GCN - what's the deal?

964cup

I quite like GCN. They produce too many videos, and their tech content is unwatchable, but the core show itself remains professional and entertaining, as are many of the features. So how come they get so few views? The last GCN show came out 6 days ago, and has just 85,000 views. I can't imagine, even with sponsorship from "our friends over at Wiggle" [sic], that they'll survive long with that little revenue. Yet they now have something like 8 English-language presenters, and a Spanish channel, and seem to do some big trips. Where's the money coming from?

Forget the bizarre mystery of mainstream YouTube - millions of people watching some semi-inarticulate f**kwit playing video games. That's a poor comparison. Consider instead videos on blacksmithing and machining (an admittedly niche interest, surely?). More people *must* ride (and be interested in) bikes than have home forges or milling machines. Yet Alec Steele's recent videos - which basically show him ineptly setting himself up in the US, having moved from Norfolk - get more than 4x the views. A video he made, also 6 days ago, of welding up some shelving (yes, really) has 385k views. An astonishingly dry video by This Old Tony explaining how a sine bar works - including actual trigonometry - from yesterday has 185k views.

It's December. At least in the Northern hemisphere you'd think we had more time to watch videos about cycling, since we're probably doing less actual cycling. There's not even any racing on. So is there just no love for GCN, or has the surge of general interest in cycling already started to die?

neeb

A lot of (most?) people watch GCN on the GCN homepage rather than you tube. https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/
I assume that doesn't count towards you tube views (?). I only go to you tube when I want to use the comments section.

I have a love/hate relationship with GCN. The increasingly commercial slant really annoys me, especially the regurgitation of the industry propaganda about disc brakes, aero frames and wide wheels/tyres. On the other hand it's usually pretty entertaining and every so often they do some really good stuff, e.g. the recent piece about body weight perceptions or the nerd edition tech stuff with Emma.

Most of the presenters annoy me and entertain me at the same time, like that tw*t at school who was always larking around and very popular but was actually a bit of a bully and basically on an ego trip all of the time. But then Emma is lovely, and Dan and John are mostly OK. The two new blokes are nice enough I suppose but just a bit annoyingly slightly posh southern English for me.

The consequence of all this is that I end up watching it more that I think I should instead of something more worthwhile - which is what Wiggle want I suppose!

Those unboxings with Simon are like something from one of those really tacky daytime channels selling total tat to unemployed couch potatoes..

Matthewfalle

because like all of these blogs/cycle things you watch two, get bored, switch them off.

the bikeradar ones about the two hill climb dudes are the same - fairly dull overall.

barongreenback

Have given up watching the regular shows and much prefer the one off content eg Emma doing Cyclocross, Iceland trip, bikepacking in Morocco etc. It’s a bit like the cycling magazines - there’s only so much content out there before it gets repetitive. 85,000 views is not bad for a weekly show bearing in mind the viewers are likely to have high engagement with a specific product range. Think about daytime ads where you may get 500,000 viewers but the adverts are very widely targeted.

I do wish though the presenters could express a few more opinions without fear of annoying their sponsors.

thegreatdivide

Matt Stevens is off to better things. It’s now weekly (of weakly) online advertising to mugs. Get out while you can, unless you feel the need to but a 650b gravel bike with discs.

964cup

It's always interesting to see how tastes differ. I find Jon Cannings absolutely unwatchable - he can't string a sentence together and always makes it sound like he knows less about bike technology than my 10-year-old. I'd rather watch Ollie, frankly, even though he basically *is* a 10-year-old. On the other hand, I think Si Richardson is a natural presenter who makes most topics entertaining. Emma Pooley, of course, is an actual cycling god - and really rather fearsomely bright - and landing her as a presenter was something of a coup for them. I wonder if they're producing too much content across too many channels - perhaps chasing some internal YT monetising target. They just don't seem to have the level of subscriptions I'd expect for the relatively high production values they bring to it.

robbytres

Maybe I'm easily pleased but I've been watching GCN for about a year now and find it a massively valuable resource and pretty entertaining too most of the time. Matt Stevens leaving was a bit of a blow as he was the funniest presenter, but the rest are a mainly likeable bunch.

