• by Aaron Baar , January 19, 2016

In the new media world of documenting, sharing, collecting likes and faves and living publicly, the enabler of content may very well be king. Already perceived as the top brand providing thrilling first-person content, GoPro may very well be the one to be crowned, if 2015 has anything to say about it.

This year saw the high-definition camera maker take steps to become not just a technology provider, but a full-fledged media company. With more than 9 million Facebook fans, 7.2 million Instagram followers, 3.5 million YouTube subscribers and a presence in streaming content like Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” GoPro already has an enviable online position. In 2015, the company began setting out to build those followings into a full-fledged community, and then building that community into revenue. 

“We’ve been in the category ecosystem for many years,” Zander Lurie, vice president of media and entertainment at GoPro, tells Mediapost. “What we’ve done this year is take concrete steps to build that [community] and build a business around it.”

First, GoPro broadened its scope, striking carriage deals with over-the-top providers and Internet-enabled device makers. The company also partnered with Meerkat to break into the world of live-streaming, and created its own GoPro Licensing division, giving marketers a chance to use its one-of-a-kind contend. At the same time, the company launched a series of initiatives to make the content it was providing the public (and those marketers) better, such as running a boot camp for thrill-seekers and sponsored athletes to learn how to create more exciting video, and launching its own “GoPro Awards,” a $5 million annual awards campaign for user-generated videos the company finds “emotionally engag[ing], amaz[ing] or excit[ing].”

“Our differentiation in the market is 15 million people own a GoPro and are capturing life’s moments,” Lurie says. “If you’re capturing great moments, we want to share them; it benefits us and it benefits them.”

The approach is all part of a concerted effort on the company’s part to become an online entertainment destination of its own, Lurie says. “We believe we’re uniquely positioned to become an entertainment platform,” he says. “We have a brand that stands for something: aspirational, fun uniquely compelling content.”

That promise is what the company is banking on as it moves into this future. The content it provides will be curated to fit a specific message: videos that awe and inspire, Lurie says. “We’re going to put it out there because we think it’s important,” he says. “We’re not a bunch of data scientists trying to optimize everything.”

Meanwhile, GoPro will continue its many initiatives to put its cameras in places others don’t dare go. In 2014, the company struck a deal with the National Hockey League to put cameras in the goals for a first-hand view of the sport (other deals may be in the offing soon), and the company has begun dipping its toes into the virtual-reality waters as well. (Almost literally, a 360-degree surfing video posted by the brand in November garnered 6 million views in a month.)

“As the [viewing] screens get smaller, you can think about us putting cameras in places they’ve never been before,” Lurie says. “[Virtual reality] takes you to an immersive realm of where our brand can be. It’s going to be a significant component of our content strategy for sure.”