It's difficult when content creators are at the mercy of the Youtube algorithm. It doesn't care about how good the content is, its only purpose is to keep you engaged and watching more videos on youtube. When you rely on viewership as your only means of income it's pretty hard for a business to deliberately handicap themselves by fighting against the format that is known to work. At least that by knowning GMBN's formula it's pretty easy to skip filler videos based on title alone and I don't really mind if it allows them to afford to produce other quality content.
Personally I would like them to have more presenters to give a bit more variety, GCN has twice as many even when you include Martyn who rarely rides. I wish they did more epic rides, bikepacking, competitive mtb, showcasing trail centres and general messing about with other mtb personalities. I don't doubt that all that content has a lower cost/reward benefit than clickbait stuff so it's a tricky balance.
I like the epic rides vids GMBN do. But that's about it. But I doubt I'm their target audience anyway.
I used to enjoy watching some of the BKXC videos, but I agree with some of the posts above. He got dull and self important during the 50 state thing. Besides, he lives in California. There's lots of good riding in CA.
I signed up for GCN+ and it suits my viewing more lately. I like to watch the impressive riding from Yoann Barelli etc, but I find I'm increasingly just watching bike renovation videos. Getting old now!
And the whole emphasis on jumping and enduro – as others have noted – doesn’t help.
This is the exact style of riding I'm into but it still doesn't make GMBN any more watchable. I tried a couple recently whilst they were at Dyfi and it was painful. Bunch of old guys trying to be "cool", I find it very cringe and unnatural.
I can't really figure out who the demographic is because it's surely not kids? Is it dumbed down and hyped up to appeal to people who like the idea of riding but rarely actually leave the sofa?
I think the behind the scenes and feature type videos work best. Really enjoy things like The Privateer and Live To Ride series.
I tried a couple recently whilst they were at Dyfi and it was painful. Bunch of old guys trying to be “cool”, I find it very cringe and unnatural.
I get where you're coming from and I'm older than them, and even less cool.
Not sure whether it's the personalities, the scripting or what - but the general tone is of them talking down to the audience in a slightly disengaged, stilted way.
The best content I remember seeing on there was when they roped Olly Wilkins and Brendan Fairclough in - people who are roughly the same age but genuinely enthusiastic and funny.
But then again, they might have all the joy crushed out of them if they were on the GMBN content treadmill full-time.
I can’t really figure out who the demographic is because it’s surely not kids? Is it dumbed down and hyped up to appeal to people who like the idea of riding but rarely actually leave the sofa?
I will admit I have thought this too. I think its 20s and 30s people with a good job, no kids who got into riding relatively recently / as an adult. i.e they did't spend their early 20s or teenage years riding skateparks, dirt jumps and downhill but wish they did.
STWers need a Countryfile for mountain bikes.
STWers need a Countryfile for mountain bikes.
ITV4 did The Cycle Show for a while after the 2012 bike boom, and it was pretty much a Countryfile for bikes.
It was pretty good actually.
Not sure whether it’s the personalities, the scripting or what – but the general tone is of them talking down to the audience in a slightly disengaged, stilted way.
As a complete non-roadie, the fact I find GCN a lot more engaging and entertaining than GMBN probably points that there is something about the personalities and presentation which is missing.
You must be new here.
This reply never fails to make giggle like a little school girl! 😂
great channel, Doddy tech tips are very informative!! especially enjoyed the one about how to lube my chain, or the one about how to put air in my tyres...
I think half the problem is the way youtubes algorithm works now. It seems that I used to watch some mountain bike videos, and I would get similar suggestions, so more variety. Now I just seem to get videos recommended from the channels that I subscribe to and no fresh content suggestions. So the repetitive nature of those few channels is really starting to grate.
God does the algorithm suck, I only subscribe to a handful of bike channels and 99% of the vids I watch a bike related, you'd think my home tab would be suggesting other bike but no, I once watched a dog rescue video and boom the entire home tab was animal rescue vids for days!
I think its 20s and 30s people with a good job, no kids who got into riding relatively recently / as an adult. i.e they did’t spend their early 20s or teenage years riding skateparks, dirt jumps and downhill but wish they did.
Well thats pretty much me. I don't feel like I'm the target for most videos. I like the tech - which I'll watch when I need to/search for it, not when its released, and liked the coverage of events where the presenters did the event - like Andes Pacifico, Urban DH, etc.
That Rich Payner made the HKT podcast unbearable - he's had hte same effect on GMBN!
great channel, Doddy tech tips are very informative!! especially enjoyed the one about how to lube my chain, or the one about how to put air in my tyres…
What about this one where you can spend 16 minutes watching a man washing his bike?
haha what about the one where he spends 10 minutes doing the bare minimum zero faff post ride pre load into the car bike wash!!
about the one where he spends 10 minutes doing the bare minimum zero faff post ride pre load into the car bike wash!!
