Astrophsx

It's pretty easy to just throw the term jealousy out there. I think that is a cop out for having to post a thoughtful post. People who complain about the president are just jealous of his success right??


There is no doubt that TPG started his website as a business and grew that business and became very successful in doing so. There are some things he did that rubbed people the wrong way during this journey. He is the most prominent blogger, therefore no matter what he does (positive or negative) there will always be a certain number of people who don't like him for any given reason.

If you don't think he's a miles and points public figure... he's now going around autographing credit cards:

oliver2002

5 OT personal comments and response thereto removed. Lets stay on topic.

Regards Oliver2002
Mod EM&PR

AAExPlat

How do you come to this conclusion? I do commercials for a living and I will tell you that unless you want one of the big agencies to do this work for you, it is FAR cheaper than you may think.

In his case, he is the talent (so no union headaches or talent fees), he is the voiceover (again no fees no union issues) and everything is shot with a handheld or drone, probably by one of his contributors. The only real cost he has is the editing and the airfare and rooms for his 1-2 man crew. And with today's technology and talent, editing is no longer astronomically expensive.

Astrophsx

I'm actually a little curious about how TPG and other bloggers are able to get certain videos viral. In TPG case... most of his videos maintain about 2,000-7,000 views on average. He gets a bump up to around 10k - 40k views for A380 trip reports. Then out of nowhere he has just under 1 million for his Residence... even though one month prior he released two short residence videos that only have ~40k views.

Then TPGtv is starting to do 100k+ in viewers for each video. I assume these videos are being marketed/advertised outside of his webpage? He only has around 13,000 subscribers on Youtube.

Then you have Sam Huang.. remember the guy that got millions of views of his trip report of Singapore Airlines First Class Suites? The one that stole content from Andy's Travel Blog and other sources for this and other reports? His Emirates "First Class" video is up to 1.5 M views. The video where he's doing the awkward shimmy of a dance by himself.

I'm curious how these guys with little to no following on Youtube manage to get their videos viral. This has go to be some of the cheapest advertising material to get people to your website. The residence is a fairly new product and not many people have detailed a flight with the product, but how did TPG 3rd video go viral and the others did not? How did Sam's video go viral when many others have posted videos in EK First? I'm just curious because Sam's video was created over 8 months and released when he started his webpage.

YoungSoloTraveler

Its cause its TPG and for him spending $32,000 on a flight is pennies so no doubt he has zero hustle. You shoot commercials for a living and you think that production was shot from a hand held??

You got two different Asian guys mixed up. The Singapore Airlines guy name is Derek Low. Two completely different guys.

TPG for sure uses facebook advertising to drive traffic and probably paid traffic sourced into Youtube. Sam's article was on the front page of yahoo, obviously it got hits from all the link traffic.

As always, not the best content goes viral. Otherwise we wouldn't have videos such as charlie bit my finger and all other sorts of videos which went viral.

Astrophsx

You're right, I got mixed up because his name was mentioned in another thread about Sam. Sam was a bit "loose" on the facts with his $60,000 all first class trip. He also never came forward on his method used for booking the trip.

With Sam's video... It was uploaded the same day Business Insider ran his article (pretty much a copy and paste from his webpage). This seems to be what kickstarted the chain reaction of other outlets like Yahoo covering the story. I don't recall this happening with TPG?

runfit

He uses a media company and travels with a producer and cameraman. It is definitely not shot handheld, maybe for some of the shots, but not for all.
Also, he is likely doing the voiceover because he is trying to make the connection with people as "The Points Guy" not to make it cheaper. The only part that makes it not really expensive is the fact that an entire "season" is shot on one trip instead of multiple trips.

kokonutz

I don't have a good answer. But I can report that my the face book feed was full of TPG's ads for 2 or 3 weeks recently.

Adam1222

I wonder if TPG TV is an attempt for Brian to expand his usefulness and employability. even if he's a millionaire from the blog so far (and keeping it as a Florida "resident"), that won't sustain his lifestyle until he hits retirement age. Being "The Points Guy" is likely not to produce significant income as programs go revenue based and credit card churning is eliminated. he's in his early 30s, so maybe he thinks legit travel journalism or tv is a possibility. His pre-full-time blogging job of recruitment for the finance industry isn't likely to be as financially rewarding.

Astrophsx

Doesn't seem like you have an informed opinion. Explain how airline programs going revenue based programs and churning is linked to the success of TPG? Do you think this is TPG's target market? There was a recent study that suggested 75% of Americans haven't changed their primary credit card in 10 years. I would assume this is his target market and people out of college. He has showed the number that his audience has doubled each year. I can only assume that the YouTube videos are there to attract new viewers to the webpage.

Travel video blogs on YouTube are doing very well right now. It wouldn't be a bad thing to get in on that early as more and more people move away from traditional media. I'm guessing that he's exploring social media options in order to grow the website's audience.

sbm12

Enough of the market to make a dent.

And most of those also do not travel much. The stat on how few Americans have passports is similarly low. Ditto for those who do not stray far from home. More important to look at likely "customers" than all potential customers IMO.

Agreed, but this is, to me, making Adam1222's point that diversifying out of the CC shill market is a smart move.

TMM1982

The reports of TPG's demise are being greatly exaggerated.

Even if things slow down, TPG can still easily haul in half a mil. He can layoff 75% of his team and get back down to the basics. Perhaps cut down on his lifestyle a tad but he'll still do well for himself.

AAExPlat

With what professional expertise (or expertise otherwise) do either of you make that statement? Entire episodes of TV series have been shot on handhelds. Yes, a Red Scarlet or better is awesome to shoot with, but not always required.

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/...hoots_house.do

Adam1222

Thanks, but I'm pretty sure my opinion is informed. You may disagree with it, but I am certainly informed.

It's basic math. Between this website and other similar websites, it is impossible for revenue generating readership to continue to grow at this rate, even without any change in external factors. If the number of credit Cards each reader can get drops -- which it is based on Chase and Amex rule changes, revenue will drop further. People will be less likely to be interested in changing credit cards if the benefit of doing so drops - which is what is happening with miles programs switching to dollar based.

runfit

I don't need any professional experience. It was on various videos and photos that they had posted. Plus, the company he uses was also used by other media people (including Katie Couric) to answer who he uses.