Ben has a storied career of over twenty years working in the cycling and media industries. His tenure includes multiple well known outfits– VeloNews, Specialized, BikeRadar, Roll Massif, and Outside Interactive. When Stephen and I got an opportunity to sit down with Ben we grabbed the chance. By chance, Logan, a former guest on the podcast and journalism student happened to be in town, so we made sure to add his perspective into the the mix. The topics ranged from journalism versus marketing to how the media industry generally pays its bills (advertising or memberships). Finally, we learned about Ben’s new venture, a YouTube channel The Ride With Ben Delaney. The channel aims to provide contextualized gear reviews, unique ride insights around Colorado, how-tos and event recaps.
Are you a subscriber, or will you to great lengths for freemium?
A topic raised during the podcast is people are seeking entertainment, but it comes at a cost. Are you the product, where your engagement is analyzed and sold off for advertising, or are you paying a membership for the content and entertainment being consumed?
As far as getting people to pay for a product versus being passive. It is funny to see the lengths people will go to avoid paying. I remember when I was working for Roll Massif, I’ll pick on my buddy and former boss Chandler. There was a story in the Denver Post that he wanted to read because it was about us, but there was a paywall. It was 0.99¢. We were working at this Wayfinder Co-op in Denver and he went from person to person, “Hey! Hey do you have a Post subscription?… Hey do you have a Post subscription?”
He must have spent 15-minutes trying to find somebody with a Post subscription to save 0.99¢. I was like Chandler, “What do you think your hourly value is? If you are paying yourself an hourly rate, how much would it be? Are you really saving time or saving money by doing this?”
It is the same with cyclists watching bike races. Yes, you could subscribe to one of these services, but if you go to cycling.tv or VPN around and try to find these hacks or pirated feeds. It is a strange thing.
Ben
Be sure to check out Ben’s new YouTube channel The Ride With Ben Delaney or on Instagram, @ben_delaney.
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