The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

As I recall, we never said we wanted zero sponsored content as he claims in the video, just that 20% was too much. The feedback was that the ratio of content needed to be adjusted, so if a video has 3 mins of sponsored content, then it should be longer 14 mins overall. No one was asking for sponsor-free videos, and conflating feedback about the content ratio with cries for free content is disingenuous. But maybe there were people asking for that somewhere and I didn't see those comments. Feel free to downvote me.

Des anyone know what Fordy Runs’ PBs are? Asking for a friend

This must be him.

sub 20 5k, 42 minute 10k

Actually incredibly impressive times. Have to admit I wasn’t expecting that.

2023 was a good year for the Fordmeister

Why do you think they are impressive? Genuine question. As a 44 year old bloke, my current times are significantly quicker than this. Does this make me elite by your logic? lol.

Seriously, why are you impressed? I thought they were as expected (mediocre for a running coach / influencer.)

Matt Fox is back. 5km run posted on strava from Gold Coast. 5km @ 4:40/k

You weren’t expecting pedestrian, fat, couch to race times? gTF out of here.

Not gonna lie, Jake's reply came off needlessly salty. Not on brand for him and took me a little by surprise. I'm not paying attention to his comment section so unless some very rude comments are upsetting him I don't know where this came from? He still said it with a smile on his face, but it looked like it bothered him more than usual. He showed more emotion to that, than being forced to stop mid-race because it was awfully set-up.

Jake's the best running content right now, but I cannot say that I was pleased with his reaction. He could've just ignore it, he didn't need to say anything really. I am fine with his sponsored content, I even buy some of the stuff he showed. And I think it's great that he uses the products. But if any little remark will make you reply like that I dunno... You need a thick skin if you wanna do this long term. Also running youtube comments are the softest. People there never say anything negatively because they get shunned and/or banned pretty quickly. Perhaps he replied to commenters from another platform?

That 19min 5k looks out of place compared to all other times in 2023? I've done the same parkrun as him a few times - never seen him as much as a speedster.

SJD back with another banger. Illegal drone shots, driving with the headlamp on. No travel mug insight. Bravo!

I was giving him the benefit of the doubt that he had signed on for all these sponsor obligations when money was tight and then he had to fulfill them on a week without very much good content, resulting in probably his worst video.

The Brooks deal should stabilize him well enough to avoid this in the future. But if he doesn’t see it as a problem and continues to overpack his videos with product placement and ad reads, he’s going to limit his growth. He should invest in his channel right now by putting the highest priority on growth.

The way he addressed it was a classic social media tactic. Being a little mean-spirited may have driven a few people away but it increases the loyalty of his main audience. A little ranting against your haters, or just generally being a little antagonistic, can rally your fans to support you even more fervently.

Truett Hanes has a lot of that. Floberg does it too. First you acknowledge the valid criticism but then you refuse to act on it, either because you deny it or defy it, and turn it in to an “us vs them” dynamic.

I don't think Jake seemed that bothered by it, i think he just wanted to make it clear that he's different from other influencers/youtubers in that he'll only promote things he sees as valuable. Look how quickly his channel is growing, imagine the amount of brands promoting useless products that would've reached out to him (like we see on other youtubers channels). So far everything he's promoted I would genuinely want if I could get it for free, let alone if they paid me for it so I don't have an issue with it.

That’s fine but, as someone pointed out earlier, he made a straw man argument saying that people claimed they wanted no ads when that’s not what anybody here (at least) argued. They said they wanted fewer ads relative to the actual content.

Thoughts on the latest BenIsRunning video?……

A cinematic masterpiece of which Scorsese would be proud

Maybe he was responding to other comments. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, so I'll assume there were a few rude comments elsewhere. I work in a creative field and we receive and give each other feedback all the time. Sometimes it's a subjective opinion, sometimes feedback is backed by research, but as long as it was offered in a constructive manner without being rude, it's just standard practice.

I have YouTube Premium, so I don't get the regular YT ads. I can't imagine what it would be like to watch the ads plus multiple segments of sponsored content. That would push the ratio well above 20%. Talk about ad fatigue. I'm curious if the past few videos were the result of unfortunate timing or if this'll be the norm going forward.

If he regularly uses the products he's promoting, then I think he could incorporate the sponsored content more organically so it's not so glaring. Consumers are sensitive to ads nowadays. Anything that remotely smells like an ad is going to raise a flag and introduce some healthy skepticism, which takes you out of the video.

Cracking new video from Bester. What a nice thing to do in pacing a fan to a new PB.

Need more of this sort of thing. Really honourable, good content and shows he cares about his fans who at the end of the day are part of the reason why he’s got the job he has.

What are yours? I haven't seen it and won't watch it, so would appreciate your insight which will validate my lack of interest in watching it.