Gadgetory

what's up guys David here and there's something that has been going on on YouTube for a long time now in fact there's something that's been going on in the tech review game for a long time now that just really really bothers me and honestly I think if you guys knew what was going on I think it would bother you too what am I talking about I'm talking about how many factors like Apple and Samsung are paying certain reviewers for I'm not gonna say fake reviews but for positive reviews now just to be clear when I say a manufacturer is paying a reviewer the form of payment I'm talking about is not the one that you're thinking where they're physically writing a check out to the reviewers name in fact if that was the case it wouldn't really bother me that much because at least by law at least by law that relationship has to be disclosed to the audience so that what you guys will know what's up you'll understand that hey no matter how hard this reviewer is trying to be unbiased he's trying to be honest at the end of the day it's sponsored content right it's sponsored content you understand that this can be a background level of bias and that's why that law is in place to begin with no it's this other form of payment this indirect form of payments that doesn't require a check to be written and therefore doesn't require a disclosure and maybe the worst part is even if there was a disclosure where the reviewer actually said hey this is my relationship with the manufacturer I think it would fly over most people's heads and most people wouldn't really register it as being a payment but trust me when I tell you you know I've been to this tech game for a long time it is definitely a payment so what is this indirect payment method that many factors have actually been using for years to manipulate the media to get positive reviews to words early access what do I mean by early access and how the heck is that the same thing as being a payment so to understand it you kind of that step into the mind of a reviewer or a youtuber so I'm just going to give you an example and hopefully it'll make things clearer hypothetically speaking let's say a company like Apple or Samsung doesn't really matter who let's just use Apple as the example let's say Apple goes up to a reviewer and says hey you know that iPhone 8 that's gonna be released next week well we want to give you an a small group of cherry-pick reviewers exclusive early access so that way you guys can work on your videos and post your videos before any other reviewers and before the general public gets their hands on the device what do you think are you interested and unless that reviewer is somehow brain dead like there's no way he's not going to be interested right because anybody who's been doing reviews for long enough knows you get something as hot as the iPhone eight before everybody else and you post your video before everybody else like your video is gonna do really really well so let's just say this reviewer gets his hands on the iPhone eight and tomorrow morning on YouTube he posts the first iPhone 8 unboxing he shows you what the phone looks like shows you what's inside the box goes over a lot of the new features and all that good stuff and it's literally going to be on YouTube tomorrow morning are you going to watch it like for real it's on YouTube tomorrow morning the iPhone 8 a legit one are you going to watch it but of course you're gonna watch it right I'm gonna watch it everybody's gonna watch things shared all over social media spread all over the web and before you know it this simple iPhone unboxing video is gonna have millions and millions of views thanks to Apple giving this reviewer early access so while Apple may not have paid this reviewer directly in cash because he got early access and got millions of views and because he's putting ads on those millions of views the reviewer ends up getting paid right I think there's just no other way to look at it the reviewer ends up getting paid and it's not just the money that he makes off of that one video in the short term but also all the money that he'll make from the new subscribers that video gets in the long term so it's a huge bump for any reviewers business and you know the way I look at it is having early access is almost as good as having money in the bank which kind of leads you to the next question which is why like why would apple juice to give this reviewer early access instead of that reviewer what would Apple essentially be paying this group of reviewers instead of that group of reviewers and I think when most people ask themselves this question the first answer that really comes to mind is well these reviewers have the largest followings right there are the biggest channels out there and it only makes sense that Apple and Samsung would want to work with them to get the maximum amount of exposure that's definitely true to a certain extent right like you can't just be any bum off the street and expect to get the iPhone 8 early that's just not how it works like they're not gonna work with you unless you have a decent following and produce decent videos but at the same time like I don't think you have to be the biggest tech channel out there to get early access because I really don't think that these manufacturers are after the raw exposure these review bring to the table if exposure was the only thing that these manufacturers were after then why not just send a review unit to every tech channel that has over 300,000 subscribers it's not like they can't afford it and that strategy is sure to get them more exposure than they would otherwise no you see that's not what they're after manufacturers know that their early videos the ones that come on before everybody else or what the majority of people end up seeing and because they know this they want to make sure that when people end up seeing these videos when they see these reviews that they're positive right they don't want just any review they want positive reviews and the reason why they want that is these are manufacturers what they do what they're here for is to sell products the PR people that work for them they're here to get the maximum exposure for that brand that's positive so they could sell products I'd never forget that now I know a lot of you guys may be watching this and thinking I don't know Dave maybe you're just being salty dude like maybe you're just jealous mad because these other tech channels are getting this