Wipe the down tube with your shoe and give it a solid couple of bounces on the floor? What’s in the other 9:45?
@alpin thanks for the socialblade link. I don't know how accurate the numbers are but it may explain a bit about why Paul Davids is a smiling happy guy.
Paul Davids
Who?
PAUL DAVIDS!
PAUL DAVIDS!
Who is that,then?
No idea, sorry.
Another one who liked a bit of GMBN nonsense for a while. It does seem to have gone downhill since Henry left the tech channel and Rich joined the main one. I’m not blaming either of them, could just be timings coinciding with other changes, but it does seem to be around that time they changed the direction of the channels.
Rich is fine but losing Henry was major for me.
I think the best ones were back in Marc and Neil times.. but Blake is actually pretty good IMHO
Doddy is just shit though. He speaks with authority on stuff that's just wrong instead of being like Neil or Henry and saying he doesn't know and pretty much every (paid) review by Doddy is basically the reach on an XL.
14-18 year olds in this case, as I said in my post. The ones that have grown up with it, and it’s ‘features’, as a main source of broadcast media.
I guess basically the youngest age of an XL Canyon or NP ??
POAH
polar opposite – find him irritating.
So do I but otherwise his vids are reasonably good for me... but then I use Shimano ???
I get where you’re coming from and I’m older than them, and even less cool.
Not sure whether it’s the personalities, the scripting or what – but the general tone is of them talking down to the audience in a slightly disengaged, stilted way.
The best content I remember seeing on there was when they roped Olly Wilkins and Brendan Fairclough in – people who are roughly the same age but genuinely enthusiastic and funny.
But then again, they might have all the joy crushed out of them if they were on the GMBN content treadmill full-time.
LOL ... I'm WAY older than them ... (or Warner for that matter)
I think it's mostly the treadmill TBH... and the same "formula"... I can never work out if Blake is taking the piss though when he's enthusiastic.
but then I use Shimano
lol - ride a scott do you as well
I've found that Oldshovel has been a great break from the rad. Lots of great restoration project and paintwork.
Oldshovel has been a great break from the rad
The Bob Ross of bike restoration apparently!
"Paul the Punter lost me when he started crying that Scott weren’t supplying him with bikes."
I stumbled on PTP a while ago when he did a really great video with Tracey Hannah (that actually made her look like a superb presenter).
I subscribed, but not long after it became so Scott advertising heavy and rather boring. Anyone who tells me i need more bikes can basically stick it up their pipe. Consequently i missed him spit his dummy.
I think being a professional Youtuber must be horrific. It takes a huge amount of effort and time to create and edit good content, but to earn money from it you have to get sponsors and then there's pressure to get more viewers, be 'real' but also sell stuff. Brendog is likely to be heading in this direction i think.
PAUL DAVIDS!
Who is that,then?
Sorry, a guitar guy on YouTube. Friendly, happy and according to socialblade he’s getting over £200,000 pa. bet he never made that gigging.
It takes a huge amount of effort and time to create and edit good content, but to earn money from it you have to get sponsors and then there’s pressure to get more viewers
I think a lot of the "better channels I watch (not bike specific comment) the youtube is a source of income but not the main source of income so they can produce higher quality product.
Its an interesting subject and one that surprises myself quite often. The dislike for some youtubers brings out the worst in me for a brief moment, until i realise i dont have to watch them or have anything to do with these strangers. In the same way i dont watch certain TV programs as i dont like them.
PinnedTV always comes to mind, as i dont like anything they do. BCPOV and Jordan boostmasters voices kill me, as does Vancan (not sure if they are all canadian?!) But as said, i just avoid their video's.
I liked Tommy C Hype's earlier stuff, but now find it a bit samey and i dislike the e-bike content.
I come and go with Paul the Punter. Some vids are good, some arent so much. I watch some BKXC. At least he makes the effort to tell you some history about the local area he is riding.
I enjoy most of Berm Peak/Seth. I like Mahalo My Dude and the odd occasion the Singletrack Sampler posts. Biking with Bobo is a bit hit and miss, but can be entertaining enough. I like Matt Jones stuff, he seems a genuine guy.
As many have mentioned, it cant be easy to keep making exciting content. And i wonder how long it can be kept up?!
BCPOV and Jordan boostmasters voices kill me, as does Vancan (not sure if they are all canadian?!)
Canadians, eh? They can be gratingly chipper it has to be said. Imagine living with one...
