Central Ohio wildlife host lands Animal Planet show

Coyote Peterson, a Westerville resident, has 13 million subscribers to his `Brave Wilderness' YouTube channel. The new show will debut in early 2019.

Years of hard work paid off for online wildlife-show host Coyote Peterson when the Westerville resident got a call recently from executives at Animal Planet.

“They asked me, 'What do you dream to be able to accomplish?’” Peterson recalled.

So the star of a self-produced internet series told them: To have a bigger budget and wider audience for his wildlife shows, and to continue to use his own production crew and retain full creative control.

“They said, 'Done. We don’t want you to change a thing,’” Peterson said.

And with that, Peterson and others at his Columbus-based company, Wilderness Productions, got busy creating a new, as-yet-unnamed series that will debut on Animal Planet in 2019.

It marks a big leap forward for Peterson, who founded his company in 2011. His first series, “Breaking Trail,” debuted on YouTube in 2014, the same year he was featured in The Dispatch. At the time, he had about 8,500 YouTube subscribers. Four years later, his “Brave Wilderness” channel has nearly 13 million subscribers.

“Animal Planet gives us a bigger platform,” Peterson said. “They are in more than 360 million homes in more than 200 countries. It’s a great natural progression for us.”

Peterson, 37, said he is excited about the prospect of a bigger production budget and also the ability to air a 30-minute show. (His YouTube episodes vary in length from 5 to 12 minutes).

For his first show on Animal Planet, he is working on a documentary about his past work as a way of introducing himself to a new audience. He said he thinks it will air early in 2019.

“We are delighted Coyote’s bringing his infectious enthusiasm and knowledge to Animal Planet,” Kurt Tondorf, Animal Planet’s senior vice president of development, said in a statement. “Coyote is curious, fearless and very passionate about animals and animal conservation.”

Peterson, whose given name is Nate, grew up in the Geauga County township of Newbury and first became interested in animals when he wrestled a 40-pound snapping turtle out of a pond near his home.

He graduated from Ohio State University in 2004 with a film degree and started working on movie projects with his friends. In 2010, he began filming wildlife shows.

Several of Peterson’s early collaborators remain with his Wilderness Productions company, which has grown from three employees to 12 and will likely add employees soon, he said.

Animal Planet is merely partnering with Wildnerness Productions, not taking it over, Peterson stressed.

“I’m proud to be on this team from Columbus, Ohio, that has become a hit in the animal world on YouTube and now will be partnering with Animal Planet," he said.

kgordon@dispatch.com

@kgdispatch

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