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  • Extreme exposure: Inside GoPro's burgeoning media empire

    by 
    James Trew
    James Trew
    05.29.2014

    A sun-pinked face stares down the barrel of a surfboard-mounted camera. Mountain biker, Sam Pilgrim, is gently floating in crystal-clear water. Behind him, a backdrop of cotton-wool clouds and bright blue sky. This idyllic setting could describe any number of surf videos shot with GoPro's rugged action camera, but this one is different. Pilgrim gazes up from his board, then impulsively, inexplicably bails into the ocean. Almost in the same moment, an outrigger canoe bursts into shot over the camera -- right where Pilgrim would have been had his reactions been a millisecond slower. Pilgrim is a pro athlete, but surfing's not his sport. The moment is genuine, but the circumstances that make it possible are planned. This close shave took place at GoPro's recent Athlete Summit in Hawaii, and it's videos exactly like this that the company is hoping will transform it from camera maker to media outlet, as it files for its IPO.