Background
Snowfix was launched in December 2005, just as podcasts were being born. It immediately became the most popular skiing and snowboarding video podcast in the world and it still is today.
After just 1 season the show was picked up by the Extreme Sports Channel and was given a huge boost in budget. It was aired on Sky TV all across Europe and the team grew to include a hot new presenter, Jools, and legendary pro snowboarder/film-maker, Johno Verity.
Each season the show introduced new and unique features and footage; most recently, a ski / snowboard tour across Canada, USA and Europe. As the show enters its fifth season there is a whole lot more in store!
Audience
Snowfix has had great viewing figures ever since it’s launch. After just 4 episodes Snowfix exceeded 5,000 views per episode and has grown more and more popular ever since. Now, approaching the 100th episode, Snowfix views have risen to approximately 50,000 per episode. However every episode remains on the internet forever so as more and more ski and snowboard addicts discover Snowfix, the number of views continue to rise and our highest ever viewed episode has now exceeded 120,000, even before taking into account the number of people that watched each download.
In terms of audience location/demographic, we have been running a Frappr map for a few seasons which is a great tool for analysing our fans.
Obviously being an English-speaking show the majority of our viewers are based in the UK and North America. Although, as you can see from the map we have viewers all across Europe and as far afield as Australia, NZ, Russia, China, Korea and Japan.
In terms of gender, we have a healthy mix of male and female viewers; and an even spread of skiers and snowboarders - something that has been important to us from day one.
Being on iTunes has been integral in the success of the show maintaining our position as the highest ranking skiing & snowboarding video podcast in the world. During peak season we can regularly be found as a featured show and in the top 20 podcasts. Even in the off-season, we can be found in the top 40 of the sports category and around 20 places higher than any other snow podcast.
Snowfix Season 5
Every season we aim to formulate a Snowfix, which is bigger and better than ever. This is certainly true for the forthcoming season:
We are building a brand new Snowfix website to include lots more viewer interaction
We are creating completely new stings & graphics
We have written a number of brand new features designed to specifically and successfully integrate show sponsors.
The exciting new features:
Team Battles (title to be created with sponsor)
We will follow 3 of our Snowfix sponsors’ team riders; every episode will include a max 30 sec clip of each rider, which has been filmed since the last episode. It might be funny,rad,gnarly or stupid - but definitely something showing the lifestyle of the rider. On the Snowfix website will be an ongoing poll for our viewers to vote for their favourite rider clips, thus creating an online league table. Throughout the season we will have catch up chats with the riders on their position and their plans to get to the top spot.
Snowfix Test Lab
This is where Snowfix gets its geek on! Each feature will test some latest technology against a traditional alternative and something that can be home-made for free! For example
-the latest teflon ski wax vs normal ski wax vs a candle
-the latest gps ski map vs paper ski map vs asking directions
-the latest digital transceiver vs analog transceiver vs dog
Using a series of elaborate challenges we will be able to deduce which is best!
Snowfix Tour - following the success of our last season tour to Canada, USA, and Europe, both in terms of meeting our viewers, distributing merchandise and creating some extremely popular features, Snowfix is putting plans into motion to take the tour to the land of powder and sake, Japan!
Live webcasting - brand new web-based technology will allow parts of Snowfix to be aired ‘live’ i.e. as they are being filmed. This will result in an interesting insight for viewers into the filming process, more viewer involvement with the show and increased traffic to the site.
As well as these full-length features, next seasons episodes will be kept interesting and snappy using various short extras
Stat-man Episodes will start with a question regarding an interesting/funny snow-based fact; answers will be given at the end.
Mountain rants - Short, tongue-in-cheek rants about things that annoy riders on the mountain. The following is a pilot demo (please not the final versions will be filmed in multiple angles and on green screen allowing different backgrounds):
Advertising Prospects
Snowfix offers an incredibly powerful medium for advertising for the following reasons:
Targeted - Our viewers are perfectly on brand, they are young, tech-savvy, obsessed with skiing and snow-boarding, creative and basically all-round good eggs!
Trust - We have a unique relationship with our audience. Due to the background of Snowfix, our viewers see us as riders just like them. They often reject videos produced directly by brands as adverts just trying to sell. They trust what we show and our opinions.
Attention - The best thing about podcasting is that it really is available to watch wherever and whenever the viewers desire; at home, on the tube or on a chairlift. Snowfix viewers always decide when they are ready to watch, guaranteeing full viewer concentration without distraction.
Full 360 media - Any form of media can be made available - visual, audio or hyperlink.
Options are available to become the sole show sponsor with massive integration into show content.
Brands may sponsor a specific feature, giving them presence on the show without being too much in the face of the viewer, as discussed above.
Of course we also offer web advertising.
Here are some examples of previous Snowfix sponsors:
Really cool the new feature looks funny. you guys have done alot more advertising than i first realised when i watched the podcasts on my ipod.