5 Ways To Get /Drive+

"KylesPerGallon" (gentlemandriver)
07/30/2014 at 16:18 • Filed to: drive, detailing, drafting, dougieing

So you just realized that Drive wants you to pay a subscription to get their content. This is America damn it! I thought this was free. Well it was, until the Civil War happened and then people realized it was probably better to allow cameramen and editors and presenters an honest wage for a hard days work. Here's why its happening and ways that you, the automotive enthusiast, can do your part to keep the good times going.

Okay, so you're not the Fortune 500 CEO that JF and his band of hooligans presentors, cameramen, and crew were targeting. Sure, when you don't think twice about buying two 918 Spyders (just in case you like one color better) the decision to spend $40 for a year of premium automotive content doesn't have to be ran past your financial advisor nor require a lengthy conversation with your spouse. But you find yourself balking at this cover charge to the Cool Car Club.

How dare the Drive network and their professional hard working staff have the audacity to ask for a little something in return. I want Top Gear quality at Top Gear prices [ !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ]. Damn it I don't care how many interns and cameramen they lose to ramen overdose or drifts gone awry from dreary eyed presenters.

If you find yourself in this bind, where you don't know if it makes sense financially to spend $3.99 a month or two Andrew Jackson's for the year then listen up. Put down that venti caramel macchiato you buy every Monday because "it gets your week started" and reshelve that used copy of Arkham Asylum GameStop is robbing you on. The 15 hours of mashing buttons and the caffeine induced runs pale in comparison to the automotive content you know and love.

Here's 5 ways you can cover a years worth of Drive+ as an automotive enthusiast.

1.) Detail a friend's car

Larry Kosilla has produced a fantastic amount of content for both the expert and the amateur. Following these steps you can make their Camry shine.

2.) Uber/Lyft

How can you make money while driving? Why not take someone with you. While it's probably advised that you drive a sedan. I don't think there's any penalty against driving a Miata. just tell the that you installed the roll cage for safety. It's like being a designated driver but the people you pick up are rated by other drivers. Sometimes it can even get you !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

3.) Move people's stuff

You own a diesel wagon don't you? Throw fliers up around town advertising your local convenient moving company. Pull the rear seats and you can easily fit everything a girl left at her ex boyfriends place.

4.) Learn how to draft effectively

While you may be putting yourself at risk for decapitation, you can easily see a half a gallon in fuel savings every time you go to the pump. The average fill up being 2 times a month, BAM, you just saved one gallon of gas. And incase you haven't noticed, gas prices are about...uhh....$3.99 a gallon. Thats 1 month of subscription! You can thank me later.

5.) Start up your own business where you film car reviews, give detailed analysis of motor sports, offer up hours of useful car detailing techniques and after years and years of doing this for free and living off the scraps of food YouTube hands out for the few people who actually watch the ads without adblocker on, then, just then you might be able to afford to pay your living expenses and after that you could possibly invest another few years of your life putting aside family and relationships and fun, solely because you really really really enjoy doing this and would like to make a living out of it. Wait where were we?

Drive isn't going away. You're paying for premium content and a good price. If you have an internet connection theres a good chance you can afford to pay the monthly amount. Blow off your dealer this week and get hooked on the good stuff, because /DRIVE+ is about to serve it up hot.

Can't wait to see what rolls out next.

I actually like writing about this stuff so much I paid for my own website. Stay up to date on all my rantings by following me on twitter !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

DISCUSSION (15)

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > KylesPerGallon
07/30/2014 at 16:31

Honestly, I think this is going to be the future of television. The biggest complaint about cable/satellite providers, is that you end up paying money (lots of it) for channels you aren't even watching. Creating a new model of a pick and choose style of selecting programs, it creates the opportunity for highly directed marketing, you only pay for what you want, and you're going to get shows that can be more specific to a given audience. There is a lot of potential right now to create a new structure for consuming media and effectively combating the dominance of cable/satellite providers.

KylesPerGallon > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
07/30/2014 at 16:35

I welcome our non-oligopoly overlords.

Happy Panda > KylesPerGallon
07/30/2014 at 16:43

For me there are currently 2 things I personally do not like:

1: There currently are quite big gaps between the seasons, will paying actually mean there will be content in the months between the seasons as well, or will the current amount of content be spread out more to not have gaps?

2 What about the other channels? I'd prefer a Spotify-like all-you-can-eat solution since I follow 30 channels. If the solution would be to split the monthly views by the cost (say I watch 100 videos a month for $10, that would only leave $0.10 per view). This would obviously be a big disadvantage for Drive, since the volume of videos is quite low compared to for instance the gaming channels.

