Can Streaming Save Fitness?

The question we raise in this week’s blog post is done with a bit of tongue-in-cheek. Fitness continues to grow and grow, year over year. This is occurring from the aging of the population of the developed world along with the global development of the middle class.

Around the year 2000, the fitness market was largely thought to be globally in the range of $5 billion at retail and although they are varying opinions (because many of the companies in the fitness business are either private or divisions of larger corporations and don’t report sales and earnings), the business today has doubled to the $10 billion range. Dun and Bradstreet expect the fitness market to grow to $13 billion by 2022.

So since fitness does not need saving, what does it need? For many people, fitness needs to be interesting. My guess is that the story I read in this week’s Time magazine at the link below might have been paid by Peloton, the company that makes the bike that is internet connected. They are also coming out with a treadmill later this year but this is not exclusive to Peloton.

Many personal trainers I know have been streaming with clients one-on-one for years and I know one personal trainer that charge $2,500 a month for the privilege for his services. He doesn’t need too many clients in order to have a great life!

For the average person who can’t afford $2,500 a month for a personal trainer, Peloton has figured out that there is a market for those who can pay $39 per month. Additionally, the big 500 lb. gorilla in the business, Icon, has been offering streaming personal training with their iFit service for several years.

iFit started by simply integrating Google Maps in order to help make exercise more interesting but it has evolved to now offering a subscription service too. There are other programs that help make exercise more interactive and fun so keep your eyes peeled for what is available on the market.

To read more about the phenomenon that Peloton has generated, read the full story at Time magazine at the following link: http://time.com/5296639/streaming-exercise-peloton-workout