DriveTribe

Now, I believe DriveTribe was released in 2016 from GrandTour trio Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond.

It was supposed to be a social media hub where Tribes would get together, be found or be created. Housing all things motoring. So you could go onto the site and then find groups of your motoring interest. In 2018 it had 10 million daily active users. It also had outside investment cash.

It doesn't look like that now, so what changed?

Now, officially, according to Drive:

"The protracted global shortage of computer chips has caused a number of challenges for the automotive industry, and led to severe reductions in marketing budgets across the industry. This has made for an incredibly difficult operating environment for businesses like ours which are dependent on advertising."

Unofficially and a 2+2= 90 vibe. It seems like moniterisation was done through ads. Figuring out how to gain money from a following is difficult, especially when the industry is reducing/ freaking out. And if you think of moniterisation after the launch. But as long as the industry is a rock solid one- cars and motoring for example, then they bounce back.

But weathering the storm is difficult and is a reason why multiple income streams are preferable, with ones being:

Instant money- ads
Instant controllable money- your own products
Maintaining money- recurring income

But you have to ask as well, where did those 10 million active daily users go to?

DriveTribe Stats

Now DriveTribe has an assortment of media outlets- in other words, social platforms. As of 2024:

DriveTribe.com- This seems to be the hub and "front end" of the company

Instagram- 1.1 million followers

X.com- 186k followers

Youtube- 493 million views, 2.68 million subscribers, most of the videos are hovering around the 1-2 million views.

The idea behind the social content is to open brands to a specific audience and to find data insights.

So have they done that?

Well, we believe yes they have.

The amount of content that is put out seems to be targeted towards motoring. The videos:

are informative
fun
interesting
shareable
people are viewing the various different posts and content

There's merch- which I don't see worn too often

Links from each social property to each other, which is nice

There's also channel partners.

Everything seems happy in Drivetribe land?

It seems that way. But there could be one thing that might be the saviour and its problem.

It depends on how much referencing they do to the GrandTour trio. They each have their separate channels and media outlets. Sometimes they cross promote. Sometimes they hark back to the excursions that they did. But how long can that last?

We think it can last if they give new insights to the projects that they did. Some behind the scenes info is always nice rather than a recreation of what we have already seen.

Now, are people watching DriveTribe because of the trio or is it because of what is on offer on DriveTribe? We only say this because quite a bit of the promotion of the various properties show the trio. Now, sure they are the creators of DriveTribe and you would expect them to be in it. But can DriveTribe survive without the trio...or even should it?

This is difficult because we enjoy the trio and it is nice to see them on DriveTribe away from the GrandTour and seeing them just be themselves. It's like seeing an old friend and you are catching up.

But then, if someone else is introduced is that helpful or not, are we going to gel?

Maybe. Ben Collins (the second Stig) is now on the platform and seems to do what Ben does- which is what we want to see.

Izzy (Richards daughter) is present and has got a large viewing video from her appearance. This is a good thing in that it bring a fresher audience.

So it seems like DriveTribe is trying to bring in people we know and at the same time allow people who we know to bring in others. This is a good way to intrioduce unknowns to a crowd who has followed some of the stars for a while.

What can DriveTribe do?

When you look at DriveTribe you see a community and people just interested in driving, cars and fun.

But there just seems to be something missing. And I don't know what it is. We have thoughts. Are they trying to do the trio and what they did? Is the GrandTour and Top Gear too overshadowing?

Check out the video below for a demonstration of what we mean:

Now this looks similar to this:

Both are a challenge but the first video just seems to be more professional. How can it be better?

the video doesn't need the campers being created by a pro
the fun of TopGear was how bad the campers were and the trios antics on how they survived...because they didn't really have a clue. Also...they weren't campers which was the undertone of the humour
the camper product (which is a professional product) seems out of place
because the "making of" is professional, it just doesn't seem fun and the video seems forced. I stopped as they reached the bridge. People laughing...but it wasn't funny.

Instead, if you wanted to show off how cool the camper product was then why not:

invite proper serious campers and see how the camper product does in a series of challenges- weather, cooking and movement
make your cars into campers using non-professional camper products and see if you can do the same challenges as the pro ones. This compare/ contrast model would be fun and highlight why a pro product is better

For DriveTribe, again these are just suggestions and not being negative to the channel, just helpful comments which might or might not work or help :)

We are coming at this on how to make the channel fun but also utilising the brand as a professional and trustworthy brand in the car industry

Is there a way to promote the sponsors without a big stint of the sponsors product? Maybe make fun with them, wear their merch while using the product. The fun aspect seems to be very sparse. On Top Gear (yes, I know referencing again) they would state the car has been lent to them but have fun with the company who lent them the car. The Noble and Italy adventure springs to mind- the car broke down and Noble drove another car to Italy. They also have fun with where the car is built compared to the high tech factories of some of the bigger brands. But you can clearly see that they respected Noble in the fact the car was as good, looked good and drove as well as the larger brands. They didn't disrespect the brand, just had fun with it.
Merch might need to have a bit more...merch to it. Overalls, safety wear?
Merch part 2. Unsure why you haven't branched out into merch for drivers and this then becomes an ecommerce store. Surely you would know what people would like and what is missing?
DriveTribe events. Stadium/ racetrack days. I saw one video which seems to be a step in this direction which was at Hayes Museum. People turned out for this
DriveTribe event part 2. Rental cars or the higher end type. Personal driving lessons with Ben Collins. Factory tours of certain car manufacturers
Videos. Nice to see some video series (that could be sold) about how to change certain things of a car. DriveTribe could be a pro name that is trusted within the car repair/ mechanic industry.
Assessor? So this would be Richards company (Small Cog) going out an assessing cars to see what can be done, how to fix them up, where to start. Like a consulting company but obviously with Small Cog being the main "sponsor". This could also be flipped where a group of Youtubers (with DriveTribe) get together and fix up cars with a different theme each time. So for example- finding a car to race 24 hours, finding a car to sell at auction, finding a car to go rallying. Then this could even be done in different countries (syndication:). You could also throw in a wild card- find a car that will remove street garbage.
Devices? Can you go and install a device- like a turbo and see what it does. Maybe compare the different brands. So, which of these 6 anti-slip winter driving tires actually stops you before you hit a wall?
Buy/Sell. Barrett Jackson style auction website where different shops can buy/ sell done up cars. Or how about a professional classified section for certain niche cars
News. Could there be a news section, weekly maybe of what is going on in the car industry- different models, reporting on different events etc. Failing this, how about a panel show with fellow Youtubers answering questions etc.
Yearly review. The DriveTribe team get together and answer questions from an invited channel community. Give awards (some stoopid some worthy). There needs to be a little bit more community interaction. Can there be a cool wall but with Youtubers cars like "awesome" and "what were you thinking". Review it every few months.