Powdr Enterprises, the sponsorship and events division of the resort company Powdr, has acquired “World of Adventure Sports,” a TV series created by 360 Ventures that tells the stories of climbers, skiers, off-road racers and other risk-takers and their sports.
Sources valued the deal in the low seven figures.
In addition to acquiring the show, Powdr Enterprises signed a new TV agreement with NBC Sports Network that will give “World of Adventure Sports Presented by GoPro” six hours of programming on NBC in 2014 and eight hours of programming in 2015 and 2016. It is a time-buy deal that allows Powdr to have control over 20 commercial units an hour.
Powdr Enterprises President Wade Martin, who joined the company earlier this year, plans to use “World of Adventure Sports” as both a marketing and sales vehicle for Powdr’s nine resorts. The show will feature the resorts in much of its programming, and Powdr Enterprises plans to package “World of Adventure Sports” commercial inventory on NBC with official sponsorships of Powdr that provide category exclusivity at each of Powdr’s resorts, which include Park City Mountain, Copper Mountain and Killington.
“This (‘World of Adventure Sports’ series) helps us nationalize our offering for brands and promote our businesses and properties,” Martin said. “Now as we go into the marketplace and actively seek four to five founding partners, the opportunity moves from a multiresort offering to a property offering that includes our resorts, our TV programming, events at resorts and our digital platform.”
In addition to the time on NBC, “World of Adventure Sports” will have 240 hours of programming on Outside Television, Powdr’s 2-year-old network that is in 40 million homes.
Powdr Enterprises hopes to find four to five sponsors of the series and its resorts. It has priced the sponsorships in the $1 million to $2 million range annually and is focused on filling the beer, beverage, snack food, automotive and outerwear categories.
“This is not an offering for 100 brands,” Martin said, “but for the 30 or so brands that live in this space, it makes a lot of sense.”
Martin first worked with “World of Adventure Sports” when he was president of NBC’s action sports group, Alli Sports. “World of Adventure Sports” was one of five properties for which Alli sold sponsorships and handled TV distribution. He approached the series’ founder, 360 Ventures, about buying “World of Adventure Sports” last summer and closed the deal this fall.
The new, Powdr-owned “World of Adventure Sports” will launch in March. GoPro will continue to be its presenting sponsor.
