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Stretching Business to Reach the Web

Nov 25, 2007  •  Post A Comment

Video-on-demand network ExerciseTV is marching into Web video for the first time with an initiative starting this week to offer its 200 fitness titles for online download.
The fitness network will let consumers download titles for $1.99 or $2.99 to burn to a DVD or watch on a computer, iPod or other portable device.
ExerciseTV is one of the more popular VOD networks, averaging 5 million views per month on VOD, up from 3 million a year ago. The network is available in 23 million VOD homes, including those served by Comcast and Time Warner.
Many VOD networks are either extensions of linear brands, such as Discovery or Cartoon Network, or are digital networks that launched on VOD and broadband simultaneously, such as FearNet and HealthiNation.
ExerciseTV is unusual in that it was incubated by Comcast as a VOD network and now is migrating to broadband as well.
Offering shows on broadband is not new; broadcast networks have done so for more than two years now, and new-media compensation is at the heart of the current impasse between writers and studios.
However, ExerciseTV is in the fortunate position of being one of the rare VOD and digital networks that can charge for its content online. That’s because consumers have been conditioned to pay for exercise videos on tape and DVD.
“Jane Fonda probably has made more ka-ching from her exercise videos than from her film roles,” said Paul Rule, president of VOD research firm Marquest Media & Entertainment Research. “Offering a ‘useful information’ network like ExerciseTV on both VOD and Web seems one of the best uses of both platforms. Each reinforces the other. And there’s the matter of extending reach—broadband is available in many households where VOD is not.”
In Marquest’s regular studies on consumer interest in VOD, sports and fitness content has maintained a small but enthusiastic following, Mr. Rule said. The category fares best with teens and adults 18 to 34.
ExerciseTV waited to launch a broadband business until it had grown its number of titles to a critical mass to justify the new revenue stream, said Chris Mansolillo, general manager of ExerciseTV. Since its January 2006 launch, ExerciseTV has increased its number of titles from 20 to 200.
“You no longer want to keep your content to yourself. You want to get it out there to the entire universe,” said Jake Steinfeld, founder of ExerciseTV.
The shows will remain free on the ad-supported VOD service and many consumers will still prefer to watch the videos for free on-demand, Mr. Steinfeld said.
But because VOD content is refreshed regularly, favorite titles are not always available. The download-to-own option will be most appealing to consumers on the go and those who find a workout video they love and want to have at all times, he said.
“The bottom line is people don’t have a lot of time, and a lot of folks just don’t want to go to a gym,” Mr. Steinfeld said.
Consumers can order the videos for download at ExerciseTV.tv/store. ExerciseTV also offers a handful of titles for a fee on Amazon.com. In addition, some videos are streamed free on MSN and Joost, with AOL and MySpace slated to add content shortly.

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