The DriveTribe website – headed by the former BBC Top Gear TV hosts after Jeremy Clarkson left the show in 2015 – is due to come to an end this month, the presenters have announced.
The DriveTribe website is due to reach the end of the road this month after launching five years ago.
The website – which blended original content with motoring news sourced from around the world – was created after Jeremy Clarkson left the hit BBC Top Gear TV show in 2015.
While the DriveTribe site was run by a dedicated team of contributors, it was headed by the former Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond.
A post published on DriveTribe overnight said the website had fallen victim to a drop in advertising revenue due to shrinking automotive marketing budgets during the global pandemic.
Industry insiders say the website burned through millions of dollars when getting established – largely funded by the presenters – but then struggled with advertising revenue amid the automotive industry downturn during the global pandemic.
“Over the past five years, we’ve had huge fun getting to know you all, and sharing in the adventures and ideas of this great global community which has grown far beyond our expectations,” said the DriveTribe post, announcing the closure of the website at the end of January 2022.
“For many months we’ve been facing significant industry challenges, which unfortunately aren’t going anywhere. The protracted global shortage of computer chips has caused a number of challenges for the automotive industry, and led to severe reductions in marketing budgets across the industry. This has made for an incredibly difficult operating environment for businesses like ours which are dependent on advertising.”
The DriveTribe farewell continued: “We, therefore, unfortunately will be bringing the DriveTribe and FoodTribe websites and apps, and the business behind them, to a close at the end of this month.”
However, DriveTribe says some of its content will live on, with Richard Hammond “keeping the DriveTribe community alive through our social media channels which will remain very much in action. Richard is excited to share with you more about his new projects including his Smallest Cog Workshop. Jeremy and James will be with him every step of the way and may even make an appearance from time to time.”
The DriveTribe notice then included quotes from all three presenters, who created their own motoring show on streaming service Amazon Prime – called The Grand Tour – after they left Top Gear in 2015.
Jeremy Clarkson wrote on the DriveTribe website: “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 said: “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 said: “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.”
DriveTribe did not outline how many freelance journalists and other contributors will be impacted by the sudden closure of the website, but it did offer thanks for their dedication and service.
“We’d also like to thank our wonderful team who have worked exceptionally hard to bring our vision for the site to life – you’ve been truly brilliant,” the DriveTribe post concluded.
Many DriveTribe fans were understandably outraged by the news.
One DriveTribe commenter called Ferdi wrote: “They all can say this s— with communicating with the community and keeping it alive, but this community consists of communicating with each other in comment sections, dm’s (sic), group chats, posts. It’s almost impossible to achieve this through other social media. The only thing that jumps into mind is Reddit.
“This is plain ridiculous,” Ferdi continued, “and the reasons are bulls—. You can’t just give this announcement this close to the end. You all should’ve given us more time to see how we can communicate with each other though other channels, it feels like betrayal.”
RIP DriveTribe and all the best to its team of contributors around the world.
The post Jeremy Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond close DriveTribe website appeared first on Drive.
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