Action sports.

El Segundo-based GrindTV signed a deal with Yahoo Sports that will add its 1 million unique monthly visitors to the Yahoo Web site.

GrindTV offers action sports video content and has a library of 20,000 files. It caters to a demographic of males between 12 and 28 years old.

"Larger media outlets haven't embraced action sports the way Yahoo has," said Erik Hawkins, GrindTV chief executive. Hawkins, a former Yahoo employee, left the company in 2005 and has grown GrindTV to 19 employees.

"We were approached by a competitor of Yahoo, but we've done work with Yahoo in the past," said Hawkins. "When they found out that there was interest, we struck a deal."

The action sports sector is considered a growth industry. Its activities continue to have a much broader appeal, especially with the addition of skateboarding and BMX biking to the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing. Hawkins expects a boost in consumer interest in all action sports due to the Olympics.

"There is a lot of crossover to similar sports when fans are introduced to one action sport like BMX biking," he said.

Staff reporter David Nusbaum can be reached at [e-mail] or at [phone], ext. 236.