I'm a long-time fan of the Tek and Tek Syndicate, but the sponsorship stuff has me wondering what your plans for the community and the show are. A while back you guys said that you were never going to sell out (or accept sponsorship?) and as the site has grown, I saw an attempt or two to accept sponsorship.
A little breakdown on the stuff that happened, for those uninformed:
1. "The ASUS show" - a little while back (when haswell was released) you guys did a lot of videos with ASUS, which I don't particularly have an issue with. Not many people caught it, but it was a step.
2. "PAX Prime 2013" - a big sellout in my opinion. "Special thanks to Corsair and MSI for sponsoring us" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfiXkjpdWZA&list=SP662F41918C22319F&index=3) - first 45 seconds of the video. While I understand that you need to thank sponsors to support future sponsoring, I feel like it detracts from the show.
I'd like to know what Logan and crew think of this.
I'd also like to know what the general opinion of the forum is. Am I in the wrong asking these questions? If so, I apologize, I just wanted to know if there have been any changes.
1) ASUS just randomly sent JJ. Why would they turn down a shit ton of content with a guy like JJ? If Gigabyte, MSI etc sent a spokesperson, I'm sure the staff would be more than happy to produce just as much content showcasing products from these companies, but none of them did, so too bad for them.
2) Corsair sent them to PAX and MSI lent them a laptop to edit videos on the road. You can't just not thank them, that's ridiculous. I enjoyed the content from PAX, so be thankful these companies allowed it to happen. Logan and crew weren't originally going to go.
3) Haven't looked into Squarespace. I doubt this thing is different than all the deals Teksyndicate provide for us. It's most likely beneficial for the targeted audience and for the staff as well .
I see 3 more like what Jupiter Broadcasting does with Go Daddy and it's just a plug with a discount for viewers and some mutual benefit to both companies, Exposure for Squarespace and funding for Teksyndicate.
I don't really see the problem with this website getting offers from companies so they can pay for the lights at their office. All of their hard work has to bear some fruit. Maybe they can work something out with companies so visitors to this website can get things a bit cheaper? As long as they don't get annoying popover ads or ads that play flash videos on each page it's all good. :)
Yeah i would prefer the site gets sponsor than Spam ads too, though I think the SquareSpace one was a little much. I had no problem with the Asus, Corsair, and MSI sponsorship because the three are hardware and tech manufacturers. they also gave Tek Syndicate a lot of stuff to play with, which in turn made more content for us to watch and be a part of. As long as they do not bombard the site with sponsors or go bias with anyone company and just throw their product in our face constantly, I'm cool with what they do right now. I can't wait for when the optional paid membership becomes a thing as I will be signing up day one for it.
I honestly don't care if they get sponsored by a company that doesn't sell computer hardware, if they accept sponsors from hardware vendors, that is when I'm out. I just wouldn't be able to trust what they say about a product if they did have such a sponsorship.
As for Pax, You can't review hardware at PAX so it was fine, PAX was about getting to know up and coming games and hardware and was well worth the little ads that were only for the event.
It's a necessary evil, a means to an end. If the channel grows larger, the better the sponsorship deals get (and probably less intrusive, but I am sure Logan wants to be fair to the sponsors), better content gets provided.
I think this method of generating income is fair for everyone. The Tek crew are remunerated in a way that corresponds with their productivity.
I'm all for the sponsorship, I think It's much more organic the way you do it, just spending a minute legitimately talking about the product, as opposed to the method Linus uses with the intro to every video being a sponsor. I also agree that hardware sponsors are probably something to stay away from to keep the videos as impartial as possible, and to keep bringing the top content.
+1 for sponsors, any and all as long as they don't become biased. That's the entire reason I subscribed to there Youtube channel and eventually joined the forums. Because they are unbiased. They will tell you what will work best for what your wanting it for. Like AMD vs. Intel. I don't know how many videos and forum posts I saw on other sites saying Intel is the best don't go AMD. You have to have an i5 Iforget or else you won't be able to game. Those really annoy me.
-1,000,000 for obtrusive ads. Of course if they went this route it would be okay too. I would just turn AdBlock back on :)
Just hope they never get big enough to go public (meaning share holders)...
In my head "Today Tek Syndicate closed +0.01" on the ticker "teks +0.01" or would it be "tesy +0.01"
Totally Agreed. - The Key is that the guys managed the audience’s expectations and frankly they did a sterling job at that. There was no false illusions that Corsair and MSI where going to be ‘supporting’ the Pax trip and introduction to sponsorship in the main channel was handled well. I was personally comfortable that Asus was ‘mutual benefit’ rather than direct money in pocket deal, and frankly it wouldn’t have bothered me if it was – it was good coverage.
If you compare it to Boogie2988, I think its classic example of miss handling sponsorship.
Boogie - starts playing clearly sponsored video game content on his main channel from Sony, without _any_ mention that he is getting sponsored to do it or any real explanation why he is not posted on his gameplay channel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osHjOH8q_SM.
He continues to do this over the coming weeks, when finally the guilt of it gets to him, and he starts slipping in comments about the ‘Sony’ thing in his Vblogs. Realising that he completely failed to manage the audience’s expectations.
When finally on 30 August he finally burst the sponsorship bubble fessing up to what he has been doing and why he is not a sell-out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPZJEaEfr7M.
I personally don’t think he is a sell-out, like anyone he trying to continue what he loves and make a living from hit.
What I do think he has done – is totally failed to manage the audience’s expectations about changes to the up and coming content in the channel.
I feel thankful that the team at Tek Syndicate didn’t fall into this trap and delivered the content congruently.
I would ask though guys, if you are going to repeat sponsorship between multiple shows – i.e. like Squarespace, take the time to credit your audience with new of different information on the sponsor. I as I did feel it was a little bit of carbon copy between the episodes.
Definitely agree with this. However there should be a balance between sponsored info and actual information. Crew should not let sponsors to have all information about community and sell it out all together. Also it is not shameful in my opinion to get sponsored by bullshit, but if you are then stand your ground and be proud of it. Then it's fine