The Case for Buying GCN From Warner Bros Discovery

This article was original published on A Media Operator. I’ve included an excerpt below — and, for those interested, I encourage you to read the full piece here.

Global Cycling Network (GCN) announced on Wednesday that it was shutting down its GCN+ app, the leading Streaming service for live bike racing, while its YouTube and other social channels would continue to be operated.

GCN is currently owned by Warner Bros Discovery. Discovery first took a stake in the group as far back as 2017, adding to its ownership through to 2019 for a total of £40 million, at which point the media giant became the majority shareholder. The total buyout now places a £70 million value on Play Sports Group.

With GCN+ shutting down, the options to view this content become more limited. European fans will be able to access the content via WBD-owned Eurosport and, ostensibly, U.S. fans will have access via WBD-owned Max (though the future is still very unclear for U.S. fans).

Why does any of this matter?

For the right group, I believe there is significant upside potential. I believe that the current structure dramatically undervalues GCN and the associated media rights it owns. This is one of the most engaged and highest spending niches in the world; I spend $5-10K per year on bikes and, amongst the GCN audience, I bet I’m not so far from the norm. Monetizing such an audience via a bundled general entertainment service dramatically undervalued this audience. It is almost impossible to overestimate the lifetime value of a highly engaged audience niche with truly differentiated IP.

I bet the right investment & operating group could turn this into the fastest growing, most profitable, and most defensible media asset on the market — and here’s how I’d start.

(Disclaimer: There’s a lot that’s hidden to me. What’s for sale, and what’s not? What portion of the Media Rights are available? At what cost? Who’s been laid off. If you have any information, reach out, I’d love to learn more.)

1. Grow GCN Social Channels and Convert Users to GCN+ App

GCN, which is part of the Play Sports Network, has more than 8.8 million YouTube Subscribers across its network of Channels. The top videos get millions of views each. The Main Channel content is primarily scripted editorial series such as bike maintenance tips, fitness program suggestions, and so on. They have also created channels about the most popular forms of cycling: road, mountain, triathlon, e-bikes. There’s also a Racing Channel that’s primarily filled with race highlights on the back of the Media Rights they own that were previously distributed on their GCN+ App.

The YouTube Channels are GCN’s heritage, and a major strength. They have produced high quality content, that is engineered specifically for YouTube, at an impressive pace. It’s hard to believe that one can improve on this; but I think there are a couple clear opportunities, starting with growth. 

GCN has primarily focused on building up TV anchor style personalities on its main channels. This has been great but it has two primary limitations. . First, it puts the onus for production squarely on GCN. And, second, it limits GCN to the Anglocentric voice it has built (GCN was founded in Bath, UK after all). 

Going forward, I would launch a creator network…

If you’re interested check out the full piece at A Media Operator.