Southern California-based GrindTV will launch a newly redesigned site in mid-September, complete with a dedicated Surf Channel [sneak-peak screen grab shown here], which it just previewed at the Action Sports Expo in San Diego over the weekend. Grindtvsurf400w GrindTV also announced it has surpassed one million unique viewers per month. It says it has signed major partnerships with such brands as Body Glove and is attracting Fortune 500 advertisers. [GrindTV is a division of PureVideo Networks, which also owns StupidVideos.com and is funded by Softbank Capital. PureVideo’s network of sites stream approximately 60 million videos to six million unique visitors a month.] In GrindTV’s recent news announcement, it quoted Scott Daley, Body Glove’s VP of marketing: “We have so much great video footage and, aside from our own website, we had no place else for people to view it. GrindTV gives us that dedicated outlet that focuses on the core group, who appreciates seeing the best athletes in the world, in and out of the surf.” Other brands signed on include Nissan, Sony, MSN Video, Microsoft Mobile, TagWorld, and Helio (the latter being a joint venture between EarthLink and SK Telecom, headed by Sky Dayton, an avid surfer).

But professional videos aren’t all you’ll find at GrindTV. It says it already has more than a thousand professional and user-generated videos, plus more than 5,000 photos of athletes and contests held worldwide. These current numbers are for all their channels, not just the Surf Channel, although they will of course be increasing as time goes on. Other GrindTV channels, as noted by the icons on their new home page [preview shown here], include Skate, Snow, Moto, Bike, Air, Wind, and Wake.

GrindTV.com bills itself as being created “for and by adrenaline junkies” — that is, fans and practitioners of extreme and action sports. It claims its user-generated videos “showcase the most outrageous, untamed, awe-inspiring sports content on the Web, as well as original video and photographs captured by the GrindTV producers.”

User-generated video is one of the hottest things happening on the web these days, and YouTube is hardly alone. Specialty sites like Grind undoubtedly will continue building very loyal audiences. Do not underestimate the size and spend represented by the surf and related markets. The annual Action Sports Expo event now has close to a 20-year history, by my count at least. The industry may be SoCal focused, but it has a worldwide footprint. It is one big, monster market, and advertisers are right to covet it. Just pick up a copy of Surfer Magazine, one of my longtime favorite reads, on your local newsstand sometime and feel the heft. Then try to imagine the heft of the online marketplace it represents….

Tags: , , ,