The GoPro Rocket Vertical

This is part two in my series on GoPro. It’s a great product but they have run into some hard times and it’s share price sits just below $9. This series is intended to provide solutions on how the company can turn things around and become the major player in video. 

The private space industry has taken off. While Elon Musk’s SpaceX gets most of the headlines, Amazon.com’s Founder, Chairman and CEO Jeff Bezos has his own space outfit, Blue Origin. Also let’s also not forget about Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic which is already selling tickets at $250k a piece. So where does GoPro fit in in this battle of billionaire titans? Right on the side of the fuselage.

GoPro’s cameras can go just about anywhere and they pretty much have including space. SpaceX released a video of one of its rockets falling back to Earth with a GoPro inside.

Blue Origin has put together some slick videos itself. In particularly of its rocket landing back in Earth. While they didn’t specifically say that they used GoPro’s, GoPro’s are so lightweight and disposable that it would make sense if they did. Either way, these videos are super cool and shows what is possible in this new era of space exploration.

When the Apollo missions occurred back in the 1960’s, people were captivated. GoPro can play a role in captivating people again with these new ventures to space but they have to go further.

Private space exploration is not going away and GoPro can benefit. They should be working with these outfits if they are not already to design devices that fit specifically on these rockets. Part of that partnership should be to produce their own exclusive content around this 21st century space race.

They do this by launching a GoPro Space vertical on YouTube and on their other OTT channels like Roku. From live streams of the launches (if they can get permission) to documenting the engineering behind it and profiling some of the major players (founders, head engineers, etc). Wrangle in scientists and engineers from outside to help translate it into layman’s terms and you may very well be onto an awesome source of content that would lead to revenue.

If they really want to side with one side they could always jump into bed with Bezos and Amazon and create a series for Amazon Prime that is all about Blue Origin. I wouldn’t recommend because it would lock them out of SpaceX and Virgin Galactic but it is a viable option.

Yes GoPro can be an unexpected winner of this new space race but they have to act fast. They have to get in the door or SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Space now. Add this in with the ‘GoPro Sports Network’ and there are now two different but equally compelling sources of content to distribute to that much sought after 18-39 year old demo. Get this to YouTube and Vimeo and their own channels on devices like Roku and Apple TV, combined with a solid social media campaign and GoPro’s content should soar as high as one of these rockets.