About Us
The Play Sports Network is the world’s largest cycling media company and community, reaching and engaging with more than 40.1 million hyper-engaged cycling fans and riders globally across our portfolio of road cycling, mountain biking, triathlon and e-mountain biking channels.
Every day of every week we deliver original content across multiple channels and languages, all presented by highly authentic and credible, accomplished former pros who have competed at the highest international levels, inspiring our audiences through their enthusiasm, humour and insight.
Our channels include the Global Cycling Network (GCN), the Global Mountain Bike Network (GMBN), the Global Triathlon Network (GTN), and the Electric Mountain Bike Network (EMBN); their tech- and racing focussed sister channels, GCN Tech, GMBN Tech and GCN Racing; and language localised GCN en Español, GCN Italia, GCN Japan and GCN auf Deutsch channels.
Whatever their focus, all our channels engage our passionate communities across multiple touch-points, allowing us to deliver our content to them wherever they are and however they want – with more than 2 billion views.
We are part of the Play Sports Group. Play Sports Group is a subsidiary of Discovery Inc., the global leader in real world entertainment.
Meet The Management Team
Our team has a passion and a proven track record of developing leading specialist media brands, with expertise spanning commercial, technical and analytical fields. We have a vast experience in creating the most compelling content and building a truly engaged and valuable audience in specialist interest markets.
Mia Walter
Managing Director
Mia Walter, Managing Director
Mia has significant experience in all aspects of management from strategic to operational with over 25 years’ experience in delivering growth through digital development in sports and entertainment media sectors. Mia leads the ongoing development of Play Sports Network and its channels across strategic development, operational management and content strategy, and is YouTube Certified in Audience Development and Advanced Digital Rights.
Doug Cory
Finance Director
Doug Cory, Finance Director
Doug joined PSN in 2019 and now leads our finance team. Doug is a CIMA qualified accountant with 18 years of experience in finance gained in various sectors, including retail and Pharmaceuticals.
Omar Islam
Strategy & Insights Director
Omar Islam, Strategy & Insights Director
Omar joined Play Sports Network in 2019 following careers across engineering and management consulting, with a view to help guide the company through a key growth period. His experience in business transformation coupled with his love for sports has him overseeing Strategy and Insights across the company; working cross-functionally to establish specific plans, deliverables, and measurable objectives in order to drive progress and achieve our desired direction. Omar leads Data & Insight, the Commercial team, eCommerce operations, and Rights management.
Tom Last
Digital & Growth Director
Tom Last, Digital & Growth Director
A former professional road and international cyclo-cross racer, Tom (aka Lasty) originally joined Play Sports Network as a Marketing Assistant on GCN back in June 2013; Lasty also presented for GCN with highlights including suffering up climbs – all in the name of creating entertaining and informative videos. After the pain subsided, Tom went on to lead our Audience Development teams with the remit for building and binding our global community of fans. Tom has led on the launches of our international channels, and currently leads our Digital and Audience Development teams.
Gillian Pears
HR Director
Gillian Pears, HR Director
Having joined in 2019, Gillian heads up HR for PSG. With 25 years experience in people roles in media, retail, consultancy and international business, Gillian will be working closely with our teams on our talent acquisition and talent development.
Matt Collier
CMO
Matt Collier, CMO
Matt has been building direct-to-consumer relationships with sports fans for 15 years and has led PSN’s marketing team and efforts since the launch of GCN+ in 2020.
Simon Richardson
Director of Road Cycling
Simon Richardson, Director of Road Cycling
GCN's Director of Road Cycling is another ex-professional cyclist and firm favourite with our fans. Simon has probably clocked up more miles on a bike since retiring than while riding as a pro, but has an admirable talent for riding and being able to deliver a script at the same time. He is also fantastic at working with our brand partners to ensure we deliver great branded content time after time, and delivering it in a way that the audience love to watch.
Dan Lloyd
Director of Racing
Dan Lloyd, Director of Racing
Ex professional cyclist with the Cervélo Test Team, Dan has been with Play Sports Network from the very beginning, though he'd thank you not to go back and watch his early videos. Dan brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from his time as a pro, along with a healthy dose of wry humour that makes him a firm favourite with our audience. As Director of Racing Dan has been instrumental in taking GCN's coverage of pro cycling to the next level.
The Team
All our presenters are highly credible, accomplished former professional riders who have competed at the highest international levels. Together with our team of passionate and innovative creators we deliver our audiences the best quality content in a very distinct, engaging style. Ultimately, we tell stories and, by putting our community and content at the heart of everything we do, we've build up a network of cycling fans who watch our videos over 100 million times every month.
