Interview with DemandSports: Online Personal Training Video
1) Can you give me a) DemandSports in 10 words or less, and b) a 30-second elevator pitch?
a) DemandSports is the premier provider of Online Fitness Videos
b) DemandSports provides individuals with the ability to workout Anytime, Anywhere. We offer a unique and flexible subscription-based model, allowing members workout 24-hours a day, 7-days a week by utilizing Web-based streaming (and in the future – downloadable) Fitness and Workout Videos. Our solution is beneficial to those who travel frequently, those that don’t have time (or the inclination) to go to a gym, those that work from home, homemakers that have to stay near their young children, and students living in dorms. We are also working on partnering with Personal Trainers that would like to offer customized programs leveraging our content for their clients. We offer everything from Yoga, Pilates and Cardio Kickboxing to multiple specialty series for the serious Road Warriors to Pre/Post Natal programs. All of our memberships include access to over 180 fitness videos that range from 10-40 minutes in duration. Because of the large selection, our members don’t get bored – they can choose a new workout everyday. Additionally, we add new videos every month. Pricing for our memberships range from $0.99/day to $99/year – with our most popular being the Monthly Membership for $14.99.
2) How long have you been around? Where are you located?
a. We are still a startup. We launched in mid-March 2007 and are located in St. Louis, Missouri. We will be re-launching the website in late summer with a new, streamlined look and feel as well as some additional features, including downloadable content, fitness tools/resources, and a Fitness Blog.
3) Do you define yourself as a fitness company, a multimedia company, or is there a better term for what you do? Do you compete with gyms and personal trainers, or are you in partnership with them?
a. That is a great question. We consider ourselves a Fitness Company – specifically a “Personal Online Gym”.
b. We definitely don’t compete with Gyms and Personal Trainers. Gyms are targeted at those individuals that can get out of the house/hotel/dorm and train. We target those that don’t have that luxury due to a demanding job, young children, or the convenience of a close gym. Many people (~85%) don’t have a gym membership for one reason or another. This may be because they are not happy with how they look currently, the high-cost of most gyms ($30-40/month), or the fact that many gyms are over-crowded. Most just don’t like the long-term commitments associated with the memberships. These are the individuals we are targeting!
c. On the Personal Trainer end of things – we feel that actually can “compliment” their programs/services. It’s funny that you asked this question, because we just started working on developing Partnerships with Personal Trainers and have recently been talking with one of the largest personal training franchises in the US about some possible cooperative marketing programs that would benefit their Personal Trainers. So the question becomes – does this make sense for Personal Trainers? We feel that it does. In fact, we feel that our product would compliment the Personal Training model in a multitude of ways. For example, a Personal Trainer could add the DemandSports Membership to their clients program and structure customized workouts for their clients using the DemandSports content. This would benefit the trainer in a variety of ways. First, they would get a marketing commission from DemandSports for every membership sold, (and this would be recurring for the life of the client’s membership with us), thus increasing their revenues. Secondly, since they would be able to keep their clients motivated and engaged between the personal training sessions – which in turn would keep them coming back for more – they would have longer relationships with their clients and hence more revenues. Lastly, since this is such a unique add-on to their personal training programs, they would gain a competitive edge over the trainers that don’t offer this service – making them standout from the crowd. This is a very important aspect of a partnership with DemandSports, especially in the crowded personal training industry.
4) Can you give us an example or two or how your company helps people get fit?
a. Sure. We offer over 180 fitness videos. Members can choose the videos they want to view, and if they don’t like one, they can choose another. They range in duration from 10 minutes to 40 minutes. For example, a member can select on of our Pilates classes, stream it to their computer, perform the workout concurrently with the certified personal trainer that is teaching the video, and over time, they will become more fit and healthy. Pilates is great! If you haven’t tried it, I would recommend it. I personally used to have some upper back problems and due to the strengthening and lengthening that occurs with Pilates, I was able to rid my self of those nasty aches and pains. Most health professionals recommend that individuals workout 3-4 times a week for at least 30 minutes a day. Now nutrition is also a key component to any health program and over time, we will begin to offer nutritional guidance as well.
b. One other thing to note is that we are developing the concept of Consistent Variable Training (CVT). CVT is a simple concept that yields the greatest results in the shortest amount of time. What it means is that if you workout on a consistent basis, and vary the workout everytime you workout, the body cannot adapt and thus stop progressing. By changing the workouts (i.e. selecting a different video everytime you workout), you in effect keep you body guessing. This yields the greatest results. Doing this consistently over time will allow you to reach your fitness goals quicker than doing the same Jane Fonda workout video over and over and over….
