Off the Fence Sets New Strategy, Names CCO

Six months since returning to Off the Fence to serve as CEO, Bo Stehmeier has unveiled a new strategic direction for the company as well as the creation of a chief content officer role to be filled by Allison Bean.

Moving forward, the company will focus on three content pillars: “Yesterday,” encompassing history fare; “Today,” centered on relationships, the environment, natural history, travel and adventure, lifestyle, crime and impact; and “Tomorrow,” with content around science. These will be developed across three key business models: OTF Originals, OTF Studios and OTF Fast.

As it looks to up its investment in owned IP, OTF Originals will tap into the company’s expertise in location access and talent relationships as it develops long-form content and feature documentaries blending the core genres of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

At OTF Studios, the focus will be on co-financing, presales, creation and distribution of content across the key genres. This will include working with third-party producers and investing heavily in rights.

OTF Fast, meanwhile, will specialize in super-serving the traditional business models, enriched with the data needed to feed the new algorithm-driven ecosystem.

Stehmeier noted, “After 27 years of solid trading and now strategically backed by a perfectly aligned mothership, ZDF Enterprises, we are in the perfect position to bring the best of non-scripted storytelling to the world.”

With the new strategy direction, Bean, who has been leading Off the Fence’s production arm, becomes chief creative officer. She will set the overall direction as OTF Originals and OTF Studios work together on new content and will be in charge of establishing and maintaining company content and corporate values.

“Bo’s arrival has injected a bold sense of enterprise at Off the Fence, a company I am deeply passionate about,” Bean said. “I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to accompany Bo forward into what promises to be a sensational future.”