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The ethics of review and reviewers.

Liam Millar

It took me some time to share this. I believe it's a complex aspect of the watch industry, and I wanted to delve into it and hear your thoughts.


The Negative:

I won't name the channel; rather, I'm interested in your views on their approach and your thoughts on it.


In mid-January, I got an email from a particular YouTube reviewer.

The gist of the email was:


Good morning,

I would like to review your watches on my *********** YouTube channel.

See link below to my channel:

***********

Please could you send me some watches for review?

Regards, 

***********


I responded by mentioning that we had a press watch available. I also observed that they were not in the UK and inquired about their location in country XYZ. This is when things started to get strange. I anticipated discussing import taxes and shipping costs, but their next email surprised me. They provided their full postal address and phone number, and then, quite matter-of-factly, this...


Brand usually gift me the piece as payment for my review.

Alternatively if loaned they pay a 300 Euro (£253 GBP) review fee.

Which would you prefer?


Please remember, this is someone I have never interacted with before, and to be completely honest, I had never even encountered the channel. I responded by saying that we don't pay for reviews, which I consider a moral position because if I pay you to create a video, I feel I would be purchasing a service and would therefore own the content. However, my understanding of YouTube's operation is that the channel earns money based on the number of views and the duration people watch the videos.


I don't work for free Liam.

Good luck with your brand.


This statement was quite confusing to me; they reached out and simply assumed they would receive a watch or payment for creating this "REVIEW". The entire situation feels like paid advertising, not a genuine review.


This individual claims "I don't work for free," yet they expect me to do so, and even more absurdly, they expect me to pay them for the privilege?


It is usual for brands to either gift a piece, or pay a review fee, to larger watch channels.

Therefore when a large channel emails a brand it isn't necessary to state that in the first email.

The done thing is; either the brand emails the channel, or the channel emails the brand to arrange a review.

Usually the brand will offer the piece as payment, or alternatively offer a loaned piece and ask how much the review fee is?

With smaller channels its different, as they are willing to review loaned pieces free of charge.

It's not usual for a large channel to email a brand and it the first contact email ask for a gifted piece, or payment.

The first email is contact to request a piece for review.

I have reviewed many pieces from microbrands over the years, and this is the usual way its done.

It's a given that smaller channels review loaned pieces free of charge.

It's also a given that larger channels require payment.


There are a few aspects of this interaction that seem questionable to me.

Firstly, this individual claims to receive a watch for every review on their channel, yet their State of the Collection video features only FOUR watches.

Additionally, in the past week, they have uploaded ELEVEN videos, but only two of those have surpassed 1000 views. This suggests to me that there isn't significant care and attention given to the production of these videos, particularly for what they describe as a LARGE YouTube channel.


Enough of the Bad, now for the Good, sorry not Good, the Great.

I AM happy to put this channel out there as they are honest guys and I wish them every success.

Watch Yourself, Jorge


The interaction with these guys was totally different.

I was at a REDBAR meeting in Bristol, talking to one of the organisers, just chatting watches as we all tend to do at these meets, Jorge came up and joined the conversation. I noticed he kept glancing at my watch (Scuba in black, as is almost always on my wrist), he then asked about it, we has a short conversation about the watch specs etc and he then asked if I could loan him a watch for review. knowing I had a press watch in my bag, I said no problem. They both thanked me and we carried on with the meet.


The following day, I got a message asking "Do you mind if we resize the bracelet?", my response was "So long as it comes back complete and not bashed up, treat it as you would any watch you own." I noticed over the next few weeks Instagram posts of the watch popping up and the YouTube video came out a little while later.


In closing, I would much rather deal with someone who is enthusiastic about watches and is honest and open about what they are trying to achieve, rather than the first example who just seems to be interested in being paid.

Please let me know you thoughts, on the good and bad of watch Youtube.

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