Michael Satterfield
TGR Staff – 01/10/2022
In a post shared today, Clarkson, Hammond, and May announced that they would be shutting down their automotive media site Drivetribe and food-focused sister site Foodtribe at the end of the month. The post cites the protracted global shortage of computer chips, reduced marketing budgets from advertisers, and that generally just running a business is hard, as reasons why they are shutting down.
Jeremy Clarkson says: “We’re all really disappointed that challenges in the industry – not in the least helped by the ongoing pandemic – have simply made it impossible to continue with the business in its current form. I’m very much looking forward to seeing what mischief Hammond and his team get up to as they take the channels and the community forward.”
James May says: “It’s a crying shame that we have to let this go. DriveTribe and FoodTribe are brilliant platforms that have inspired many new writers and bloggers to come up with great stuff. But ultimately, this is a business, and businesses are being kicked in the nads by everything that’s going on in the world. It’s not the absolute end, though. We still have an outlet for food and car tomfoolery, so the global economy can whistle dixie out of its arse. See you soon.”
Richard Hammond says: “Although we’re all really disappointed that our DriveTribe Website business has to come to an end, I’m really delighted to be continuing our relationship with this brilliant community. There’s never been a more exciting time to talk about the industry as we deal with these hugely challenging market forces and the rapid evolution of what we mean by motoring. Come and join me on the channels along with lots of familiar DriveTribe faces as we continue to keep the brand alive and the conversation going.”
While the site, platform, and employees are all going away, it seems that the trio will be keeping the social media channels up and running, likely transferring ownership to a new company so they can keep the ad revenue from YouTube and other social media monetization. But it appears that the hosts found working for a media company is much easier than running one, sadly many creators who built up and supplied content to Drivetribe are scrambling to download or save any of their works before they disappear forever.
