Survival of Fittest In Outdoors Space
By Luis Clemens -- Multichannel News, 9/30/2007 6:00:00 PM MT
Outdoor enthusiasts craving excitement turn to programmers such as Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel for their fix of fishing and hunting fare. But some of the fiercest competition in this space is taking place off-camera.
Only two networks, Outdoor Channel and The Sportsman Channel, dedicate the bulk of their lineup to field-and-stream programming. A third that used to do so, Men's Outdoor and Recreation (MOR), recently filed for bankruptcy.
Outdoor Channel is the oldest in the category and has some 30 million subscribers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The Sportsman Channel began in 2003 and claims over 5 million pay TV subscribers, although competitors contend that number is inflated.
COMPETITIVE CATEGORY
In May of this year, Sportsman was purchased by InterMedia Outdoors, part of InterMedia Partners VII, run by the former Tele-Communications Inc. and Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network CEO Leo Hindery. The move followed the January purchase by InterMedia of seventeen Primedia enthusiast magazines, including Florida Sportsman and Guns & Ammo. The magazine group is also a longstanding producer of specialty television programming, including 11 shows that air on competitor Outdoor Channel.
Asked if there is room for more than one fishing and hunting network, Outdoor Channel CEO Roger Werner responds “Frankly, there is only one in the space — that's us. [Only one] that has demonstrated staying power, consistent audience generating capability, profitability — by all those measures we are kind of the only player in the game.”
C. Michael Cooley, CEO of the competing Sportsman Channel, answers that question in similar fashion. “We have positioned ourselves to be the leading content provider committed to this space exclusively,” he said. “There is no other company that devotes 100% of their broadcast day to hunting, fishing and shooting. Nobody else. We are it.”
Two additional networks, ESPN2 and Comcast-owned Versus, prominently schedule and promote their fishing and hunting programming. But ESPN 2 also airs everything from college football to NASCAR races to poker. Versus, the former Outdoor Life Network, also runs a diverse slate ranging from National Hockey League matches to cycling's Tour de France to extreme cagefighting.
“We don't offer [fishing and hunting] 24/7. We don't believe we need to,” said Versus CEO Gavin Harvey. “We think hunters and anglers can make an appointment for primetime for a really superbly produced show and that really satisfies their need for hunting and fishing content.”
Similarly, Jeff Siegel, senior vice president of specialized sales and marketing at ESPN2, noted: “We know that we've got this audience segment. We know that we've got this fan base and promote it across our networks. … People who like this sport will go to it and they will find out where it is on ESPN2.”
A NICHE PLAY
For viewers not interested in hunting and fishing, such programming's appeal is, at best, elusive. Even InterMedia Outdoors president Jeff Paro admitted, “If you're not an outdoorsman, you'd turn it on and you'd feel it was like watching paint dry.”
But fans of outdoor programming are a loyal and patient lot, accustomed to surfing through channels in search of their favorite shows. Producers tell of having to patch together distribution by purchasing time on several networks.
Cooley, a former independent producer, remembers at one point having to buy slots on nine different networks. In fact, he started The Sportsman Channel because he grew frustrated at having to keep moving his programs from network to network each year.
Independent producers still dominate program production. Cooley estimates that 80% of the shows on The Sportsman Channel are independently produced.
Another curious aspect of fishing and hunting programming is that much of it is branded entertainment. Typically, the gear — whether it be camouflage wear or a hunting rifle — is as much a star of the show as the host. Viewers seem willing to embrace a level of technical detail that to the uninitiated seems soporific. But for avid outdoorsmen, fishing and hunting programs can be like manna from heaven.
“This is more than just a pastime,” said Harvey. “It is practically religion.”
But distribution of The Sportsman Channel and Outdoor Channel remains a relatively modest affair. Werner, the founding president of OLN and current CEO of Outdoor Channel, admits that eking out additional subscribers will be a tough undertaking. He hopes to move Outdoor Channel from 30 million subscribers to closer to 40 million.
In sharp contrast, ESPN2 is in over 94 million homes and Versus has some 74 million subscribers. Before making the name switch from OLN to Versus, the network was available in some 60 million households.
Said Harvey: “Being a hunting and fishing network is not enough to be fully distributed … if you are 100% focused on hunting and fishing. In this distribution environment it is very Darwinian. You talk about hunting and fishing and the food chain it is no fiercer in the natural world than it is in the cable environment.”
Expanding OLN's program focus and changing the brand to Versus sharply increased the network's distribution, but competitors suggest there was a loss of focus on hunting and fishing.
Harvey is adamant when addressing what he describes as the “misperception out there that we have moved more towards one type of sports genre and away from field sports and that is absolutely wrong. … As we've gone from OLN to Versus, our commitment to field sports is bedrock.”
Certainly, when it comes to white-tail deer hunting, Versus has a surfeit of content in different formats even if coverage of other individual field sports has declined. The focus on white-tail deer makes sense, according to Harvey, because it is the single-largest hunting category and generates billions of dollars in expenditures each year.
TARGETED ADVERTISING
Across the board, the majority of outdoor advertising comes from companies that make products for hunters, whether it be camouflage wear or rifles.
At ESPN2, endemic advertisers account for roughly 70% of the ad inventory on fishing and hunting programs; but network sales executives are trying to right the balance. In part, this is out of necessity. The fishing industry is consolidating, which reduces the number of potential advertisers. It is also partly a reflection of corporate philosophy.
“A lot of people think of this in terms of endemic and non-endemic but we've gone out to advertisers with the bed to boat theory. All the different products and services you use between the time you wake up in the morning and actually get on your boat,” Siegel said.
