GoPro is gearing up to share more of its users videos

For years thrill seekers have worn GoPro video cameras to capture hair raising skydiving motorcycle racing and snowboarding footage from a first person point of view. They've documented up close and personal encounters with wildlife even mounting the cameras on the back of a surfing pig and on the beak of a pelican learning to fly.

But much of that cool video footage has remained on customers' cameras or has been uploaded to a personal YouTube account and viewed by only a few friends and family. GoPro wants those videos to be shared with the world and in the process it hopes to become known as more than just a hardware maker.

After a decade in the camera business GoPro is evolving into a media brand that harnesses the best of its user generated material and makes it available for the public to watch free.

The spectacular popularity of GoPro videos on YouTube and elsewhere has made clear to GoPro executives the potential to expand far beyond rugged extreme action hardware. We realized our users were really creating magic said Adam Dornbusch GoPro's head of programming. Through our channels we're able to share it.

Sharing it is just the beginning. GoPro envisions a vast always on marketing campaign that takes content created by customers distributes it and uses it to attract new buyers who in turn share their own videos in what the company calls a revenue raising virtuous cycle.

GoPro also wants to keep Wall Street happy. Since its June IPO GoPro's stock has surged 279% but many analysts think the company needs more than just cameras to justify its massive $3 billion IPO market valuation.

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Creating a media empire if it ever becomes that will take time. Revenue from GoPro's media side now is tiny although the company says it is monetizing its content through advertising and licensing. Hardware including the company's newest camera series the Hero4 launched Monday will drive revenue and profit for years to come.

GoPro sold more than 3.8 million cameras last year up from 2.3 million in 2012. Although its hardware success flies in the face of a downward trend for standalone camera sales analysts wonder how long the company can keep the pace going and say at some point the camera market will become saturated.

GoPro is moving fast to put the pieces into place. A year ago the company created a team to look for user generated GoPro content to channel onto its own networks the team now numbers 30 people. It has hired media hotshots Dornbusch who joined GoPro last year is a longtime media executive and former business development head at Current TV in June GoPro hired former Skype CEO and top Microsoft executive Tony Bates as president.

Media deals have been struck with two major partners Microsoft's Xbox and Virgin America and GoPro is pursuing distribution contracts with major consumer brands television networks Hollywood studios video on demand platforms and smart TV manufacturers.

On Virgin America flights passengers can watch videos on a GoPro channel. The Microsoft deal is more comprehensive A GoPro app which launched on Xbox 360 in April and Xbox One in July streams on demand GoPro video content to Xbox users worldwide users can buy GoPro cameras and accessories through the app fulfilled by the Microsoft online store.

The GoPro channel has become popular on Xbox 360 and Xbox One because of its real life unscripted moments which appeal to a wide swath of viewers Xbox spokeswoman Lisa Gurry said. Xbox 360 users in the U.S. spend an average of almost 30 minutes watching content per GoPro session and sports stunts in particular do well among Xbox's gaming centric viewers.

GoPro is uploading more often to its main YouTube channel now with more than 2.2 million subscribers.

A year ago nearly all of the short form videos seen across GoPro's media offerings were produced by its in house GoPro Original Productions. Now half of its videos are user generated and executives expect that proportion to grow.

Choosing which videos will appear on GoPro's channels is handled by its team of creative editors who scour the Web for compelling GoPro users and content.

Many people label their videos as GoPro in their online descriptions to denote action or unusual footage and have generated a trove of content for GoPro to choose from. In 2013 GoPro users uploaded to YouTube 2.8 years worth of video featuring GoPro in the title. In the first quarter of 2014 an average of 6 000 daily YouTube uploads and more than 1 billion views represented more than 50 million watched hours of videos with GoPro in the title file name tags or description the company said.

Other times GoPro users contact the company to say they captured great material and offer to send it in. (GoPro is working on a system to make it easier for the public to submit GoPro videos for consideration.)

Once a connection with a creator has been made a GoPro creative team rep works with him or her to flesh out a concept. If footage is already shot GoPro might ask the user to film additional scenes or voiceovers for context.

Users are gifted with the latest GoPro cameras which retail for $129 to $499 and accessories they can use to shoot their videos. The actual filming is left to the user. GoPro makes final edits including color correction and adding music before distributing the video through its channels.

The videos vary widely in subject a surfer's view of a seemingly never ending barrel a fireman rescuing an unconscious kitten from a burning home dancers waltzing vertically on the outer wall of Oakland's city hall.

There's no real ceiling on this because it's about the human experience GoPro creative director Brad Schmidt said. Unless humans get boring and what we do gets boring these videos won't be boring.

This year GoPro reached out to Ethan Swanson an actuary by day who does extreme stunts on the side and puts them on his own YouTube channel. Swanson 24 told GoPro he planned to film himself leaping without any ropes or safety nets from atop a Chicago apartment building onto the slanted roof of a much shorter house before sliding down the roof and winding up on the spiral staircase of a building nearby.

GoPro shipped him a few cameras gave him some ideas on where to place them around the scene and guided him through the creative process.

After the stunt which he executed flawlessly save for a huge rip down his pants leg he sent the footage to GoPro for editing. The final polished product Epic Roof Jump quickly went viral and has been viewed 5.3 million times on GoPro's YouTube channel.

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