The Orchard Sports has opened up a whole new world for Action Sports Filmmakers. You see, the Action Sports genre primarily consists of propaganda pieces that are used to showcase a new snowboard, an athlete, or communicate the culture of a brand. The sponsor dollars that are devoted to these projects could have been allocated to print, web, or even events for marketing.
But now, more than ever in the last 5 years, dollars are pouring back into the film space because we’re able to provide a clear path to distribution. Bigger and better projects are being funded because the reach to the consumer is greater than ever. Brands can devote funds to films specifically distributed by The Orchard Sports because they know the film will be seen and available on all the major digital video platforms worldwide. Brands like Oakley, Rockstar Energy and Racer X view The Orchard Sports as an extension of their marketing department, a conduit to the reach. Coupled with our extensive marketing support, its a true partnership in every way.
Additionally, The Orchard Sports has put the “Mo” back in “monetization.” By collecting revenue from all angles, we’re able to maximize the eyeballs and the revenue for the brand. Whether its EST, VOD, Ad-Supported, or Subscription VOD, we’re collecting every impression and dollar for the sponsor. This ultimately goes right back into future production budgets. And it doesn’t stop at just new releases. Catalogue releases continue to generate revenue year after year, and as the digital universe expands, we’re seeing this revenue tick up year over year, even though titles themselves are are getting older. It’s proving to be a great model for brand funded films; the caliber of films on the slate for 2013 and 2014 are proof that the model is working!
Coming up, we have Lakey Peterson: Zero to 100, a project funded by Hurley to showcase the talent and rise to fame of women’s surfing sensation Lakey Peterson. The film will be available on iTunes starting April 20th. Other projects on the horizion include Into the Mind, sponsored by The North Face; Oakley’s Naturally; and #Recoil from Monster Energy. Take a minute to check out the teasers — these projects are taking action sports film making to the next level.
The Winter X Games 2013 wrapped up last week. The event has grown tremendously over the last 10 years and now has over 200 competing athletes with 150,000 visitors for the four-day festival. Last year, ESPN reported reaching more than 232 million homes in 200 countries and territories with X Games content.
Many athletes from this year’s event — hosted in Aspen, CO — can be found in films distributed by The Orchard. Here’s a quick run down of some highlights and where else you can see these guys.
Torstein Horgmo, the star of Horgasm — A Love Story, threw down a switch backside 1440 triple cork to win his fourth gold medal in the Big Air event. The trick is just as ridiculous and complicated as it sounds. And he stomped it perfectly. See the gold medal winning run for yourself below, and check out Horgasm on iTunes today at a special X-Games price. It’s the #1 snowboard film of 2012 and can be found on all major digital retailers, including Hulu.
Henrik Harlaut won gold in Ski Big Air. The 22-year-old hailing from Quebec, Canada can be seen featured in The Education of Style. Henrik made history by stomping the first ever nose-butter triple cork 1620, which earned a perfect score and the top spot of the podium. Bet that makes you want to watch his latest film, right?
A surprise came on Sunday night in the Men’s Superpipe when 14-year-old Ayumu Hirano of Japan almost nocked off 6-time gold medalist Shaun White. His insane run took home a silver medal and will be talked about for years to come. Catch a full dose of Hirano in the film Stonp or Die available on iTunes.
In the shadow of all the hype of gold medal runs, the music scene actually goes off in Aspen during Winter X. This year included performances at various parties by Major Lazer, Bloc Party, RJD2, Sex Panther and Trouble Andrew. Worlds collided when Calvin Harris hit a stage at the bottom of the X Games Superpipe; so many people were stomping on the snow at once that a heavy steam was emitting from the crowd — no joke. Check out The Orchard Sports Facebook page for a peek.
Until next year for an even more insane X Games!
Recently, The Orchard Sports rolled out a snowboard film documenting the carefree life of superstar snowboarder Torstein Horgmo. Titled Horgasm: A Love Story, it definitely raised some eyebrows and stirred discussion. Instagram actually banned #horgasm the night of the world premiere.
