Look at the marketing mix of most cycling brands and you’ll see a familiar pattern. Specialist cycling websites, pro team sponsorships, social media content and events.

It makes sense. It talks straight to enthusiasts across road, gravel or MTB and rightly forms the foundation of most plans.

However, when everyone is playing the same game, it can be hard to gain significant stand out. You have to outspend or out-execute to gain market share. Another option though is to complement this foundation by turning up in channels where fewer bike brands appear. One option that very few brands seriously consider is television. Many bike brands assume it is too broad, and too expensive. The realm of automotive companies, tech giants or household supermarket brands. Or perhaps they believe that TV has been entirely replaced by digital.

But that’s not the case. Digital channels may command far more advertising spend, but TV offers significant potential.

Both racing and Connected TV (which is similar to biddable digital media) mean that TV is far more affordable and relevant than most marketing teams appreciate. For brands looking to stand apart from competitors, TV still represents one of the highest long term ROI channels available. Even for bike brands, it’s something we have seen success for a number of our clients.

So, what actually happens when a cycling brand takes the plunge?

Through our brand tracking platform, Leaderboard, we have been watching the numbers for a specific, premium European clothing brand. In addition to sponsoring road racing and mountain bike teams, in 2026 they invested in TV advertising in the UK, including around the Tour de France.

The results show how quickly TV can put a brand on the map, where the adverts themselves fell short and why tracking these numbers matters so much when you plan next year's budget.

TV - the fastest route to recognition

Our Leaderboard platform tracks two main things: rider’s perception of brands and what they search for online. We follow both because they show where sales and pricing strength will go in the future.

Since running their UK TV ads, their name recognition has jumped in a short space of time.

Between August 2025 and August 2026, aided awareness among high-spending UK cyclists leaped by 12 percentage points to 36%. In that twelve-month stretch, not a single other clothing brand on our system grew its awareness that fast. In a crowded UK market where riders already have their favorites, gaining that much ground in one season is impressive.

The impact can be seen in Google as well. Search interest climbed year in year, moving the brand from 19th up to 11th among cycling apparel names in the UK.

This is the big advantage of the right television investment, it gets you in front of huge numbers of people all at once.

The advert matters as much as the buy

Getting noticed is one thing. Convincing people to buy or admire your brand is another.

While the brand’s awareness shot up, the next layers of the funnel haven’t followed. Yet.

Over that same year, the share of high-spending UK riders who would actually consider buying the brand crept from 5% to 6%. The number of riders who named it as their absolute dream kit moved from 1% to 2%.

It is completely normal for consideration to move slower than awareness. Brand connections are built over time (and last a good length of time) and there are already a lot of high quality brands in this space.

Even so, jumping 12 points in awareness while barely moving consideration provides a clear diagnosis for what to focus on for this brand. Either through different creative that has greater impact and gives riders a reason to aspire to the brand or consider a specific product. Or they should be looking at a burst of digital advertising, content or event activations that add depth to the brand. Leveraging the fact TV advertising will have primed enthusiasts to notice and pay attention to other marketing from the brand.

Different countries, different results

Looking outside the UK, the data shows another practical reality: brands do not grow at the same speed everywhere.

While the UK saw a big awareness jump, the brand’s performance varied across other major European and North American markets. Showing strong brand growth in some key markets, but also some early signs of weakness in previously dominated markets.

Most teams feel they have a general sense of “how my brand is doing”, from retailer feedback and sales. But they often lack the nuance of how they’re performing through the marketing funnel and across regions to make confident marketing investment and set clear objectives for further growth.

Planning for 2027: Less Guessing, Better Data

For anyone setting their 2027 marketing plans, two practical lessons stand out…

First, look properly at TV. It is within reach of many brands in the industry, and targeting live sports or on-demand viewers means you do not have to waste money broadcasting to the whole country. With the right media partner it can be one of the fastest ways to scale your brand.

Second, stop guessing whether and how your marketing is working, particularly in terms of how effectively you are building brand equity, the foundation of healthy - full price - sales figures in future.

If this brand only looked at its television viewing figures and traffic to their site, they will assume their advertising worked on all fronts. However, we can see that whilst their investment was justified, there is still plenty to be done to build a strong long term business in the UK.

If you are a marketing team working on your 2027 strategy, or a leader looking to better understand your marketing investment before signing off 2027 budgets, drop Doug an email doug.baker@shiftactivemedia.com.