I try to watch GMBN now and again but find most of the presenters there to be less watchable.

PhilipPirrip

It's an online cycling mag and like real cycling mags it doesn't really interest me but they have been broadcasting some of the cyclocross races on Facebook which makes a change from having to find a stream.

sloppyschleckonds

At a guess if you started cycling in the last couple of years it was all a bit of a novelty, then you realise its dull, sometimes infantile and all about product placement.

Carry on.

jimmythecuckoo

I think GCN is the sort of thing best dipped in and out of as opposed to religiously watching every piece of content.

I really enjoyed the Three Peaks piece recently, but agree that some others have just been long adverts.

bristolpete

I lost interest which was mild at best when they went down the SKY sports route and split the show up into different segments / shows. Boring now and too much to bother with. Occasionally watch the show if it appears on my front page, but not that often and will usually scroll through if anything of interest. Not bothered about product placement if it reveals a deal or two.

flanners1

It has it's value with both info and comedy, I watch it on a irregular basis some of the content I have found interesting and helpful; the product placement and the constant push of new tech is understandable considering who bankrolls the channel but at times becomes annoying. The factory tours and manufacturing slots have been interesting too. Zwift is being pushed/sold by them mercilessly.

daniel_b

964Cup wrote:

Where's the money coming from?

They were fairly recently (Last 12 -18 months?) bought by Eurosport, so assuming they have been reshaping as they see fit, and also poached Matt full time!

Other money streams, besides wiggle, are all of the paid promotion pieces they do, and a large percentage of the films are, and state as much, like one on deep dish wheels used in cross winds recently etc.

They also seemingly sell a fair amount of GCN kit, cycling kit and casual stuff, and also have their club, which costs £10 a month!

I don't know how they manage to pay all of the presenters though, maybe Eurosport do.

Presenter wise, I did like Matt, and was sorry to see him go.
Not sorry that Lasty (Is it Tom?) has disappeared behind the scenes, as personally I thought he was the worst out of the lot.
Si and Dan are watchable, but Emma of the Pooleys is fantastic, not only a cycling legend from Norwich, but also a bl00dy good presenter to boot, love all of her films, be it recipes, or racing, or trips abroad.
The two new guys are ok, forget their names, still a bit stilted at the mo, the one who is not john travolta is getting better as the weeks go on.

Who else - John is a bit stilted too in my opinion, Ollie is superb, though not as good as the Pooley, though for whatever reason I think I preferred him on Cycling Weekly, he just seemed to be a bit more natural on there it seemed to me.

surfercyclist

I still like GCN, unquestionably (imo) Simon and Dan the best but Emma is excellent as well. Glad to see back of Matt Stevens, he was just an annoying twat. Sorry but true.

Anyway, Emma and Chris Opie GOT to be shagging - the sexual frisson between them on some videos is a sight to see.

philbar72

when Matt went it went south fast. Emma is interesting, and I don't mind Dan/ Si and the others but ultimately its just advertorials and sponsored links. I don't watch it anymore.

964cup

Ah. Bought by Eurosport. That explains the money.

I'm still struck by the low viewing figures compared to ridiculously niche one-person-band channels. Given the apparent popularity of (road) cycling as a recreation, I would have expected much bigger numbers even if the shows are - as others have rightly pointed out - both variable in quality and often just as hagiographic as the recycled PR puffery on here or Road.cc.

bristolpete

Daniel B wrote:

964Cup wrote:

Where's the money coming from?

They were fairly recently (Last 12 -18 months?) bought by Eurosport, so assuming they have been reshaping as they see fit, and also poached Matt full time!

Other money streams, besides wiggle, are all of the paid promotion pieces they do, and a large percentage of the films are, and state as much, like one on deep dish wheels used in cross winds recently etc.

They also seemingly sell a fair amount of GCN kit, cycling kit and casual stuff, and also have their club, which costs £10 a month!

