Shifting media: new action sports media you should know about

 

Image credit: About the Ride, Cy Whitling

Q&A with Cy Whitling, Founder of About the Ride, and Ken Whiting, Ken Whiting Adventures YouTube

The outdoor media landscape (and the broad market media, too) is changing at a rapid pace. As a result of these changes, many outdoor industry journalists and content creators have seen an opportunity to return to their roots and create new options for reaching their niche audiences in targeted and authentic ways. 

We began exploring these changes in conversations with Better Trail’s founder, John Ellings, and Trails Magazine’s founder, Ryan Wichelns, in our first shifting media post, and here we have another round of voices playing their own parts in these shifts.

These new forms of media are important because the way people get their information has changed in recent years from legacy media models toward people looking to social media, influencers, content creators, video, Substacks, and other non-traditional channels aimed at core participants. At Verde, we're excited to witness the revitalization of the outdoor media landscape. We're proud to spotlight some of these publications and the passionate individuals behind them, showcasing the impactful work they're doing to share important and meaningful stories with, in this case, the biking and paddling action sports communities.

Learn more from Cy Whitling, founder of About the Ride, and Ken Whiting, Ken Whiting Adventures YouTube, in our second blog post of our shifting media series below. Head here if you missed the first one.

 

Cy Whitling, About the Ride

Tell us (in a few sentences) about your website/blog and what makes it unique from other publications that exist today?

About the Ride is a website (and print zine coming at the end of the month!) for the stories that make mountain biking wonderful. Mountain biking is silly, beautiful, and goofy, and hopefully, About the Ride reflects that. More art, more jokes, solid reviews, thoughtful features, and less self-seriousness.

What inspired you / how did the idea come about for About the Ride?

I've always loved drawing and writing about mountain biking, and About the Ride is my stab at making the sort of mountain bike publication I want to read. I love mainstream mountain bike outlets, but I also think the entire community is stronger and better represented when there's a solid mix of independent, quirky media as well.

Who is your target audience for About the Ride?

Anyone who likes riding bikes in the woods! We've got everything from in-depth reviews for the tech dorks to silly jokes and comics for folks looking for a quick laugh.

There’s been an influx of new and alternative media, and media starting their channels. Why do you think that is? 

I think there are a few factors in play. First, it's easier than ever to create a solid independent platform. You don't need to know how to code or have any special skills. Second, it feels like mainstream outdoor media has really converged, where most outlets have very similar content and a very similar flavor. That leaves a huge hole in the market for alt media. Finally, I think it's a depressing reality, but a lot of creative folks are realizing that it's very hard to have a traditional career in outdoor media these days. There are fewer salary+benefits positions at the big mainstream outlets, so why pursue a future in those titles when you can have the same financial uncertainty but be your own boss creatively and own your work and the channels it appears in?

What has been the biggest challenge in launching your website/blog?

It's always a gamble to put money and a bunch of time into a new outlet when there's no money coming in! It's also an exciting challenge to build a platform that brands and readers want to work with and try to fast-track the kind of content that will hopefully build that audience.

How do you hope About the Ride impacts the bike and outdoor communities?

The word I keep coming back to with About the Ride is "delight." I was delighted by the mountain bike magazines that got me into this sport. They surprised me and made me smile. And my favorite part of mountain biking is how delightful it is. It doesn't have to be serious, intense, or overwrought. So I hope About the Ride can help delight folks.

 

Ken Whiting, Ken Whiting Adventures YouTube

 
 

Why did you decide to start Ken Whiting Adventures, and why now?

My PaddleTV YouTube channel has 140K subscribers and is YouTube’s most popular paddling-focused channel, so why did I launch a second paddling-focused channel in October 2024?  It starts with the types of content that I create.  The content I create revolves around my mission of getting more people on the water and ensuring those experiences are as great as possible. I do this with three types of content – inspirational videos (adventures), educational videos, and gear reviews. While my core followers are subscribed to PaddleTV because they’re interested in any paddling-related content that I create, many of my PaddleTV subscribers chose to follow my channel for a more specific purpose.  As a result, no matter what type of video I release, not all of my subscribers will be interested in it. YouTube’s algorithm doesn’t like this.  YouTube would prefer that I narrow the focus of my channel so that the majority of my subscribers are attracted to every video I release.  While I’ve known this for a few years, I wasn’t willing to narrow down the types of content I was creating, nor was I in a position to launch a new channel to separate the types of content I was creating.  That changed in March 2024, when I stepped down as the CEO of Heliconia to focus more of my energy on my media project. With the extra time I had, I launched my ‘Wild Discovery’ project, which involves self-filming my dream backcountry paddling adventures. With this, I decided it was time to launch a new channel dedicated to my inspirational/adventure content.  This leaves PaddleTV as the dedicated home of my educational videos and gear reviews.

