GCN - what's the deal?

DeVlaeminck

I don't really see the attraction of these cycling shorts - some bunch of amateurs boring on about cycling if I want that I log on to these forums at least then I can add my own equally inane opinion.

That said the hill climb ones did catch my attention and I enjoyed them. GCN always seemed either to be a video about the extremely obvious for anyone who has ridden a bike more than twice or Matt Stephens failing to be funny - I might be doing them a disservice but that was my impression of the few I watched. I doubt I'm the target market.

peat

Viewer fatigue.

Novelty has gone and now they pump out so much content that most people with normal work/life balance don't physically have the time to watch all the stuff they put out. I used to watch everything as and when it popped up in my feed. But now there is just so much (much of it regurgitated rubbish) that the simplest solution is just to not watch at all.

thegreatdivide

cgfw201 wrote:

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

A bit patronising.

neeb

Final straw for me - I'm now getting 3s adverts for Zwift randomly interrupting the shows two or three times during the playback. And since the latest price hike I already pay Zwift more every month than I spend on my phone contract.

Maybe time to cancel Zwift as well as stop watching GCN..

barongreenback

thegreatdivide wrote:

cgfw201 wrote:

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

A bit patronising.

True but GCN did get a slap on the wrist from the ACA and had to be more explicit about their sponsored content.

I'm more bothered by the incessant betting ads on YouTube. A nasty industry. Would much rather put up with Zwift ads.

Incidentally for anyone bothered by mid HIIT video adverts, there are plenty of ways to download from YouTube.

bungle73

neeb wrote:

Final straw for me - I'm now getting 3s adverts for Zwift randomly interrupting the shows two or three times during the playback. And since the latest price hike I already pay Zwift more every month than I spend on my phone contract.

Maybe time to cancel Zwift as well as stop watching GCN..

Best stop watching YouTube altogether then. Those ads have nothing to do with GCN.

davidof

neeb wrote:

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 (?).

You assume... wrong.

500 million total views since 2012 is not bad, that's 100 million per year.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Dan started his 10 week plan to regain lost fitness with Sufferfest, his 4DP FTP of ~240W from his base test seems to be appealing to the masses, there's even a new Strava club called something like "Do the plan with Dan."

philbar72

fair play if it gets more people getting fitter.... I find the content a bit dull nowadays, fundamentally they haven't replaced Matt. I Think Emma Pooley is a great add though.

chris_bass

I think a lot of their older videos still get a lot of view - the maintenance and how to videos for example.

If you type "how do you change a tyre" or "how do you change a gear cable" into youtube i'd imagine their videos would feature pretty high on the list

thistle_

NitrousOxide wrote:

Dan started his 10 week plan to regain lost fitness with Sufferfest, his 4DP FTP of ~240W from his base test seems to be appealing to the masses, there's even a new Strava club called something like "Do the plan with Dan."

I saw that one yesterday. Found it oddly entertaining considering it was basically a video about doing a 4DP test.

lettingthedaysgoby

Fair play to Dan for his latest series, can’t be easy admitting as an ex pro that you can’t keep up anymore without an ebike

EBEB

I concur with many of the criticisms & wouldn’t watch regularly. It’d annoy me too much with all the overly commercial stuff. But… I’ve done some triathlons - the GTN is so much worse than GCN. It has all the annoying commercial nonsense without *any* of the good bits & one of the presenters did a different sport, part of which is arguably not a sport (but rather horse dancing). I suspect whoever is overseeing this range of shows looks down & can see far bigger problems than the ones GCN has.

voicycle

Jon would be infinitely more watchable if he just cut his usage of the word "actually" by 75%. It's his filler word and he leans on it heavily. I think it would make his 'vintage tech geek' character rather endearing.

Not that I could speak unscripted on camera without some kind of a crutch. Pot, kettle, etc...

awavey

Discovery have just upped their stake to become majority owners to help create the "#1 cycling media ecosystem in the world" ... https://corporate.discovery.com/discove ... -platform/

clearly swallowed the pr made up phrase book with "most complete 360 global direct-to-consumer proposition for cycling fans and enthusiasts"

so what do you reckon they mean, GCN becoming a weekly aired show on Eurosport ? or Eurosport player so they get the monetisation of ad revenue instead of youtube, Carlton Kirby doing GCN videos :shock: theyll be resurrecting the Discovery team kit before long

Tiesetrotter

Don't get this 'commercialisation' criticism. What are they supposed to do ...... voluntary work? Or are you going to pay a subscription?