I don't know how they manage to pay all of the presenters though, maybe Eurosport do.

Presenter wise, I did like Matt, and was sorry to see him go.
Not sorry that Lasty (Is it Tom?) has disappeared behind the scenes, as personally I thought he was the worst out of the lot.
Si and Dan are watchable, but Emma of the Pooleys is fantastic, not only a cycling legend from Norwich, but also a bl00dy good presenter to boot, love all of her films, be it recipes, or racing, or trips abroad.
The two new guys are ok, forget their names, still a bit stilted at the mo, the one who is not john travolta is getting better as the weeks go on.

Who else - John is a bit stilted too in my opinion, Ollie is superb, though not as good as the Pooley, though for whatever reason I think I preferred him on Cycling Weekly, he just seemed to be a bit more natural on there it seemed to me.

Good call re- Ollie. He was the star on CW - very verbose, intelligent and literate where as the others despite being journalists are an unkempt mess that do not pass the rule of 'if it does not join up, it is not a beard, it is a mess' in my opinion But fair play, better than sitting in a sh*t office all day I suppose.

bristolpete

964Cup wrote:

Ah. Bought by Eurosport. That explains the money.

I'm still struck by the low viewing figures compared to ridiculously niche one-person-band channels. Given the apparent popularity of (road) cycling as a recreation, I would have expected much bigger numbers even if the shows are - as others have rightly pointed out - both variable in quality and often just as hagiographic as the recycled PR puffery on here or Road.cc.

Possible target market. Early teens through to mid twenties now are the Youtube generation. I fail to see how these kids, Zoella, joe sugg and co. do it, but ebbing towards latter 40's I never will. The road scene is and always has been dominated by middle aged men though far more acceptable now. Before the rise in road we were the freaks, geeks and unique's on bikes waiting at street corners on a Saturday morning 'club run'.

djrikki

Si and Dan obviously "own" the show with Ollie hot on their heels. When Emma first joined I found she spoke far too fast and although she still does to a certain extent I do look forward to seeing her in front of the camera.

Cycling Weekly is barely watchable without Ollie; mostly down to the choice of the new vlogger - that posh accent just grates with me so much so I no longer watch it anymore.

bristolpete

djrikki wrote:

Si and Dan obviously "own" the show with Ollie hot on their heels. When Emma first joined I found she spoke far too fast and although she still does to a certain extent I do look forward to seeing her in front of the camera.

Cycling Weekly is barely watchable without Ollie; mostly down to the choice of the new vlogger - that posh accent just grates with me so much so I no longer watch it anymore.

Difficult balance. Getting a rider no one can relate to a mistake, but then getting a middle aged average rider like me another mistake though most of us can relate to an average 250 watt FTP normal guy - tricky.

My mate rides with Ollie at Bath CC now and he is rapid and very very lean so I am told.

fenix

I'm amazed there is so much GCN content on there. So many videos. What with those and cycling and cleaning the bike - how could you possibly watch a week's worth. I genuinely thought they'd be doing one a week or so.

bonzo_banana

GCN has over 1.5 million subscribers, 3000 videos and their top viewing video is 16 million views. I don't think you should judge by how many have watched a video shortly after it's first been shown but perhaps count the number over the first 2 years. Each video created is an asset that accumulates funds over time. I can see a lot of revenue coming in from youtube, product placement promotional videos, sponsorship and their own shop.

For me the content is hit and miss and I tend to skim sections that don't interest me but still find the content useful and often entertaining. The recent £100 mountain bike video on GMBN I enjoyed but found their choice of £100 mountain bikes pretty stupid and apart from the Marin thought the other 2 bikes were a complete joke and really only there to push people to buy more expensive products and keep their sponsors happy. If you haven't seen the video one bike was a rigid retro bike with quill stem and high tensile steel frame and the other a similar bike without fully working brakes. Made for some comedy but was not useful or helpful at all to those who were looking for a bike with £100 to spend to see how they would ride.

