NBC Sports has struck a partnership with MTV around the Action Sports Tour with multi-screen video and product licensing to build the extreme sports profile.
NBC carried 33 hours of tour coverage last year through NBC Sports and USA Network. The new deal with MTV will let the music video programmer produce lifestyle content to complement the NBC coverage, with emphasis on the musical aspect of the athletes’ lifestyles.
Dick Ebersol, NBC Sports chairman, told reporters on a conference call that he had envisioned a partnership with MTV as the ideal way to catapult AST to the next level.
“I think we’ve finally reached nirvana for the action sports geek,” Ebersol said.
Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks, agreed.
“Our brands speak directly to sport junkies,” he said.
MTV’s core 15-to-24-year-old demographic obviously fits the target that gravitates to extreme sports. The network is currently contemplating a third season for its “Life with Ryan” reality series featuring Action Sports Tour athlete Ryan Sheckler.
The tour Web site at http://www.AST.com will be relaunched as an extreme sports hub, and carry clips of NBC’s AST coverage and MTV’s companion lifestyle programming. Product licensing and merchandising is likely to include apparel, which AST already produces under its brand.
NBC claims it drew an estimated 41 million viewers in the U.S. for the 2007 AST Dew Tour, which also drew an online audience through NBCU’s Universal HD, Fox’s Fuel Rush and Hulu.com.
The 2008 AST Dew Tour kicks off in Baltimore on June 19 with the Panasonic Open. The Winter Dew Tour starts on Dec. 18.
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