[sleidia]

Hello there

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)

 

[Buzlytyr]

internet

Why would I care to pay for your video?

That's the point. I put up a big fat "no" as the first vote here.

the only videos people pay to see on the internet is PORN

your idea SUX
if you want to make money from your "holiday" do a charity fundraising effort and keep a retainer for your self
AND help
some sick kidds along the way

 

[sircrashalot]

Sorry..

Hello there

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)

I don't watch the travel channel either. I don't think that watching someone galavant around Europe is the way I would spend my money.

 

[OokieCookie]

Not to mention that there are a ton of guys on the net posting their biking vids for free.

 

[mward]

I think the idea is pretty flawed. The production costs to make a video worth seeing, and then paying for the bandwidth requirements to stream it to customers would be very prohibitive. And then to top it off to watch someone else's bike tour? Everyone else has summed it up pretty well but let me ad: are you nuts? It's amazing the ideas some people come up with. I would recomend taking some business courses before you go into business. If you've already had business courses, don't sleep through them this time.

 

[eman]

Terrible idea. The only bike videos I will pay to see is something like KRANKED, not some tour around some random city.

 

[Berkeley Mike]

Overs the years at this site

I've learned that the only reason people participate in this site is that they aren't/can't ride and want to enrich their involvement in mtb. People on this site aren't "tour people" unless they are being guided off road at some great destination. The only reason to watch "tour" footage of the kind you propose would be to review a proposed destination or tour service, sort of like a movie trailer. Having said that, do we pay for movie trailers?

Your idea smacks of the classic hairbrained money for nothing internet scheme like a web cam of my every waking moment.

Hey...now there's an idea... I am really incredibly cool. I bet everyone would pay a fe buck to watch me change my sock's and clip my nose hair. And imagine the rating while I cruise my local canyon, adjusting my der on the fly, or go over teh bars.

Now I have it; a site devoted to going over the bars. It will be great. I do it all the time and it is really cool to watch and now I'll get paid for it.

 

[Johnny M]

Actually, I think his idea has some potential.

His marketing and delivery are flawed. If he was to market his videos as excersise videos and sell DVDs it might actually work. He could run cardio class type music and voiceover along with target heart rates and cadence. Hell, look what happened to Ty Boe. What a silly ass stroke of genius. I know plenty of people who would pay for a spin class for the home. Hell, I know people who buy into every single ab-machine, solo-flex, and diet fad that comes along. They are like compulsive gamblers, always hoping that this one will be the one that works. It is probably apparent that I have already thought this through. I just do not have the time or the kind of scenic rides that would work well.

Try it. $10 dollars on DVDs and $10 worth of Ebay listings just might make you rich.

 

[dusty]

Whoa, harsh...

Other respondents are right: your idea is poorly thought through. Even so, the bashing should be taken with a grain of salt. A couple of years lurking on the tech forums for info taught me that mtbr.com has a lot of immature pricks posting rants, so don't be too surprised at the useless feedback. You could probably develop your ideas along the travel writer model. I know a couple of people who have turned their love of travel into a living through writing (one mainstream (Fromer's), one more "alternative travel"). It seems to me that the audience for a video of you pedaling around wherever is going to be small at best and, as mward pointed out, streaming video at a decent resolution requires an expensive server. On the other hand, if you can write well and put interesting trips together, people might be interested. Travel writing for bikers meets guide book. What about that?

 

[Lighty_]

Just because you don't like the idea doesn't mean you have to abuse the guy.

I don't think it's going to be something people will pay for. The bottom line is, you can't really sell something people can otherwise obtain just as easily for free, unless you have a really really really clever marketing gimmick like your video is "low carb" or something.

Maybe instead you can do some kind of European version of "Girls Gone Wild" while you're there. People will probably pay for that.

Either way, good luck and hope you get to go to Europe.

 

[SwissBuster]

Not unless you're Hans Rey...

... or similar biking god. Even then there would probably be a way of watching your videos for free.

If your videos were free and worth watching, you could generate some revenue via advertising on your site. I think the minimum daily number of hits is around 10,000 for advertising to be realistic. You'll be lucky to get enough to cover the costs of setting up the site and the bandwidth.

If your tours were really fantastic rides, I might pay a nominal fee to get the route directions and/or GPS data. But then again, there would probably be a way of getting this for free too.

 

[fred3]

Not unless you made it much more appealing than just watch you pedal through through some towns and countryside.

 

[cbchess]

some construtive crit

Hello there

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)

I wouldn't want to pay for the videos but I might watch some 2 to 5 minute clips that highlight the tour you put on to see if it was fun and if I would like to really book one.