5) The explosion of information on the internet often leads to data overload. What can DemandSports do to simplify our lives and get us results?
a. The answer to this question is two-fold. First, in the next release of our website we will begin to develop a Fitness Blog that will contain important information regarding fitness, as well as links to articles that we find on the Internet that are written by other fitness bloggers out there. Hence, saving our members the time of having to search for useful fitness content themselves. Secondly, since you don’t have to read a book on how to do our workouts – you just select the video, play it and workout to it, you can start getting results immediately.
6) How do we sign up? And what does it cost? Is it secure? How do I pay?
a. You can sign up at www.demandsports.com by selecting the “JOIN NOW” link.
b. We offer 7 different membership offerings – including a FREE 1-DAY Trial, which makes it easy to try before you buy. The other memberships are 1-Day ($0.99), 1-Week ($4.99), 1-Month ($14.99), 3-Months ($34.99), 6-Months ($59.99) and 1-Year ($99.99). All memberships offer access to 100% of our content (currently over 180 videos), and the memberships only differ in the duration of the membership. Of course, the longer the commitment, the larger the savings. Since all of our memberships (except the 1-Day) are recurring, you only have to sign-up once and we will automatically rebill your credit card for future payments at the end of each term. This is a great convenience for our members and mimics a true gym membership. Additionally, members can cancel anytime and we are so confident that people will love DemandSports, we offer a 110% Money Back Satisfaction Guarantee.
c. Our sign-up process is 100% secure. All of our member’s information is collected over encrypted SSL (HTTPS) connections, including Credit Card data. We never sell your email address either – it is for our use only, allowing us to communicate with our members. Payments are made electronically with MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover.
7) How is your tech support? What if something goes wrong? Does it work on Mac and PC?
a. That is an interesting question. We have had very little requests for technical support. The site was designed for ease of use and to minimize complications for our members. However, in the event that support is needed, we offer free email support and we respond in less than 24 hours (usually the same business day). Additionally, we are developing a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document so that most technical problems can be resolved immediately by the member.
b. The service works on Macs and works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Macs require the Windows Media Player add-ons, but other than that, it works great!
8) Do you personally use any of the new Web 2.0 tools (blogs, social networking software, podcasts) to market or communicate with your customers?
a. For the new site, we will incorporate a Blog into the site. This will allow us to provide useful content to our members as well as give them an opportunity to comment and provide feedback to us.
b. We have considered Podcasts (video casts specifically) of our content so that people can take it on the go with them, but that is still under consideration.
9) What is the most exciting technology trend that you see out there? Can you tell us something we can use at our next cocktail party to amuse and astound our friends?
a. This is my favorite question since I’m a technology entrepreneur. The coolest thing we have seen is the creation of the home theater gym. Basically the HTG is a dedicated room in the house that includes a flat panel TV wired to an Internet-connected media server, which streams the content from our servers directly to the flat panel TV. This allows an individual to workout to a “larger” screen version of our videos in a dedicated workout environment. This is so cool, that I’m actually considering doing something like this when we finish the basement in our house ;). Now currently our content is optimized for standard PC displays, but as the Internet bandwidth averages increase and more people start using larger 21”+ displays, we will begin to offer higher-quality versions of our content that will display with higher definition.
