A Resource
Imagery from Yoga with Adriene, Body by Simone, and Tough Mudder
How to Build and Monetize Your Fitness Video App Streaming fitness on demand is a booming industry
At-home workouts have come a long way from Richard Simmons’ Sweatin To The Oldies. As technology continues to advance, more and more people can access fitness videos any time, anywhere — and they’re soaring in popularity across streaming video apps and websites.
“Anything from travel, to hellish work hours, to a generally all-over-the-place schedule can put the breaks on an exercise routine,” posits Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle blog Goop. “The beauty of streaming classes is that they can be accessed anytime and anywhere with enough space for a yoga mat and a solid WiFi connection.”
If the instructor is better, if the hardware is better, if the software is better, if the location is better, and if the value is better … why would you travel outside the home?
John Foley CEO of Peloton
As bandwidth speeds and smartphone adoption grows globally, fitness organizations and instructors are racing to meet demand – building live and streaming video programming, designed to reach audiences of all levels and interests. Demand for mobile workouts is growing around the world: in the U.S., Peloton—the company that pioneered at-home spin classes with live video in 2012—is valued at approximately $1.25 billion.
How to build and monetize your fitness app 2 2022 $4.47 MM
2021 $4.06 MM According to Statista, revenue in the “Fitness 2020 $3.62 MM Apps” segment will hit
2019 $3.16 MM $4.47MM in 2022.
2018 $2.69 MM
2017 $2.21 MM
2016 $1.75 MM
0 1 MM 2 MM 3 MM 4 MM 5 MM
AKT, a cult favorite dance cardio workout, sees about 800 clients in its NYC studio—but they claim to have accessed “100 times that amount of people” through the AKT on- demand app. And online fitness video website DailyBurn has grown its membership to around 2.5 million today, from just 500,000 in 2010, thanks to growing video technology. But you don’t need millions in funding or a brand-name workout to start streaming fitness content to a global audience.
How to build and monetize your fitness app 3 How to start building your business with a fitness app
Maybe you’re looking to launch your very first fitness channel. Or perhaps you’ve built a fan following on free platforms like YouTube and are now looking to go to the next level with subscription services. Wherever you’re starting from, we’ve compiled expert tips and data to help you build your video business.
How to start building your business with a fitness app 4 With the power of Vimeo’s over-the-top (OTT) streaming apps, you can now build a Netflix-style app or channel for your live and on-demand fitness videos. Vimeo empowers you to create a viewer destination where you can:
• Stream live or on-demand video content across the web and mobile and TV apps.
• Manage your own content library with an easy-to-use CRM.
• Monetize your videos via subscriptions or one-time payments.
• Engage with subscribers in real time within your apps.
• Track video performance and analytics.
• Build a video library of on-demand and live events for subscribers.
• Run promotions and special offers.
Below, you’ll learn how launching a subscription app can benefit your business, and hear from pros like Adriene Mishler, Simone De La Rue, and the team behind the endurance race series Tough Mudder, as they share tips and strategies based on their own journeys working with Vimeo. You’ll learn how they separated themselves from the pack in the online fitness space while building a real business — and how you can do it, too.
How to start building your business with a fitness app 5 Why launching a subscription video service is key for growth.
1 Scale your audience wherever you are
By offering workout videos on-demand and through live streaming, you’re no longer constrained by your availability, how many people can attend your class, or even your location. With a subscription-based video app, you have the opportunity to reach a global audience and expand your customer base exponentially—and you can deliver your fitness content right from your homebase.
2 Diversify your revenue stream
Fitness enthusiasts are accustomed to paying a monthly premium for their gym memberships. You can base your app off the business models and price points that customers are already comfortable with. Your app can even serve as a
4 Benefits of launching your fitness app today 6 supplementary digital product alongside any traditional classes you might offer. When planning your video programming, consider a mix of motivational talks, health and nutritional tips, subscriber or client stories, and more to provide even more value and revenue opportunities.
3 Generate higher margins
Compared to running a studio or gym, which can be costly to operate and maintain, your fitness app creates a reliable revenue stream — without paying for the physical space to accomodate large in-person groups. If you commit to a steady stream of new videos — however simple or advanced they may be to start — you’ll be rewarded with happy, committed subscribers.
4 Manage your app seamlessly with advanced tech
Five years ago, launching your fitness videos in an app on your own would’ve been a Herculean task. But the technical barriers to entry have fallen, and today, you can easily stream your fitness content in a few hours and grow your audience, thanks to a range of tools from Vimeo.
