I’m a member of the NWAPA-Northwest Automotive Press Association. I understand production value, framing, audio, storytelling, sequence, on-camera presentation, and bookending it for the end consumer. I have a wider base of information and skillset than most people who start. It’s hard to say that I’m not highly produced, because my production value and quality is much higher than those without my background from doing TV news, reporting, and one-man studio shooting and editing. I hope it’s the everyman quality, being relatable and presenting in an easy-to-understand way. What do you think has made the channel successful? It wasn’t six figures, but it was close.Ībout 75% of my revenue comes from YouTube. It’s one of those rules that when you sign up for the YouTube Partner Program you’re not supposed to say how much you make. In fact, I made more last year in my single YouTube channel than I did my last year as a TV news anchor. Whatever it was, it took off with some very popular videos for my channel, and then the revenue more than doubled last year from the previous year. I don’t know whether it was a tipping point, whether it was just finally some brand recognition, experience.

I had five or six years of flat revenue, and then last year, something hit.

I was averaging about 25,000 subscribers a year for the first three to five years. When did the channel start getting popular? Almost 90 million viewers later, it turned out to be a good decision. In August of 2012, I officially created my channel and started making videos for that channel soon after. They weren’t interested in bringing me on as a member of the team, so I started my own channel. It wasn’t about the money, it was about the experience, and after I got the experience, I thought I’d proved myself. In a way, it was a glorified internship, barely getting gas money in return for the time I was putting in. I needed to make more money than what I was making. They refused, so I started my own channel. Journal: How did the Everyman Driver channel start?Įrickson: I was freelancing for somebody else, and I asked if I could be a bigger part of their channel. The Journal spoke with Erickson about the switch from TV to YouTube, how the Everyman Driver channel works behind the scenes, and how YouTube can benefit business owners.

Erickson is still in front of the camera, but he’s no longer reporting from a studio desk.Įrickson now works full-time as owner and managing editor of the Everyman Driver channel on YouTube, where he reviews vehicles, provides information on maintenance, and posts videos that are more entertainment-oriented, such as “Man Duct Taped to Mustang at 90 mph.” Dave Erickson was in broadcast journalism for 15 years, during which time he spent more than four years at Spokane’s KXLY Broadcast Group.

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