I guess that is the point. Most people buy cheap bikes they form the majority of bike sales but GCN really push the higher end product with only the occasional token review of lower end product. The lower end product keeps costs low so no money to sponsor content.

cgfw201

Most people don't realise, but absolutely every single thing you see on the screen has been paid for since pretty much day 1.

Helmet sponsors (Kask), Kit sponsors (Santini and now Assos), Individual bike sponsors for each presenter (Orbea, Canyon, Trek etc), destination sponsors (Alta Badia), shoe sponsors (Fizik), bike computer sponsors (Wahoo) etc...(lots more listed below each video).

These are all long term deals, probably in 6 figures per year. They also do a load of shorter term deals on a per-video kind of basis, like they did for easyJet, Haute Route, Oakley etc.

Compare it to the rest of the cycling media in the UK and it's an absolute behemoth. Cyclist sells about 20k mags a month, GCN gets around 40 million video views a month across the network, all organically.

The sheer volume of content means it's kind of hard to watch it all, but the weekly show is still good and has no real equivalent, and there's always something interesting each week, generally a bigger ride somewhere new abroad amongst the more run of the mill stuff.

They also have over 100 employees now.

edward.s

I quite like most of the content and presenters. I do, however, turn off anything that has Jon Cannings trying to be a 'tec adviser' in it as he is often factually incorrect and/or gives poor advice. He's just not in the same league as the other presenters and compared to Doddy on GMBN he's a total fool.

joe_totale-2

bristolpete wrote:

My mate rides with Ollie at Bath CC now and he is rapid and very very lean so I am told.

He has a number of KOM's round the lanes of SE London/Kent.

mrb123

Joe Totale wrote:

bristolpete wrote:

My mate rides with Ollie at Bath CC now and he is rapid and very very lean so I am told.

He has a number of KOM's round the lanes of SE London/Kent.

Think he was third fastest in this year's Fred Whitton, beaten only by the two guys he rode with.

chippyk

I don’t watch it as much since Matt Stephens left. The chemistry between him, Simon and Dan Lloyd was great, and he was proper funny too at times. Emma’s lovely and should be on more, the two new guys aren’t great but they’ll get there.
I met Dan the other week, lovely bloke, not a patch on Mrs Lloyd who I spent some time talking to, she’s a really nice person, could have spent hours listening to her.

supermurph09

Matthewfalle wrote:

because like all of these blogs/cycle things you watch two, get bored, switch them off.

the bikeradar ones about the two hill climb dudes are the same - fairly dull overall.

I quite enjoyed the HC ones mainly because I was doing some of the events (inc National) that they were. Cycling is so niche that unless a show is covering your particular interest it’s hard to please everyone.

The bike radar guys can hopefully develop what they’ve done abd turn it into something full time. Bike projects, training, testing kit out etc. Nice lads too.

Sutton_Rider

I used to watch GCN and found it very informative and entertaining, but over the last few years I've found it getting worst, they seem to want to put out anything just for the sake of putting something out. A month or so ago enough was enough and I have now unsubscribed.

Matthewfalle

Supermurph09 wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

because like all of these blogs/cycle things you watch two, get bored, switch them off.

the bikeradar ones about the two hill climb dudes are the same - fairly dull overall.

I quite enjoyed the HC ones mainly because I was doing some of the events (inc National) that they were. Cycling is so niche that unless a show is covering your particular interest it’s hard to please everyone.

The bike radar guys can hopefully develop what they’ve done abd turn it into something full time. Bike projects, training, testing kit out etc. Nice lads too.

agree that its hard to please everyone but they are pretty dull and who cares if (for the sixth time) there are no vegan cakes?

carbonclem

Did anyone else watch the Chat with Matt Stephens thing? Which is part of his new career I guess.

Quite a nice format, Millar would put some people off I guess, Yorke had little of relevance to add and the Rouleur guy 'had' to be there I suppose. If its honed a bit it could be good I think.

The market for such content is getting crowded though. I'll watch the occasional GCN thing, but not regularly.