10) Anything you want to finish with? Latest projects, reasons to use you, final thoughts?
a. I think you covered it all!!! I really appreciate the opportunity to be interviewed by Durbin Media Group. You guys are a true pioneer in the Web 2.0 space. Keep up the great work!!
a) DemandSports is the premier provider of Online Fitness Videos
b) DemandSports provides individuals with the ability to workout Anytime, Anywhere. We offer a unique and flexible subscription-based model, allowing members workout 24-hours a day, 7-days a week by utilizing Web-based streaming (and in the future – downloadable) Fitness and Workout Videos. Our solution is beneficial to those who travel frequently, those that don’t have time (or the inclination) to go to a gym, those that work from home, homemakers that have to stay near their young children, and students living in dorms. We are also working on partnering with Personal Trainers that would like to offer customized programs leveraging our content for their clients. We offer everything from Yoga, Pilates and Cardio Kickboxing to multiple specialty series for the serious Road Warriors to Pre/Post Natal programs. All of our memberships include access to over 180 fitness videos that range from 10-40 minutes in duration. Because of the large selection, our members don’t get bored – they can choose a new workout everyday. Additionally, we add new videos every month. Pricing for our memberships range from $0.99/day to $99/year – with our most popular being the Monthly Membership for $14.99.
2) How long have you been around? Where are you located?
a. We are still a startup. We launched in mid-March 2007 and are located in St. Louis, Missouri. We will be re-launching the website in late summer with a new, streamlined look and feel as well as some additional features, including downloadable content, fitness tools/resources, and a Fitness Blog.
3) Do you define yourself as a fitness company, a multimedia company, or is there a better term for what you do? Do you compete with gyms and personal trainers, or are you in partnership with them?
a. That is a great question. We consider ourselves a Fitness Company – specifically a “Personal Online Gym”.
b. We definitely don’t compete with Gyms and Personal Trainers. Gyms are targeted at those individuals that can get out of the house/hotel/dorm and train. We target those that don’t have that luxury due to a demanding job, young children, or the convenience of a close gym. Many people (~85%) don’t have a gym membership for one reason or another. This may be because they are not happy with how they look currently, the high-cost of most gyms ($30-40/month), or the fact that many gyms are over-crowded. Most just don’t like the long-term commitments associated with the memberships. These are the individuals we are targeting!
c. On the Personal Trainer end of things – we feel that actually can “compliment” their programs/services. It’s funny that you asked this question, because we just started working on developing Partnerships with Personal Trainers and have recently been talking with one of the largest personal training franchises in the US about some possible cooperative marketing programs that would benefit their Personal Trainers. So the question becomes – does this make sense for Personal Trainers? We feel that it does. In fact, we feel that our product would compliment the Personal Training model in a multitude of ways. For example, a Personal Trainer could add the DemandSports Membership to their clients program and structure customized workouts for their clients using the DemandSports content. This would benefit the trainer in a variety of ways. First, they would get a marketing commission from DemandSports for every membership sold, (and this would be recurring for the life of the client’s membership with us), thus increasing their revenues. Secondly, since they would be able to keep their clients motivated and engaged between the personal training sessions – which in turn would keep them coming back for more – they would have longer relationships with their clients and hence more revenues. Lastly, since this is such a unique add-on to their personal training programs, they would gain a competitive edge over the trainers that don’t offer this service – making them standout from the crowd. This is a very important aspect of a partnership with DemandSports, especially in the crowded personal training industry.
4) Can you give us an example or two or how your company helps people get fit?
a. Sure. We offer over 180 fitness videos. Members can choose the videos they want to view, and if they don’t like one, they can choose another. They range in duration from 10 minutes to 40 minutes. For example, a member can select on of our Pilates classes, stream it to their computer, perform the workout concurrently with the certified personal trainer that is teaching the video, and over time, they will become more fit and healthy. Pilates is great! If you haven’t tried it, I would recommend it. I personally used to have some upper back problems and due to the strengthening and lengthening that occurs with Pilates, I was able to rid my self of those nasty aches and pains. Most health professionals recommend that individuals workout 3-4 times a week for at least 30 minutes a day. Now nutrition is also a key component to any health program and over time, we will begin to offer nutritional guidance as well.
b. One other thing to note is that we are developing the concept of Consistent Variable Training (CVT). CVT is a simple concept that yields the greatest results in the shortest amount of time. What it means is that if you workout on a consistent basis, and vary the workout everytime you workout, the body cannot adapt and thus stop progressing. By changing the workouts (i.e. selecting a different video everytime you workout), you in effect keep you body guessing. This yields the greatest results. Doing this consistently over time will allow you to reach your fitness goals quicker than doing the same Jane Fonda workout video over and over and over….
