Outside TV launches streaming service, Outside TV Features

For $5 a month, get your adrenaline fix through a curated streaming service for hard-core adventurers.

Late last year, Outside launched Outside TV Features, a subscription-only, premium content streaming service. For $5 a month, subscribers get unlimited access to climbing, biking, snowsports, and other genres of full-length adventure films. You’ll find titles from Warren Miller Entertainment,* along with films like Patagonia’s “Valhalla.” Lots of shorts are available for free, without the subscription, but the bulk of the movies on the platform are 30 to 90 minutes long.

We sat down with Rob Faris, general manager of Outside TV Features, to find out what’s in the realm of possibility for the Netflix of outdoor recreation films.

What can a targeted streaming service like this do for the outdoor industry as a whole?

I feel like it’s an exciting thing for the industry. There have been a limited number of options for people to sell content, whether through renting or buying. This is a value proposition for the consumer where, under one roof, for $5/month, we’ll be able to give you 100 films. And we’ll be adding content regularly. It’s exciting for the industry. If we succeed and grow, production companies, athletes, and brands will have opportunities to do more and be seen by more people.

What differentiates Outside TV Features from other streaming services?

Even if you have, say, Amazon Prime, this is an opportunity, for minimal cost, to become fully immersed in this niche. Netflix may give you a couple adventure movies, and so might cable. But Outside TV Features is solely dedicated to the adventure vertical. Consumers can find the best content all in one place. Outside TV Features offers differentiated content from our cable channel, Outside TV; you won’t feel like you’re getting the same thing in two places.

Consumer watching habits have changed over time. There’s a generation of people growing up now who have only consumed content in an on-demand kind of manner. You watch it whenever you feel like watching it. This is the future of how I think all content is going to be consumed at some point. Not knowing when that magical day is coming, we felt like now was the best time to start that relationship.

What opportunities exist for collaboration with gear or apparel brands?

From a brand or athlete perspective, the growth of this platform will help build audiences and increase exposure. Production companies and brands are always working together on producing great content. This is a premium environment, where brands can achieve organic integration throughout the content being made.

For them, it’s another opportunity to get out in front of a bigger audience, where viewers aren’t hit by marketing and commercial product. If brands have initiatives they want to build content around, as we grow and succeed and have a bigger audience, we may be able to provide exclusive content opportunities.

Want to give it a try? Sign up for a free 7-day trial before you commit.

*Warren Miller Entertainment and SNEWS are owned by the same parent company, Active Interest Media