The traditional snowboard film formula was turned upside down with this project. Some called it a “game changer,” with several LOL moments, skits and of course insane snowboarding by one of the best in the world. After the trailer, released a month prior to street date, accumulated 100,000 views in its first 24 hours, we knew right away things were looking good on this one.
The film debuted iTunes at #1 in Sports sections worldwide and climbed as high as #26 in ALL films on the iTunes U.S. store, sandwiched right between The Grey and The Dark Knight. In Norway, Torstein’s home country, Horgasm was the #1 film for almost a week! In fact 68% of downloads came from outside the USA.
Because Torstein is a global brand in snowboarding, we wanted to cast a wide net with marketing. We put together an extensive campaign to drive awareness of the film. Several unique marketing directives were slated for launch, but a creative one came from our relationship with ESPN. We didn’t want to just post the press release that the film was available on iTunes, we wanted to incorporate something fun so we put together a campaign where fans could post questions to Torstein on the X-Games Facebook page. Hundreds of questions were posed and Torstein answered several of them at the world premiere hosted at the Oakley headquarters. The video, which was called “Love Chat with Torstein,” was posted on ESPN’s Action Sports homepage and helped drive huge awareness and direct sales to iTunes for the film.
Additionally, by leveraging the social networks of all of his sponsors, we were able to reach over 12 million Facebook fans and Twitter followers with the iTunes purchase link. All this combined helped push Horgasm to the #1 snowboarding spot of the 2012 season!
Find Horgasm on iTunes, Xbox, Playstation and Amazon VOD worldwide. Coming to Hulu in January. For your viewing pleasure, check out the trailer below:
The Orchard Sports has officially just celebrated its first birthday. It seems amazing that only 12 months ago, the sports division quietly launched and man has it taken the digital world by storm!
This past year’s successful ride has come down to providing great service for the independent action sports filmmakers of the world. From robust distribution on all the major digital platforms worldwide to beautiful sales dashboard analytics, producers are discovering an entirely new world of revenue opportunity. The Orchard Sports has literally fixed the action sports filmmaking eco-system by providing these great services to a once confused producer community. We’re proud to say that 2012 has been a record year so far and the 2013 slate is looking to be even better.
Recent signings include a host of first-timers to the digital marketplace. Notable newbies are the “OG” of Freestyle Moto-X films, Crusty Demons of Dirt. These guys have been making films for 20 years and have developed a massive global following. Urban ski film producer Stept Productions, whose digital debut hit #2 in the iTunes USA Sports section and #1 in Canada last week, re-affirm that skiing isn’t just for the mountains. We’re also very proud to partner with The Collective. These guys changed mountain bike filmmaking forever, and their classic trilogy, which is now available digitally for the first time ever, will live on as legend in MTB minds. We are very excited that these and many others have chosen The Orchard Sports to be their distribution partner, and look forward to working with them!
And remember, you can always stay up to date with news related to The Orchard Sports by following @orchardsports on Twitter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, liking us on Facebook or by visiting our dedicated website TheOrchardSports.com.
Introducing Danny Grant, General Manager, Action Sports — The Orchard Sports
I’m really excited to officially be part of The Orchard team. I’ve been contracting as a consultant since September last year while we started The Orchard Sports. I’m so grateful for having been given the opportunity to launch this division. We’ve come a long way quickly and are now one of the largest suppliers of sports content in the digital space. Prior to this, I spent the last decade working with action-sport brands and producers to distribute their content on DVD. It was a natural transition!
Fun facts: I’m an avid participant in most action sports, but primarily stick to Snowboarding, Moto-X, Mountain bike and Skateboarding. Music wise I’m all over the map. From Metal to Dub-Step to Hip-Hop… anything that gets me pumped while riding. I have a collection of over 150 energy drinks I’ve collected from all over the world. I’ll do what it takes to get a deal done… I once did a backflip into a foam pit on a bike to get X-Games star Travis Pastrana to ink a distribution deal with me.
Although I travel often, I’m based in San Luis Obispo, CA. If you’re ever passing through, please let me know!