There are some basic economic principles in life - in order for you to buy something someone has to show you it i.e. sell/market it. When you see it and like it and pay for it, they can then buy food, pay rent and buy clothes for their kids.

Commercialisation = people having a living. Resenting that is just plain dumb.

bungle73

Tiesetrotter wrote:

Don't get this 'commercialisation' criticism. What are they supposed to do ...... voluntary work? Or are you going to pay a subscription?

There are some basic economic principles in life - in order for you to buy something someone has to show you it i.e. sell/market it. When you see it and like it and pay for it, they can then buy food, pay rent and buy clothes for their kids.

Commercialisation = people having a living. Resenting that is just plain dumb.

↑ This.

People seem to forget that GCN is not some amateur YouTube channel made by someone in their bedroom during their spare time, it's a professional production with all the costs that entails and a team of employees who all expect a wage every month.

First.Aspect

Bungle73 wrote:

Tiesetrotter wrote:

Don't get this 'commercialisation' criticism. What are they supposed to do ...... voluntary work? Or are you going to pay a subscription?

There are some basic economic principles in life - in order for you to buy something someone has to show you it i.e. sell/market it. When you see it and like it and pay for it, they can then buy food, pay rent and buy clothes for their kids.

Commercialisation = people having a living. Resenting that is just plain dumb.

↑ This.

People seem to forget that GCN is not some amateur YouTube channel made by someone in their bedroom during their spare time, it's a professional production with all the costs that entails and a team of employees who all expect a wage every month.

The presenters post on here sometimes.

Is your real name Emma?

bungle73

First Aspect wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

Tiesetrotter wrote:

Don't get this 'commercialisation' criticism. What are they supposed to do ...... voluntary work? Or are you going to pay a subscription?

There are some basic economic principles in life - in order for you to buy something someone has to show you it i.e. sell/market it. When you see it and like it and pay for it, they can then buy food, pay rent and buy clothes for their kids.

Commercialisation = people having a living. Resenting that is just plain dumb.

↑ This.

People seem to forget that GCN is not some amateur YouTube channel made by someone in their bedroom during their spare time, it's a professional production with all the costs that entails and a team of employees who all expect a wage every month.

The presenters post on here sometimes.

Is your real name Emma?

Not unless I've had a sex change.

joe_totale-2

Bungle73 wrote:

First Aspect wrote:

Bungle73 wrote:

Tiesetrotter wrote:

Don't get this 'commercialisation' criticism. What are they supposed to do ...... voluntary work? Or are you going to pay a subscription?

There are some basic economic principles in life - in order for you to buy something someone has to show you it i.e. sell/market it. When you see it and like it and pay for it, they can then buy food, pay rent and buy clothes for their kids.

Commercialisation = people having a living. Resenting that is just plain dumb.

↑ This.

People seem to forget that GCN is not some amateur YouTube channel made by someone in their bedroom during their spare time, it's a professional production with all the costs that entails and a team of employees who all expect a wage every month.

The presenters post on here sometimes.

Is your real name Emma?

Not unless I've had a sex change.

Have you had a Bungled one?

haydenm

Tiesetrotter wrote:

Don't get this 'commercialisation' criticism. What are they supposed to do ...... voluntary work? Or are you going to pay a subscription?

There are some basic economic principles in life - in order for you to buy something someone has to show you it i.e. sell/market it. When you see it and like it and pay for it, they can then buy food, pay rent and buy clothes for their kids.

Commercialisation = people having a living. Resenting that is just plain dumb.

I pretty much agree with this. Even if they weren't working on specific paid promotions they would probably be pushing new tech regardless as the interest gets them views. I don't find the promotions get in the way of anything, and they often recommend things like wider tyres on your normal bike for gravel (which would go against the N+1 rule). I mean, obviously we are all geniuses for seeing through the marketing hype but it doesn't stop it being entertaining and sometimes useful (for me atleast). I'm not convinced it really impacts much of what they say, they just happen to be riding a fancy bike with a wahoo, which is what I do anyway... Zwift can b*gger right off though, it's childish like a PS2 Crash Bandicoot game and to make matters worse, using a turbo is always dreadful.

I tend to scroll through their stuff until I find something that might interest me rather than watch every video religiously though. It's usually pretty easy to weed out stuff you don't think will be of interest, I quite like the specific project type videos like Emma does CX and things. The presenters are good, some more than others but none of them make me want to switch off especially (I don't watch the tech channel though as detail is for the weak). My least favourite videos are the short ones with no real substance in, like 'top 5 ways to blah blah'.

