The people who do Youtube for a living are selling you clicks, just like MS is selling software, or any other business is selling you somehing.  They are not "journalists" looking for facts, but entertainers looking for you to get to the end of their video.  The Youtube algorithm pushes very specific metrics, and that's what they have to chase, because it is their business model.  Youtube also pushes quantity, and when you do that, quality suffers.  

The bottom line is - streamers can boost or hurt sales.  Game companies are very aware of this.  This is nothing specific to flight sim, but plagues video games in general.  Heck, most video game review sites are super sketchy now.  

The problem is that streamers are seen as some sort of authority, when in reality, most are just another opinion, no different from mine or yours.  Granted there are exceptions, I follow a real heli pilot who reviews FS helicopters.  His opinion DOES matter more than mine for obvious reasons.  But still, an opinion is an opinion. Most streamers don't seem to have any experience beyond mine.  

That's not to say I don't follow a bunch of streamers.  I think many I follow still just do it for fun and not for money (although I'm not sure on a few).  Still, their reviews are just another opinion.

When I evaluate a product, I look at Youtube, but also the thread here.  I'm looking for multiple data points.  Youtube is helpful because you can see the product in action, and often draw your own conclusions.  

Another thing I notice is pre-release hype.  I see many people here buying addons not just on launch day, but minutes after launch.  Now if you are a big fan of something, that's ok, but you are taking a big leap.  Launch day issues, bugs, etc.  When addons are costing so much, maybe wait and see a day or two before spending your hard earned money?  

Ultimately, you need to protect yourself.  Nobody else is going to do it.  

Edited May 28, 20251 yr by kerosene31

I fly because I love it, and I stream because I love to share my passion. I have been a flight simulator nut for over forty years, and if I told my wife what I have spent, she would divorce me tomorrow. I started streaming my flights about ten years ago and have nineteen hundred flight videos on my YouTube channel. I don't talk over my flights, and I will only recommend something if I genuinely think it's great. Apart from one airport I was gifted by SoFly for beta testing, I have not made a single penny. So when you see a recommendation from me, it's because I really think it's the best thing since sliced bread 🙃😉. And in my forty years of FS, I have only highly recommended three things, and I purchased all of them myself.

ProATC (now defunct)

BATC

and

la pièce de résistance: Flight Sim First Officer

3 minutes ago, SierraHotel BSc said:

I fly because I love it, and I stream because I love to share my passion. I have been a flight simulator nut for over forty years, and if I told my wife what I have spent, she would divorce me tomorrow. I started streaming my flights about ten years ago and have nineteen hundred flight videos on my YouTube channel. I don't talk over my flights, and I will only recommend something if I genuinely think it's great. Apart from one airport I was gifted by SoFly for beta testing, I have not made a single penny. So when you see a recommendation from me, it's because I really think it's the best thing since sliced bread 🙃😉. And in my forty years of FS, I have only highly recommended three things, and I purchased all of them myself.

ProATC (now defunct)

BATC

and

la pièce de résistance: Flight Sim First Officer

I use FSFO on every flight, I got it for the PMDG 737-777-Fenix A 320 and the iFly 738M. 

48 minutes ago, kerosene31 said:

The people who do Youtube for a living are selling you clicks, just like MS is selling software, or any other business is selling you somehing.  They are not "journalists" looking for facts, but entertainers looking for you to get to the end of their video.  The Youtube algorithm pushes very specific metrics, and that's what they have to chase, because it is their business model.  Youtube also pushes quantity, and when you do that, quality suffers.  

The bottom line is - streamers can boost or hurt sales.  Game companies are very aware of this.  This is nothing specific to flight sim, but plagues video games in general.  Heck, most video game review sites are super sketchy now.  

The problem is that streamers are seen as some sort of authority, when in reality, most are just another opinion, no different from mine or yours.  Granted there are exceptions, I follow a real heli pilot who reviews FS helicopters.  His opinion DOES matter more than mine for obvious reasons.  But still, an opinion is an opinion. Most streamers don't seem to have any experience beyond mine.  

That's not to say I don't follow a bunch of streamers.  I think many I follow still just do it for fun and not for money (although I'm not sure on a few).  Still, their reviews are just another opinion.

When I evaluate a product, I look at Youtube, but also the thread here.  I'm looking for multiple data points.  Youtube is helpful because you can see the product in action, and often draw your own conclusions.  

Another thing I notice is pre-release hype.  I see many people here buying addons not just on launch day, but minutes after launch.  Now if you are a big fan of something, that's ok, but you are taking a big leap.  Launch day issues, bugs, etc.  When addons are costing so much, maybe wait and see a day or two before spending your hard earned money?  

