Peloton lead the way
Peloton announced its latest quarterly results (Apr-Jun) last week, reporting impressive numbers. The brand that many wrote off as a fad a few years ago, is now taking hold of the connected fitness sector helped by a COVID bump due to more people working out at home. Some standout results:
1.09 million connected fitness subscribers, up 113% from last year
3.1 million members in total vs 1.4million members last year
People are working out more with 24.7 ave monthly workouts vs 17 across the last quarter
User churn is reducing to 0.62% vs 0.65% the year before
$84.2m was spent on marketing and sales in Q4, however, the majority of media spend was paused through the end of the quarter, with the brand's organic strength helping to drive new users
R&D grew by 67% year on year to $28.4m in Q4 due to investment in new products and software
Live from home is driving numbers
During COVID, Peloton launched its 'Live From Home' series which has seen 9.8m workouts completed through April - June. The series has had a few standout performers:
Alex Toussaint’s support of ESPN’s The Last Dance, which has logged 215,000 workouts
“No Equipment Needed” a collection of Strength workouts
ESPN All-Star Partnership - where 16 elite professional male and female athletes participated in a live broadcast cycling competition
Additionally, the newly launched Fit Family (300k) and Dance cardio classes (500k) recorded nearly a million workouts completed.
More content, in more people's hands
As Peloton continues to chase its goal of being available on every screen in your hand and in your home (now it has partnerships with Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Roku and Android) new content will be key to keeping members engaged. Therefore, it was no surprise to hear them talk about its London studio on Floral Street (expected to open in Spring 2021), having three production studios inside, to allow for more content to be created.
New offerings offer more adoption
Ahead of publishing their Q4 results, Peloton announced it was expanding its product range with the launch of two new products, a lower-priced treadmill (Tread) and a more expensive bike that comes with a rotating screen (Bike+). With these two additions, it has made the entry into the brand more accessible, as Tread is cheaper than the original treadmill (Trend+) and the release of the new bike has resulted in the original bike being reduced in price.
Growth is helping instructors grow too
With Peloton's continued growth, their instructors are also seeing their profiles grow. As reported by Front Office, instructor Tunde Oyeneyin, who has thousands attend her spinning classes has been signed by sports management agency Wasserman, and in doing so becomes the agency’s first deal with a subscription-based fitness instructor. The team at Wasserman see Trude as 'an athlete who has influence' and they will be looking for deals for her just like any other athlete.
It will be interesting to see how far Peloton allows their instructors to develop their own personal brands. Only last week, it was reported that WWE is asking all of its performers to cease partnerships with third parties.
The future looks bright
Peloton has had a stellar few months, and according to insiders, Peloton is on course for another impressive quarter. The price will continue to dictate conversations around the brand, so it will be interesting to see how the arrival of new products will help. Nevertheless, CEO, John Foley shows no signs that they are going to rest on their laurels, as he states, “We feel like we’re just getting started.”