And obviously I understand they need to make money, but a little more detail of what the plans are sounds pretty good as well.

KylesPerGallon > Happy Panda
07/30/2014 at 16:48

I would definitely say increased volume of video's produced. Least we forget that the gaps between seasons feels unbearable for Top Gear and when they only run 6 episodes per series Drive easily eclipses 10 hours of content per season. So you're getting more content. With the episodes being on average 10-15 minutes in length you figure a weeks worth of Harris, Farah, Musto, and Spinelli are worth a total of 1 hours worth of content.

This is the price for Drive, its a good number for Drive because its less than most of the top tier automotive magazines for more engaging content.

There's a video on the site thats the breakdown of how things are going to work.

jlmounce > Happy Panda
07/30/2014 at 16:55

I can't speak for /Drive, but I do run a content driven fee based membership site. We have to continuously produce more content. There is a direct correlation (at least for jamplay.com) in the amount of quality content provided vs. both new customer signups and most importantly retention.

You're absolutely correct in thinking that if there are large gaps or "seasons" that they are going to find that the subscription service doesn't work. They will have to have a constant stream of content to make it effective.

With that said, the subscription fees, along with the /Drive advertising revenue should provide them with the budget to do that.

nermal > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
07/30/2014 at 17:22

Right on. Instead of paying $50 - $100 / month for a cable subscription that has 150 channels that you don't watch bundled in, just pay per month individually for the ones that you watch.

The biggest problem will be going up against Big Cable and channels like ESPN, who get something ridiculous like several dollars for every single cable subscriber.

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > nermal
07/30/2014 at 17:32

It can be done. You can subscribe to SkySports online, and their F1 coverage is much better than NBC Sports. Especially when NBC Sports decides to air F1 races later in the day, because the stupid Tour De France is on. >_>

nermal > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
07/30/2014 at 17:35

As far as motorsports are concerned, honestly torrents are the best way to go. Some races just aren't televised in the US, and others are chopped up by commercials with poor announcing.

MotoGP comes to mind for this - The BTSport feed blows the FS1 feed out of the water on all counts. What's the only way to get that in the US? Torrent it.

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > nermal
07/30/2014 at 17:37

SkySports does a good job, and you can subscribe/stream it online. However, a friend of mine usually torrents the race from them and then throws it in a dropbox.

GTI MkVII > KylesPerGallon
07/30/2014 at 17:41

Kinja'd!!!

Nicely done.

nippon > KylesPerGallon
07/30/2014 at 18:14

I'd pay. I really love Drive. BUT. They kinda fucked up with this. Either ask money for your project or go home. Don't get me wrong $4 is not much. Even in non-american money. But this is just a great way for them to lose their audience.
I, among many others, am not located in the states. And Youtube being youtube, drive+ subscription is not available in my country.

So, farewell Chris and Matt, and your epic videos.

KylesPerGallon > nippon
07/30/2014 at 18:35

They are actively working on a solution to this, I have seen that JF and Chris are addressing it.

There will still be ad supported videos. The content will not be gone. What Drive+ is becoming is the extended directors cut of their videos. You will be able to access the same content just in a more condensed form.

They will still have over 1 million subscribers on their regular channel. Nothing is going away, things are being added.

Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > KylesPerGallon
07/30/2014 at 18:50

No.

It's a shame, really. I liked Drive. But it's youtube, it's free. And I'm a student. I won't pay anything to see a car review video online. I'll stick to roadkill and the other usual stuff...

YSI-what can brown do for you > KylesPerGallon
08/22/2014 at 12:49

The problem I have with this is that I subscribe to like 20 youtube channels, and if each one did this, it would end up being 80 dollars a month. . .

Plus, Drive was awesome free, but I don't feel like it is worth paying for.

KylesPerGallon > YSI-what can brown do for you
08/22/2014 at 15:16

Its practically its own car network. Yes it would be unfortunate if all of the youtube channels we subscribe to went to this format. But 90% of what I watch on youtube is people sitting in front of their computer talking, playing a video game talking, or GoProing crazy stuff.

Drive has legitimate expenses they need to cover in order just to operate. 95% of paid subscriptions to the other channels I watch would be wasted on profit for the creator (singular). The paid subscription model allows Drive to bring us more content because they will finally have an operational budget. The content wasn't free before, youtube footed the bill for them and then after 2 years wrapped up the program. They need cashflow to stay alive.

At the very least you could wait 6 months. Sign up and get way more than $4 worth of content you could watch to your hearts desire and then cancel again.