EBEB

Someone smugly creates a strawman and other pile on to attack it. Kinda pathetic how many people want to attack imaginary things. No one said it should be completely uncommercial. This is an imaginary strawman.

Commercial vs non-commercial is not a black and white issue. There are greyscales. They need to get the balance right for what they are and to retain viewers. For example, the “unboxing” videos are overly commercial. I think they’ve drifted too far towards the commercial and will lose subscribers/viewers if it gets worse.

If you think they’ve got the balance right then argue that, but don’t imagine things that don’t exist to argue against.

First.Aspect

EBEB wrote:

Someone smugly creates a strawman and other pile on to attack it. Kinda pathetic how many people want to attack imaginary things. No one said it should be completely uncommercial. This is an imaginary strawman.

Commercial vs non-commercial is not a black and white issue. There are greyscales. They need to get the balance right for what they are and to retain viewers. For example, the “unboxing” videos are overly commercial. I think they’ve drifted too far towards the commercial and will lose subscribers/viewers if it gets worse.

If you think they’ve got the balance right then argue that, but don’t imagine things that don’t exist to argue against.

Have you just been on a management course?

Tiesetrotter

Unboxing overly commercial! They give the stuff away.

steve91

It's worth pointing out that the YouTube Algorithm really punishes channels that have an unpredictable video schedule now, hence why so many channels on youtube now put out daily videos, GCN being one of them. However there gets to a point where you only have so much content, and I think that's where GCN is now.

In my personal opinion it's become aimed way too much at the super serious rider, a prime example being Chris Opie's get fit quick videos a few months ago, talking about doing a few 5-6 hour rides a week. Not sure many of us have time for that!

Loss of Matt was big, and I'm glad his videos at Sigma are showing his best stuff, but Ollie is a good addition to the team.

By comparison, the GMBN videos have got it spot on with their line up. I don't ride MTB but find Blake hilarious.

sloppyschleckonds

steve91 wrote:

Loss of Matt was big, and I'm glad his videos at Sigma are showing his best stuff

Thats his best stuff? Jesus wept how low is the bar set at GCN?

Ben6899

lettingthedaysgoby wrote:

Fair play to Dan for his latest series, can’t be easy admitting as an ex pro that you can’t keep up anymore without an ebike

He appears to be incredibly down to earth. A quality that many lack!

surfercyclist

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

steve91 wrote:

Loss of Matt was big, and I'm glad his videos at Sigma are showing his best stuff

Thats his best stuff? Jesus wept how low is the bar set at GCN?

Indeed. Many strangely enough found him to be funny. I just found him to be an annoying get.

D_Lavery

Like most of my YouTube channel subscriptions I used to watch it avidly, particularly as I was needing help decoding the intricacies of the sport, but now watch selectively.

As others have said, there is a lot of repetition and the weekly show itself is terrible. I was one of those who enjoyed the Matt Stephens content particularly when we were given insight into his pro career and how he balanced it with a job. Dan has the right level of self awareness whilst also being able to relate to the pros that he interviews. Si knows his stuff and is a naturally presenter. And now you can tell when I stopped watching it as I have no opinion really about the new presenters.

Overall I think it is of a high standard and we should be grateful to have cycling content of this nature. You don't have to like all their videos but generally there is something for every cyclist. It is a broad church.

My wider criticism is perhaps that the pros themselves could open up a bit more and make the sport just a bit more accessible. I understand the pressures they are under but cycling as a whole could do with some openness.

To sum up, if a friend came to me and was asking how to get into road cycling I would not hesitate to point them in the direction of some GCN videos.

supermurph09

"My wider criticism is perhaps that the pros themselves could open up a bit more and make the sport just a bit more accessible. I understand the pressures they are under but cycling as a whole could do with some openness"

I've said this a number of times, most riders either don't understand that fans (or cyclists in general) would like to know what they are up to during the week or simply don't care enough. Appreciate they have to train and rest but come on, there are enough hours in the day. Technology these days is so easy to create content on they should all be doing it. A weekly post about how your week went, what training you did, what races you have coming up, what the team is up to, who got dropped on the training ride, who fell off, who forgot their kit, who won the sprint, who ate the most cookies etc.

Throw in their own personal style, so comedic, or serious etc and each one of them has something that promotes them, promotes the team or whatever. Phil Gaimon has shown them all the way, but that "inside the peloton" view would be a really add something imo. If they were to create this content, either at a team or individual level you'd get more people "supporting" a team like in other sports. More supporters, more content views will probably mean more sponsorship so pretty much everyone wins.