5) The explosion of information on the internet often leads to data overload. What can DemandSports do to simplify our lives and get us results?
a. The answer to this question is two-fold. First, in the next release of our website we will begin to develop a Fitness Blog that will contain important information regarding fitness, as well as links to articles that we find on the Internet that are written by other fitness bloggers out there. Hence, saving our members the time of having to search for useful fitness content themselves. Secondly, since you don’t have to read a book on how to do our workouts – you just select the video, play it and workout to it, you can start getting results immediately.
6) How do we sign up? And what does it cost? Is it secure? How do I pay?
a. You can sign up at www.demandsports.com by selecting the “JOIN NOW” link.
b. We offer 7 different membership offerings – including a FREE 1-DAY Trial, which makes it easy to try before you buy. The other memberships are 1-Day ($0.99), 1-Week ($4.99), 1-Month ($14.99), 3-Months ($34.99), 6-Months ($59.99) and 1-Year ($99.99). All memberships offer access to 100% of our content (currently over 180 videos), and the memberships only differ in the duration of the membership. Of course, the longer the commitment, the larger the savings. Since all of our memberships (except the 1-Day) are recurring, you only have to sign-up once and we will automatically rebill your credit card for future payments at the end of each term. This is a great convenience for our members and mimics a true gym membership. Additionally, members can cancel anytime and we are so confident that people will love DemandSports, we offer a 110% Money Back Satisfaction Guarantee.
c. Our sign-up process is 100% secure. All of our member’s information is collected over encrypted SSL (HTTPS) connections, including Credit Card data. We never sell your email address either – it is for our use only, allowing us to communicate with our members. Payments are made electronically with MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover.
7) How is your tech support? What if something goes wrong? Does it work on Mac and PC?
a. That is an interesting question. We have had very little requests for technical support. The site was designed for ease of use and to minimize complications for our members. However, in the event that support is needed, we offer free email support and we respond in less than 24 hours (usually the same business day). Additionally, we are developing a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document so that most technical problems can be resolved immediately by the member.
b. The service works on Macs and works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Macs require the Windows Media Player add-ons, but other than that, it works great!
8) Do you personally use any of the new Web 2.0 tools (blogs, social networking software, podcasts) to market or communicate with your customers?
a. For the new site, we will incorporate a Blog into the site. This will allow us to provide useful content to our members as well as give them an opportunity to comment and provide feedback to us.
b. We have considered Podcasts (video casts specifically) of our content so that people can take it on the go with them, but that is still under consideration.
9) What is the most exciting technology trend that you see out there? Can you tell us something we can use at our next cocktail party to amuse and astound our friends?
a. This is my favorite question since I’m a technology entrepreneur. The coolest thing we have seen is the creation of the home theater gym. Basically the HTG is a dedicated room in the house that includes a flat panel TV wired to an Internet-connected media server, which streams the content from our servers directly to the flat panel TV. This allows an individual to workout to a “larger” screen version of our videos in a dedicated workout environment. This is so cool, that I’m actually considering doing something like this when we finish the basement in our house ;). Now currently our content is optimized for standard PC displays, but as the Internet bandwidth averages increase and more people start using larger 21”+ displays, we will begin to offer higher-quality versions of our content that will display with higher definition.
10) Anything you want to finish with? Latest projects, reasons to use you, final thoughts?
a. I think you covered it all!!! I really appreciate the opportunity to be interviewed by Durbin Media Group. You guys are a true pioneer in the Web 2.0 space. Keep up the great work!!
posted by James Durbin @ 7:16 AM PERMALINK
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