Peloton has launched a partnership with TikTok.
Courtesy of: Peloton
Platoon launched a partnership with TikTok on Thursday as part of its strategy to change its public perception and attract a broader range of customers as sales and profits decline.
The partnership will create a new fitness center on the social media platform called “#TikTokFitness Powered by Peloton.” It will feature short fitness videos, longer live classes, content from Peloton instructors, and collaborations with TikTok creators.
Peloton shares rose about 10% in premarket trading after the news was announced.
It comes about six months after Peloton rebranded itself as a “for everyone” fitness company and launched a tiered pricing strategy for its app. The changes were designed to position Peloton as more than just a bike company and attract new customers who may not have been able to afford its expensive connected fitness equipment but might be interested in a monthly subscription for its content.
“On the one hand, there’s a longer-term goal around changing perceptions of who Peloton is for for multiple different types of audiences, and I think one of the real strengths of TikTok… is that it increasingly reaches out to everyone.” , including the younger audience. Oli Snoddy, Peloton’s vice president of consumer marketing, told CNBC in an interview. In the short term, the partnership will look to build on what Peloton says has been a successful relaunch by boosting metrics such as app downloads and conversions, Snoddy said.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Peloton became a Wall Street darling after gyms closed and consumers flocked to buy its stationary bikes and treadmills for the home. But demand plummeted as the virus receded and consumers returned to normal.
In the three months ending Sept. 30, Peloton lost 30,000 members and revenue fell to $595.5 million, down from $757.9 million three years earlier, at the height of the pandemic.
Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy, who replaced company co-founder John Foley in February 2022, has been working to resize the business and prepare it for long-term growth and profitability. He has focused on increasing Peloton subscribers and opening new avenues for owning Peloton equipment by offering a rental service and refurbished options.
While the initiatives are showing early signs of progress, Peloton is not yet making money from the members it has, which is why it partners with companies like TikTok and lululemon critical to your long-term success.
“We have over a billion users worldwide across all demographics,” Sofía Hernández, TikTok’s global head of enterprise marketing, told CNBC. “On the platform there are people from 16 to 60 years old and when I think about [Peloton’s] ‘anywhere,’ campaign, there’s no better place to reach the level of audience that we have, that level of diverse audience.”
Hernandez noted that the partnership will go beyond workout videos and include “behind the scenes” videos such as “get ready with me” clips and other fitness-related content that gives people on TikTok an inside look at Peloton and its instructors. At first, the content will feature well-known instructors like Cody Rigsby and Ally Love, but the partnership also hopes to introduce some of Peloton’s lesser-known instructors to a broader audience and grow their following.
“We know that when people experience Peloton, they really get it and fall in love with it,” Snoddy said. “It’s really about taking the instructors and the content that we have and sizing it for a broader audience on TikTok.”
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