After two months, do I still feel that launching the new channel was the right choice? 

I launched the @kenwhitingadventures YouTube channel in October 2024 with two videos that followed my 5-day sea kayaking trip on Lake Superior. Even though paddling-related YouTube traffic drops dramatically in the fall/winter months, the videos performed very well on the new channel – quickly reaching 20,000 views with high engagement.  This was largely due to the cross-promotion I did for the new channel on @PaddleTV.  Much to my surprise, the adventure videos also served to cross-promote my PaddleTV channel to new viewers.  

 I followed the two Lake Superior videos with the release of a third video on the new channel. Without doing any cross-promotion, the third video gathered approximately the same number of views as the channel had gained in subscribers (3,000), and the subscriber click-through rate was extremely high.  This was a clear indication that the new channel was on track to have a dramatically improved subscriber-to-viewer ratio, which would appeal to the YouTube Algorithm over the long term.

Tell us (in a few sentences) about your new YouTube channel and what makes it unique from other channels that exist today?

 @KenWhitingAdventures is a YouTube Channel that showcases inspirational paddling adventures. These inspirational videos are one of 3 primary types of content that I create to fulfill my mission of getting more people on the water and ensuring those experiences are as great as possible. While there are a number of other YouTube channels creating backcountry paddling adventure videos, my channel is unique because it combines my 25 years of filmmaking and hosting experience with my unique paddling expertise as a former World Champion kayaker.  It’s also unique because it’s complemented by my other YouTube channel @PaddleTV, which features educational and gear review content that supports the paddling adventures.

What inspired you / how did the idea come about for Ken Whiting Adventures? 

I was inspired to create the new channel by watching other YouTubers like: ‘Lost Lakes,’ ‘Jim Baird Adventurer,’ and ‘Xander Budnick.’  The idea of combining my love of filmmaking and paddling adventures was hugely appealing.  

 Who is your target audience for Ken Whiting Adventures? 

@KenWhitingAdventures is designed to inspire outdoors-oriented people to try kayaking and to inspire experienced paddlers to get out there and continue on the lifelong paddling journey.  My audience is largely between the ages of 35 to 65, and around 50% of my viewers and subscribers are in the US.

There’s been an influx of new and alternative media and media starting their own channels. Why do you think that is?  

My media project includes a TV series that reaches over 35 million viewers each year, Facebook and Instagram accounts with 130K followers, and my YouTube channels. While all the platforms are important to me, I spend most of my time on my YouTube channels because I feel that YouTube provides the best opportunity to reach, connect, and engage with people in an impactful way.  This makes it the best platform to accomplish my mission of getting more people on the water and ensuring those experiences are as great as possible.  I think more and more organizations are realizing the same thing.

What has been the biggest challenge in launching your YouTube channel? 

The biggest challenge in launching my new YouTube channel was finding the time to do so.  This is why I held off doing so for two years.  I have a saying that’s been on the wall of my office for many years – “You can do anything, but you can’t do everything!”.  This couldn’t be more true for content creators.  There are so many different platforms to choose from, but the most effective content creators choose a platform of primary focus and prioritize that channel above all else. This is what it takes to be effective on YouTube.  

How do you hope Ken Whiting Adventures impacts the paddle sport and outdoor communities? 

Paddling is an incredible activity that offers great benefits with very low barriers to entry. The @KenWhitingAdventures YouTube channel is part of my mission to get more people on the water and ensure people have the best experiences possible so that they keep doing it.

Stay tuned for future Verde Voice posts highlighting new outlets, channels, and the people behind them!

 
Alexa McRoberts