4 Benefits of launching your fitness app today 7 5 tips for building a fitness subscription app from the experts
5 Tips for building a fitness subscription app from the experts 8 1 Assess what content you have — and what you need to create
Imagine you’re a yoga instructor with It’s important to make a huge library of workout and wellness videos. What do you need to consider sure your content in order to launch a subscription video is high quality and app? If you already have a significant video catalog to start with, you’re informative for your one step closer to launching. If not, audience. start planning what workout content you could provide. Focus on your Simone De La Rue expertise,look at what your competitors Founder, Body by Simone are offering, and identify gaps where you could provide original videos.
You also want to be sure to plan out the financial resources and time commitment in advance, so you can ensure you’re providing a consistent stream of fresh videos for your viewers. A regular schedule is key to building and maintaining your audience. Many brands succeed by focusing on what makes them special — even without tons of extra cash or a film background—and are able to produce a helpful, engaging series of videos regularly.
5 Tips for building a fitness subscription app from the experts 9 Now a Hollywood fitness expert featured widely on E! News!, InStyle, and Access Hollywood, Simone De La Rue owns three studios and employs a staff of 40, just six years after the launch of her app. “It’s important to make sure your content is high quality and informative for your audience,” says De La Rue. “You also want to make sure that you stay on top of updating your content.” Every month she introduces a new workout on her app “Body By Simone” as a way to keep her workouts timely and fresh.
Simone found that her audience invested in her journey along the way, too. “Producing regular content is hard work,” she says, “but you just need to keep coming back to the passion and love you have for what you’re doing and building.”
Producing regular content is hard work, but you need to keep coming back to the passion and love you have for what you’re doing and building.
Simone De La Rue Founder, Body by Simone
5 Tips for building a fitness subscription app from the experts 10 2 Build an audience early — starting with free videos, trials and promotions
To pique the interest of new viewers and followers, Simone shares free 10-second videos on her social media channels as teasers, and directs them to the “Body By Simone” app for more.
Free trials are one way to entice new customers to give your subscription app a try. There is no charge for using the tool and it can pay off in terms of growing revenue for your fitness app. We’ve found that about two-thirds of Vimeo OTT subscribers who sign up for a free trial convert into paying customers.
Promotions can build serious loyalty, too. We’ve found that subscribers who sign up using a promo code are likely to stick around 13% longer than the average subscriber. When it comes to marketing your series, Vimeo’s promotions tools are a reliable way to attract potential customers to sign up for your subscription service. You can use them to offer limited-time only discounts for special screening events or flash sales, or even to specific groups.
5 Tips for building a fitness subscription app from the experts 11 3 Continue to engage with your fans acrosssocial channels
Yoga instructor Adriene Mishler and About two-thirds of manager Chris Sharpe were pretty thrilled with the success of their first Vimeo OTT subscribers series, “Yoga with Adriene.” To continue who sign up for a free to grow their brand, they decided to offer ad-free, exclusive videos through trial convert into paying the “Find What Feels Good” (FWFG) customers. yoga and meditation app.
Prior to the launch, they began spreading the word through their YouTube channel and website mailing list. “Our members discovered it and started signing up before we had officially launched, so everything happened really quickly,” says Chris. Eight months after the launch of the FWFG app, their subscription video service had acquired 3,000 paying subscribers and earned double the revenue of YouTube ads.
Adriene and Chris also launched a community forum for fans to chat directly with them and others, and rolled out a private board strictly for subscribers that offered even more members-only content. “Community is at the core of everything we do, so it’s great to have more than one place for our members to connect. The forums in the Vimeo app have been great for that,” says Chris.
Adriene makes a point to get face time with her fans whenever she travels the country for live events, too. She promotes her in-person yoga classes through the FWFG app so attendees can stay in the know and get excited about meeting her, as well as join her online community. “The real reward is meeting people in real life. Even though we will only meet a tiny fraction of the people who watch the videos, those real life conversations and interactions are incredibly important,” says Chris. “We are always listening — to make sure we are serving our community.”
5 Tips for building a fitness subscription app from the experts 12 4 Turn fans into customers with a “pay what you want” pricing model
“Pay what you want” offers have proven to be an effective marketing strategy to convert casual fans into loyal customers. People will pay for great videos. You just need to provide real value and build loyalty first.
The “Find What Feels Good” yoga app began offering free videos on YouTube in 2012, and has since grown that fan base to over three million subscribers. Their loyal following was the key to that success.
“Our mission is to take free yoga to as many people as possible and, more specifically, to help people establish a well-rounded home yoga practice,” says Chris. “Our YouTube channel is the first phase of that.” When Adriene and Chris launched the “30 Days of Yoga” series, they wanted to make sure price wasn’t a deterrent. Using Vimeo’s “Pay What You Want” feature, they set a minimum price of $1, giving customers the option of paying more. The result? They found that the average customer ended up paying at least $5 for the series.