Ultimately, you need to protect yourself.  Nobody else is going to do it.  

Totally couldn't agree more with your prospective.

For the most part from my perspective YouTube is garbage because of all the "know it all's" and those trying to make a living of this novel concept called YouTube.

There are so many ads on YouTube now I rarely view any of this type of stuff!

My opinion is I could care less if the content creators receive free copies of addons or money. I think it helps with buying decisions if the reviewer is honest, like Dave Nott, I like him.  He's upfront all the time I've watched his channel. 

What I dislike is when they try to push stuff that you obviously know and that 90% of your channel viewers know, that what they are marketing/pushing it is a very bad addon to begin with. Creators should avoid this, they'll have more credibility and trust.  Just saying..  

I subscribed to one Youtuber when he started his channel when MSFS 2020 was released.  He's a very popular Youtuber now and I really enjoyed his channel.  But then he started pushing addons that were clearly not up to standards. What made stop watching him was when he pushed an addon that required a subscription that wasn't worth the $$ at all.  It was like $15-20/month and it wasn't worth a subscription at all!  Yet, he kept saying glowing things about it, clearly he was being bias towards the addon and didn't want to say bad things about it.  It wasn't a addon like the new ATC addon, AI SayIntentions where you do have some value for what you're paying a sub for.  The addon he was marketing was clearly a ripoff, yet he still pushed it to his viewers. It left a bad taste...

It is worth mentioning that there's a big difference between hobby streamers and "they quit their day job and this is their living" streamers.  The latter group is the one that is the potential problem.  

We should also remember ( not talking about myself here) that there are numerous real world pilots who are also flight sim enthusiasts on this very forum. And they quite often fly the actual aircraft being discussed, be that a Cessna 152 or a 747.

However because their comments aren’t presented in a show biz style YouTube video they don’t seem to carry the same weight somehow.

My personal favourite on YouTube is avangel, she buys her own aircraft, is very humble,gives an honest review from a slightly different angle, and most importantly always makes me laugh, in one way or another.

I’ve watched some YouTube stuff from other reviewers delivered with with such authority that in some cases is absolute nonsense to anyone who A) actually flies or B)has taken the time to actually read the product documentation.

My own personal standpoint when talking about products on these forums is usually limited to talking about positive things I’ve enjoyed. There’s a few things that I think are rubbish but I’ll keep that thought to myself because at the end of the day someone has put a lot of work into it. 

I stick to twotonemurphy these days because he seems to do it for fun.

dd

5 hours ago, flyingscampi said:

A330 Driver's riposte

Videoresponse @lexsteryo: Do Flt-Sim YouTubers get PAID to SAY AN ADDON IS GOOD? I wish.

 

He seems to think no one is sponsored by ini. 

"Thank you for addressing this topic, which has been upsetting me as well for a while now. Over the last year I have been sort of blacklisted for pre-release versions by certain well known addon developers because of my prior criticism of their released products. In the end this is actually the best thing that could happen to me because I was also becoming a clown in this influencer circus (as I call it). I fully share the opinion that someone being gifted a free copy will never give a fully honest review of it. And also fully agree that no flightsim platform or aircraft addon is perfect. Hence I enjoy different aircraft types in MSFS as well as X-Plane12 and DCS. Happy Landings everyone." Blackbox711 response to Lexsteryo

1 hour ago, Bobsk8 said:

I use FSFO on every flight, I got it for the PMDG 737-777-Fenix A 320 and the iFly 738M. 

Love FSFO! It's a time saver for me. It still takes about 20 mins. to half an hour from C&D Pre-Flight Flows to Push Back and Engine Start, so I set up a half hour UTC before my scheduled flight time. Sure I can do a Cold & Dark setup myself using my own checklists, but to me it is just as immersive having the FO setup everything up while I use "Voice" control calling the Flows and Checks, very immersive for me anyway, Great App with Version 6 on the horizon!

Who cares!

Is there any evidence of MS actually getting people to sign agreements to stream MSFS exclusively?

One thing that really bugs me of late is the number of streamers being given aircraft weeks in advance of everyone else. I feel it kills the hype somewhat - of course, you make a choice to watch someone else fly it but eh... I think sometimes it's a bit too much when my Youtube feed is filled with people flying preview builds of something I'm really looking forward to. (Inibuilds A350 for instance, and the same is happening with the CSS 737-500).

Don't forget to mention that 2024 streaming works great.

dd