Mountain Biking - Would you pay for that stuff ?

I'm thinking about some sort of "business model" which purpose would be to gain additional revenues from one of my hobbie : bicycle touring

The principle of my idea is to videotape my future trips (in France for a start) and then, put them online on a personal website where people would have to pay to watch all my journeys. That would be a video-on-demand service, actually.

Then, my question is the following :
Would you pay for such an entertainment. If so, how much?

Anyway, it seems that that extra income would be very cheap knowing the fact that I would have to promote the site a lot (=>time&money) and bandwidth is quite expensive (videos are heavy)

Maybe for mountain biking, DH, XC etc. I can say though that i wouldn't pay for road cycling videos as IMHO i find it boring. Sure i road cycle myself, and to be honest prefer mtb'ing, but cant stand watching roadies.

What kind of payment methods were you thinking of? One off, or per video? Also it could turn out to be quite expensive for customers, as the brandwidth you would need would only be covered by an `unlimited` package, which is expensive. Plus the markup to make any real profit would be quite large.

Sorry man, I had to vote no. Although its a good idea. Personally I wouldn't watch them. I just don't have any money to pay for stuff like that. Every penny goes into my bike.

I'd watch them if somebody payed me.

No. Too much free stuff available by big name riders. I would pay Wade Simmons to watch him ride for example. Cedric Gracia Maybe...but really I doubt I would even do that as they are in every video.

I wouldnt find it interestig, maybe if it was MTB, yes, but Road racing, IMO is incredibly boring to watch....

I think you might have posted in the wrong forum. Perhaps this should have gone to the touring or road cycling forum. I would only pay to watch something like that if there was some value-add. Otherwise it'd be like being asked to pay to sit through a slideshow of someone's summer vacation. Some ideas for value-add would be a nice collection of research on the routes, the places you stayed, the places you visited, pointers to good deals on food, clothing transportation, tips on what and what not to bring, etc. It has to look professional and thorough and it has to have value far beyond the end when the TV is turned off. Images are great but the true value that people will want to pay for is information.

First, thanks for all the comments. There are much more friendly that the ones I got here : http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=39263

The particularity of the videos would be the fact that they would be shot in a first-person view fashion thanks to a tiny lens attached to my glasses and connected to the camcorder put in a backpack. Furthermore, the video would be uncut, which means that you would see the whole trip non-stop as if you were participating. Each trip would last about 4-6 hours.

Then, to me, the main valuable feature is the possibility for the audience to do the whole track virtually. I mean, there are places some of you don't know. Even places where you could never visit because they are too far away. But those videos would allow you to view those tracks from point A to point Z.

Lastly, I don't ride on roads. Only tracks or very small roads.

Thanks again :)

From a cost perspective, it's most likely to not work out.

....Now you selling your tour vids to the touring companies might.

Like if your a roadie, selling some of your videos to some of those roadie resorts in France or elsewhere. It may not be big bucks, but it will at least cover part of the trip if they choose to take you up on your offer.

Plus I fit into the category of why watch it, just do it.

From a cost perspective, it's most likely to not work out.

....Now you selling your tour vids to the touring companies might.

Like if your a roadie, selling some of your videos to some of those roadie resorts in France or elsewhere. It may not be big bucks, but it will at least cover part of the trip if they choose to take you up on your offer.

Plus I fit into the category of why watch it, just do it.

To be honest, I think most of us here - and over at mtbr - would rather do the rides ourselves; we're not the couch potato type that would get off on virtually riding some trail that someone else did. We all enjoy each other's picturs and videos, that you can see for free, but then we go out and ride. What makes you think an active cyclist would pay for your trip, then sit around for 4-6 hours at a pop to watch it when we'd all rather be out riding our own routes or doing other things. They're just more blunt about it over at mtbr.

Now, if you find a travel forum, where people are into seeing new places by whatever means, you might get more positive feedback. Or some tour companies that could use some of your footage in their informational packets or ads, perhaps.

Said no.

Then, to me, the main valuable feature is the possibility for the audience to do the whole track virtually. I mean, there are places some of you don't know. Even places where you could never visit because they are too far away. But those videos would allow you to view those tracks from point A to point Z.

Well, if you could visit it then why couldn't I? My point was just that. Since you've taken the time to research and plan the trip, that's value and that may be something people would pay for. They could then use that information to plan and arrange for a similar trip. Simply watching the scenery from an armchair in front of a TV screen has little value to most of us here. We'd like to go experience it first-hand and if what you're selling will allow us to more easily do that then it might be something worth paying for.

Well, if you could visit it then why couldn't I?

Well, I live in France. You and millions of U.S citizens don't :D

As for your last comment, seeing someone else doing a trip doesn't mean you won't want to try the same track too. Too me, it's some sort of advertising. I mean, when I see a beautiful scenery on TV or on any other media, the first thing I want is to see it live. Do you think that the "Tour de France" is famous only because it's a race? No. The scenery does 60% of the job.

Well, I live in France. You and millions of U.S citizens don't :D

Hmm... I have a passport. I can book a ticket on an airline. I can get my bike shipped to France. What I don't have easy access to is the information necessary to plan for a carefree trip. That's something you could provide. There are bound to be many things only a local would know... things that aren't generally published.



As for your last comment, seeing someone else doing a trip doesn't mean you won't want to try the same track too. Too me, it's some sort of advertising. I mean, when I see a beautiful scenery on TV or on any other media, the first thing I want is to see it live. Do you think that the "Tour de France" is famous only because it's a race? No. The scenery does 60% of the job.

I think we're in violent agreement here. My point is that I don't think I nor many others would be willing to pay for just the images. However, those images complimented with useful data and information will be worth something.

Edit it down to 30 or 40 minutes of "interesting" information and I would consider if I were planning a trip to the area. Four to six hours of a helmet cam video would put me to sleep. If I want to experience the whole trip, then I'd go and do it. I'd only be interested in the highlights and most interesting aspects.

Good Luck
L8R

i'd have to agree, there is just too much free stuff on the net now, and we can all be assured more is coming. from a tourist point of view, this could be nice but the biggest part is the actual experience of being there.

check out www.xtremerecall.com/video_by_activity.htm or the BMW Driver series of videos. good examples of where (free) on-line video is going in the future.

Sorry man, I had to vote no. Although its a good idea. Personally I wouldn't watch them. I just don't have any money to pay for stuff like that. Every penny goes into my bike.

Im gonna have to agree