One third of Vimeo OTT subscribers chose to pay more than the base price, adding up to 20% in additional revenue.
‘Pay what you want’ is a great way to gauge your price point based on how much viewers value it, and often fans will give more to support the mission. One third of Vimeo OTT subscribers chose to pay more than the base price, adding up to 20% in additional revenue. Price your content correctly, and let the generosity of your fans take over.
5 Tips for building a fitness subscription app from the experts 13 5 Satisfy subscribers with branded apps across platforms
Today, between TV apps and an increasingly mobile audience, you have to reach your viewers on every screen. Branded apps give you the ability to manage customer relationships and build loyalty with a familiar interface, or in-app discounts and specials.
“Find What Feels Good” was one of the early adopters of Vimeo OTT’s branded apps feature, and is now featured on apps across Apple TV, Roku, iOS, and Android devices. “A few years ago, there were lots of technical hoops to jump through to get the video from the web to a television,” says Chris. “The Vimeo branded apps make this a very easy and seamless experience and the feedback has been incredibly positive.”
The familiarity and trust that comes with a branded app shouldn’t be underestimated. We’ve found that potential customers are 33% more likely to sign up for a free trial in an app versus signing up on a website. “Our goal is always to make it as convenient as possible for members of our community to join. If they already have an Apple account, it just takes one click to get started, so that’s great for everybody,” says Chris.
The great thing about live streaming is that anyone in the world can feel like they’re part of the amazing boutique fitness classes that are available, especially here in NYC.
Alonzo Wilson Founder and director of training at Tone House
5 Tips for building a fitness subscription app from the experts 14 Inside Tough Mudder’s live streaming video strategy
Inside tough mudder’s live streaming video strategy 15 Having this tool where we can tell the story live is hugely powerful. Being able to broadcast a real event live and tell these stories is just an amazing new weapon in our marketing arsenal.
Jesse Bull SVP of Brand and Creative, Tough Mudder
Launched in 2010 by Harvard Business graduate and former counter-terrorism officer Will Dean, Tough Mudder has grown into a formidable endurance race brand. They’ve amassed tens of millions of fans globally, and have raised millions of dollars for charity.
Every year, Tough Mudder holds six different types of challenge series across the world. In 2016 alone, live video from their events was viewed 14.5 million times across Livestream and Facebook as they reached the networks of their over 2.5 million participants.
Inside tough mudder’s live streaming video strategy 16 3 Lessons from Tough Mudder’s live streaming gameplan
1 Use your mission to build your brand
You’ve poured your heart and soul into building your fitness brand. As an entrepreneur, you need to stand out from the competition and inspire people to action. What separates your fitness brand from the others?
Tough Mudder offers one incredibly useful case study. By striving to make endurance races accessible to people from all walks of life, they stand out against the solitary nature of most endurance events. With no podiums, winners, or clocks to race against, their ethos is teamwork and camaraderie.
We weren’t the first obstacle course event, but we were the first to scale at this level and focus more on teamwork.
Jesse Bull SVP of brand and creative at Tough Mudder
“It’s been a pretty insane ride,” says Jesse Bull, SVP of brand and creative at Tough Mudder. “We weren’t the first obstacle course event, but we were the first to scale at this level and focus more on teamwork.”
In Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why, he writes, “People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.” Meaning, people don’t just buy into your product — they buy into your mission and a high-level idea that provides real value. Tough Mudder has successfully identified and articulated its brand purpose of teamwork, and as a esult,r has engaged its audience — and is still growing fans day by day.
Inside tough mudder’s live streaming video strategy 17 2 Your video strategy is your recruiting tool
The intensity of Tough Mudder’s obstacle races makes broadcasting a no brainer. “We’ve always been about storytelling, and content has always been the foundation of our marketing, through social media especially,” says Jesse. “Now, having this tool where we can tell the story live is hugely powerful. Being able to broadcast a real event live and tell these stories is just an amazing new weapon in our marketing arsenal.”
The Tough Mudder content team ensures that their live streams focus on several key pillars: the human stories, the obstacles throughout their courses, and fun behind-the scenes moments from the event.
To make viewers feel like they’re right there, Tough Mudder takes it a step further. “We had a live roving reporter finding stories, interviewing Mudders, and building a narrative around what was happening at the event. The viewer at home had a first- person look at what it’s like to be at the event, why people do it, and could see things as a participant would see them.”
Inside tough mudder’s live streaming video strategy 18 The content strategy is not only great for friends and family of participants who want to tune in, but also serves as a powerful recruiting tool for audiences who are curious about getting involved. “For people on the fence, who aren’t sure if they can do it, this gives them a more visceral experience that’s unique and real-time,” says Jesse. For them, an event with around 70,000 unique views converts into around 20,000 website visits.