I think the problem with a lot of these guys is that they're essentially a bit of a one-trick-pony, POV shots of themselves riding. Unless they have something interesting to say, it can (and does) get a bit same-y. As others have mentioned at least BKXC travels widely and has (mildly) interesting things to say, one of his best videos was a memorial to his late uncle, which was surprisingly moving. I can see why folk like Seth have widened the scope a bit, and PTP is doing more with new riders and so on. Leave the Gnarly stuff to folks who do that well, like Remi and Joann
The dislike for some youtubers brings out the worst in me for a brief moment, until i realise i dont have to watch them or have anything to do with these strangers.
+1
It would be easy to be very mean about some of those mentioned in this thread, who I find irritating and tedious, but when you consider that they're making a pittance and likely getting in debt as they take a punt on a career path which is very unlikely to be viable - it suddenly feels a bit churlish.
And it makes those free bikes look quite costly, in the end.
The dislike for some youtubers brings out the worst in me for a brief moment, until i realise i dont have to watch them or have anything to do with these strangers
The wannabe youtubers spamming every riding group on social media makes them impossible to ignore. Likewise with the impact of them advertising spots that would be best not advertised, or promoting reckless riding and digging.
The likes of GMBN, yes, I just tell youtube not to suggest the channel and forget about them.
You n me both. As I've mentioned on here before and recently in a FB group
Also blame the YTers for the explosion in cheeky digging.
Also blame the YTers for the explosion in cheeky digging.
I'm not convinced, if they aren't getting it from youtube in 2021, then they were getting it from MBUK in 1988.
Someone inspired the cheeky diggers on youtube.
The wannabe youtubers spamming every riding group on social media makes them impossible to ignore.
+1
I got booted from a group for (politely I think) suggesting the world didn't need another chest cam video of someone riding the same trails at the same average speed.
but when you consider that they’re making a pittance and likely getting in debt as they take a punt on a career path which is very unlikely to be viable – it suddenly feels a bit churlish.
See, I stick go-pros on things for a living. There is (very good) money to be made out of it as a career. The problem is a lot of them see it as a quick thing. That they can produce the next Collective DVD with a go-pro and windows movie maker. Forgetting that shooting and editing is something people go to university for 3 years to learn how to do! I didn't, that's why I get to sit at the very back of the gallery just making sure the red light doesn't stop blinking.
What will be interesting is whether the next generation of TV presenters come through the usual journalism, or acting/performing routes, or whether more get picked up straight from youtube.
What will be interesting is whether the next generation of TV presenters come through the usual journalism, or acting/performing routes, or whether more get picked up straight from youtube.
I think YouTube is a great source to get TV presenters and there are a lot of good presenters on YouTube. Being good at presenting is fairly rare and not really something you can learn as presenters tend to be likeable and relaxed or they don't
What will be interesting is whether the next generation of TV presenters come through the usual journalism, or acting/performing routes, or whether more get picked up straight from youtube.
It worked for Chris Harris.
It worked for Chris Harris.
He did the journalism thing first though didn’t he? Very similar to James May.
Worked for Maddie Moate too - a fantastic presenter from outside the "normal" path.
There is still plenty of good stuff out there - I like Nate Hills for the quality of the filming and the riding from the guys he follows (and presumably him too!) I preferred BKXC when he was newer to the sport, and a bit less bikeparky in his riding. His alpine/spanish/uk stuff was really good to watch.
TBF to him, his channel really isn’t about the sort of riding that Remi or Joann do, it’s about being a punter.
If you're going to be generous then it's not really about any sort of riding and if he's worse at anything but riding it's bike maintenance. He's had a few good video's that are nothing to do with him but whomever he got to appear and carry his lack of riding ability, charisma and knowledge about bikes (Tracy Hannah was awesome but hey she usually is, even PtP cpouldn't hide that)
His channel is about making money for him...
POAH
lol – ride a scott do you as well
nah but much as I do find him irritating I can watch his vids probably because Shimano paid for some editing or something)
If socailblade is accurate then Seth is doing very well for himself
PinnedTV always comes to mind, as i dont like anything they do
Pinned tv are based nearby and cause real problems with trails on the local hill. Amongst other things they posted a video of cutting a tree with a chainsaw (fc ban all power tools on the hill) which almost resulted in a total ban of any trailbuilding or even maintenance by the trail association. Best of all, video was deleted and then he proceeded to completely deny doing it.
Ive made myself a rule that i wont watch a YouTube video if the title has more capital letters than is grammatically correct - seems to work for avoiding most of the nobbers
I got booted from a group for (politely I think) suggesting the world didn’t need another chest cam video of someone riding the same trails at the same average speed
Yeah we do cause it makes my videos look better lol - I don't see anything wrong with people making videos and spamming them to groups they are on.
