Linus has shown his flagrant disregard for impartiality or any form of integrity over and over again. Look through the LTT back catalogue and you’ll see that Intel is big sponsor of theirs. The fact that he gives “honest” reviews of Intel products doesn’t magically make it okay.
You’d never see Dr. Ian Cutress of AnandTech or Steve from GamersNexus pulling this shit.
Of course he makes much more money than both of them combined. Make no mistake that he is an entertainer and a businessman.
GamersNexus is all the time reviewing stuff positively and then taking on the same enterprise as sponsor. They can do that because their viewers know that they will still be very critical with the next product.
LTT also really always had the proper balance. Sponsored reviews are marked, sponsored segments are marked, and they are not holding back on negative reviews for long term channel sponsors. They totally ripped into Intel again and again for the failure to compete with AMD, and at the same time have Intel sponsor new hardware upgrades for team members in a sponsored mini-series. Totally fair.
> at the same time have Intel sponsor new hardware upgrades for team members in a sponsored mini-series. Totally fair.
Of course Intel did a big marketing push right as their products were the least competitive, and I'm sure LMG was paid large. Putting that kind of stunt in the same league as GN reviewing a product from a company that previously sponsored them (which is, of course, all that LTT does) is simply ridiculous.
"Balance" is such a weasel word in this context. They're playing both sides, plain and simple.
AnandTech quit doing SSD endurance testing as soon as vendors started selling trash TLC and QLC. Is that a coincidence? Can you really trust them?
There's a point where you need to put some trust in reviewers because the industry is set up to make them dependent on the manufacturers. However, there's a huge difference between traditional reviewers where employees are doing reviews and new age reviewers where influencers are doing the reviews.
People like Linus and Steve have way more incentive to put their own integrity over short term interests like pleasing a manufacturer, so it's very unlikely you'll ever see them shilling for anyone. Getting caught doing that once would ruin their brand (and credibility) because they are their brand.
In other words, there are no scape goats in the influencer space so they have way more incentive to be completely honest and transparent.
I remember when Tom's Hardware was new and I think the current generation of influencers / reviewers are going to obliterate the traditional media companies that have turned into affiliate marketing shills.
I think a lot of people underestimate how financially important it is for groups like LMG and GN to maintain the trust of their core audience.
In the videos Linus does breaking down LMG's revenue, about a third of it comes from a tiny fraction of their audience - merch and direct subscriptions. I'm sure it's a similar chunk if not more for GN through modmats, mousepads, and Patreon.
Even if they sold out their integrity and still got millions of views, it's that "hardcore" audience they can't really get back. In an enthusiast space where a large chunk of the audience are professionals with disposable income, it's a lot to lose.
I haven't seen anything from Linus or Steve to suggest that's the only reason they care so much about their integrity, they both seem to genuinely care, but y'know parasocial relationships etc.
There is a conflict of interest there, but as a counterpoint, pretty much every time he does a build video it seems like he picks AMD (at least, post Ryzen).
You’d never see Dr. Ian Cutress of AnandTech or Steve from GamersNexus pulling this shit.
Of course he makes much more money than both of them combined. Make no mistake that he is an entertainer and a businessman.