Fitness As A Service

We have come a long way since popping in a VHS tape and grooving along with Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons. While we may not be Sweatin’ to the Oldies any longer, these icons changed the way workouts were done and I would argue that they influenced the rise of the new fitness empire.

Live from your living room:

In 1998 Beachbody decided to aggregate a number of on-trend workout programs (for a throwback Google their very first program called Great Body Guaranteed) and promote them under one master label. The business model was simple: become a Beachbody member and we’ll send you DVD’s of your favorite program. You had to pay for the DVD’s but there was follow up support from Beachbody coaches and add on’s like Shakeology for nutrition.

In 2005 YouTube was born and, after a short product-market-fit finding period, began to take off. Now it was possible for anyone to upload a workout video and become a star. The problem was, most of the content was amateur and there was no support or program to follow. Dailyburn stepped up in 2007 to fill this need. They produced high quality exercise content that streamed from your computer. It was not their long list of workouts that set them on the path to success, it was their follow on support and program building work that did the trick. Their business model is simple: purchase a subscription to our site and we’ll keep…