“The live watch time was a huge revelation to us versus a social media video that people will watch for 10 seconds if you’re lucky. A five or six-minute watch time was huge — there’s clearly a lot of power there,” says Jesse. “We’re confident as we continue to roll this out we’ll see that traffic and engagement translate into more sales. I think it’s just a really engaging and authentic way to experience the event.”
Being able to stream directly to Facebook Live in addition to their own site has provided Tough Mudder with a clear, distinct value and return on investment, giving the brand greater reach through existing channels, and the ability to host that same content on their website. Their website functions as an e-commerce platform, and introducing live video to that increases the level of engagement.
It really helps drive them down the funnel from awareness to consideration, and ultimately getting that ticket sale.
Jesse Bull SVP of brand and creative at Tough Mudder
“We’re getting millions of people coming to the website every month, and we can give those people something beyond a ‘Buy Now’ message,” says Jesse. For those who aren’t ready to buy a ticket, there’s plenty of live video to explore. “It really helps drive them down the funnel from awareness to consideration, and ultimately getting that ticket sale. It’s a great marketing approach to be able to add that kind of content to our site.”
Inside tough mudder’s live streaming video strategy 19 3 Keep videos and challenges fresh
No two Tough Mudder events are the same. To keep things exciting and surprising, the team switches it up with new challenges. “We don’t want to just have a cookie-cutter approach to live streaming and show the same thing,” says Jesse. “[We] reinforce the brand values, the community, the tribe aspect of our brand. Finding the story in each event and telling unique stories is really important to us — and gives that local flavor.”
The inspiring stories that come out of these races aren’t by chance. Tough Mudder is dedicated to always looking for ways to capture what their community is accomplishing around the world. Ahead of each race, Tough Mudder sends a survey to its participants in search of story lines. “Our operations team builds relationships with the participants,” says Jesse. “It’s a combination of a structured approach and just talking to our community and looking out for those moments. Streaming live for the sake of it is not ideal, but you can find unique angles and find something new every time. There’s just magic there that doesn’t happen in any other medium.”
Inside tough mudder’s live streaming video strategy 20 Tough Mudder’s live streaming audience paved the way for major network deals
Tough Mudder’s overwhelming success caught the eye of CBS Sports Network, and in 2016, the two entered into a multi-year deal to televise a new series, Toughest Mudder. A year later, the company debuted and live streamed World’s Toughest Mudder, a six-event series on CBSSports.com, the CBS Sports apps for mobile and connected TV devices, as well as on-demand video content across its digital and social platforms.
In 2017, Tough Mudder opened a digital storefront on Amazon to distribute video that they created solely for the e-commerce website. The videos ranged from pre-race, race day, and post-day video guides, to Coachified, a weekly series featuring trainer Kyle “Coach” Railton.
Inside tough mudder’s live streaming video strategy 21 That momentum is continuing: Tough Mudder and CBS Sports announced an expansion to the “Tough Mudder X” partnership to broadcast the competition on CBS for three consecutive weekends. With $50,000 on the line, it is one of the largest prize pools in the fitness world.
Tough Mudder’s partnership with CBS Sports and Amazon has enabled the company to drastically scale its reach by providing yet another platform to share exclusive video and become a trusted global resource for fitness content. Partnerships they were able to broker after proving their ability to independently scale an audience by producing and distributing their live video.
Inside tough mudder’s live streaming video strategy 22 The future of streaming fitness
The future of streaming fitness 23 As the pay-per-class boutique fitness model becomes less accessible to people both financially and geographically, the video subscription model is opening up to a larger market, and shows no signs of slowing.
Through their subscription channels, Adriene Mishler, Simone De La Rue, and Tough Mudder have successfully tapped into digital communities and are redefining how fitness businesses can find success. They’ve scaled their brands through tested strategies: by planning for promotion, focusing on audience building, turning loyal fans into customers, and engaging their communities with live and on-demand video, thanks to branded cross-platform apps. Soon new ways and new forms of working out will enter the market — and creators and entrepreneurs that focus on engagement and community will outrun the competition.
The future of streaming fitness 24 Thinking about launching your very own fitness subscription platform?
As a fitness professional, you’re well-positioned to deliver consistent and regular video content via a subscription model. Through Vimeo OTT, you’ll be able to launch your apps with ease, using all the tools and technology needed to scale your audience while growing a sustainable business.
Vimeo’s app technology ensures your viewers get the best user experience across all platforms. With robust tools like seamless payment processing, an integrated content management system, and in-depth analytics, you’ll unlock the ability to nurture your audience — while we do the heavy lifting of launching your app across key marketplaces.
To find out how you can take your business to the next level with Vimeo OTT, contact us at [email protected] or visit ott.vimeo.com/pricing.
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