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.