In the Business of Outdoors: InterMedia Outdoors’ Jeff Paro
By Luis Clemens -- Multichannel News, 9/30/2007 8:00:00 PM
Jeff Paro knows what interests fishermen and hunters: The president and CEO of InterMedia Outdoors fishes, hikes and hunts in his spare time. InterMedia Outdoors is owned by InterMedia Partners VII, the private-equity firm run by Leo Hindery, the former Tele-Communications Inc. and Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network CEO. The firm started with the purchase of Primedia’s Outdoor Enthusiast Group, where Paro had been a senior vice president. Its magazine titles include In-Fisherman, Florida Sportsman and Guns & Ammo. Earlier this year, InterMedia Outdoors purchased cable network The Sportsman Channel. Paro recently spoke to Multichannel News contributor Luis Clemens. An edited transcript follows:
MCN: Why the entry into television?
Jeff Paro: It was a natural extension for us. We were producing a lot of television, we were producing a lot of print content and we were building a large customer base that was totally engaged by our brands and our content.
For us to move into the network space became not only a no-brainer but an absolute opportunity because no one else had entered the cable world from our perspective.
We have the most content, we have the most powerful brands and now we have the opportunity to own a cable channel and control our distribution. And that in the aggregate is a home run and it is unprecedented.
MCN: What is on the competitive landscape?
JP: You’ve got the whole spectrum and they are moving targets. Ten years ago, ESPN Outdoors was an active force, but their business model took them to a different place for a different audience. I would venture to say outdoors is not at the top of the list of ESPN’s priorities.
In the case of the Outdoor Life Network, which ultimately became Versus, they had some great program history there but they drifted over time. I don’t really consider them a competitor because they are shooting big numbers, they are programming-driven, they really are not taking revenue from us.
Then you get to the Outdoor Channel and what was Men’s Outdoor Recreational. Those are really the players in our space. Now, we have been a partner with the Outdoor Channel for years. I have 10 shows that run on the Outdoor Channel right now and will continue to run on the Outdoor Channel. The Outdoor Channel right now is clearly our lead competitor. It is going to be one of those friendly competitions over time because we still have programming that appears on their network.
MCN: Are there any additional growth opportunities?
JP: Vertically? Absolutely. If you look at the audience right now, there are 80 million outdoorsmen in the U.S. We reach through our magazines some 23 million of them.
In the aggregate, with everything else we have, we’re touching about 48 million of those 80 million. Those guys want a lot of information. They want it in print, they want it in TV, they want it online, they want community. Our ability to build and deliver that is the only thing that slows us down.
MCN: How important is The Sportsman Channel to you folks?
JP: This is the missing piece for us to pull this all together. It revolves around our vertical brand leadership, the resources and marketing ability that we have. And our ability to touch every segment of the enthusiast market. We want to do that on a dedicated basis. We believe from what we are seeing in other areas of the market, that with everything getting so fragmented that’s what people are looking for. They are looking for a channel that they can go to and they can get all these things in one place, and they know that what they look at today is going to be there tomorrow.