early access because they're the bigger channels and okay like okay sure I'm not getting really access all right and I'm not the biggest tech channel out there but I know how these manufacturers think and the reason why I know how to think is because I have gotten early access and I got it back when I had only 300,000 subscribers which you know once again kind of blows the theory that you have to be the biggest tech channel out there out of the water so back before the galaxy s6 was announced like before anybody had even seen the phone Samsung invited me and a few other youtubers out to get exclusive early access and they give us enough time to work on our videos before they actually announced the phone so that way we could actually post our videos at the same time as their press events and while other reviewers you know we're just waking up but wiping the eye crust out of the eyes and sipping their coffee our fully polished videos were out and ready and surprise surprise those videos did really really well I did a top 10 you features video and that thing's got 1.8 million views now for foam buff especially back then that was a lot of views normally those kind of videos get like maybe four or five six hundred thousand views so the differential of 1.2 million the extra revenue that came with those 1.2 million views and all the new subscribers that came as a result I attributed to Samsung giving me early and then something interesting happened you know after having this relationship with Sansa for years that started off with them inviting me out to press events and you know even send me Christmas gifts and then eventually led to the highest point where the gaming exclusive early access all the sudden like you just stop talking to me like they almost cut me off I felt like I was blacklisted I didn't get it like I didn't get why the video I produced for them when I got early access did really well 1.8 million views 20,000 plus likes and overall is a very positive video because I was just talking about the new features but then I looked back at the channel and it started to make sense you know this is me speculating okay I can't prove it but it started to make sense to me where you know the video I posted after I got back so this like a month later I got my own phones I posted the drop test right the phone bust out drop test we use a professional machine and I compared it side-by-side to the iPhone being all glass the galaxy s6 didn't do so hot in fact it did pretty badly it turned off completely after four drops where the iPhone made it all the way through next video was a speed test between again the iPhone and the HTC unfortunately for the galaxy s6 again it lost it came in last place now look I felt bad about the results of those videos right I mean like Samsung had just invited me out to get early exclusive access this is a huge favor they're doing me all the benefits that come with early access and you know Here I am posting not one but two videos where it shows that their phone doesn't stack up as well to the competition at least in those specific tests but like what am I supposed to do like those were the results so the videos went live they collectively got millions views and as a result I feel like I've been blacklisted this is just me speculating right like I can't prove that the negative exposure from those two videos is why Samsung decided to stop working with me I mean it could have just been you know my haircut or they didn't like that I grew a beard like you can't say for sure but you don't have to speculate for too long to kind of put two and two together and come to the conclusion that yeah is the negative exposure that just wasn't worth it for Samson anymore and like I'm not picking on Samsung and I'm not the only one that's been blacklisted right like Apple has blacklisted other publications for covering the whole bendgate thing and there's articles about I'll be putting those down below in the description if you guys want to check them out but I guess the point I'm trying to make here is getting early access for a reviewer is all as good as having money in the bank okay it's almost as good as having money in the bank and reviewers know this and trust me when I tell you that manufactures know this - these are billion-dollar corporations they have some of the smartest people in the world working for them they are not dumb like they know what they're giving to a reviewer when they give them really access and as a result they use that to manipulate the media to essentially get positive reviews if you're consistently giving a manufacturer positive reviews and you have a decent enough following like you're probably going to consistently find yourself on that manufacturers early access invite list like that's just how it works if you don't and you do or say something that pisses a manufacturer off then you can kiss that early access and all the benefits that come with it goodbye I know I did but you know as a reviewer I don't want to play puppet to a manufacturer right because like as soon as you have to start thinking on whether or not what you say or do in a review might offend or piss off a manufacturer at that point you're not a reviewer anymore like you're a puppet so the next time you see a reviewer who's consistently getting early access just keep in mind that you know that early access comes with a price like I'm not saying that these reviewers are or not being honest and are being dishonest like I don't think that's the case but at the same time it comes with the price and that price is having to dance this line of you know giving an honest review while also not pissing off a manufacturer so let's just start calling early access what it really is right like just as you would call any form of content that's been paid for sponsored content early access is essentially sponsored content and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that there isn't anything wrong with that it's only wrong when the audience doesn't know about it right I mean that's why we have laws in place to protect the consumer obviously early access is a loophole that manufacturers have found so our only defense to it is really awareness and hopefully this video has given you that awareness has armed you with that awareness so next time you see a video you know what's up anyways that is it for me in this video thank you guys for watching and as always I'll be keeping it real with you in the very next episode