ABC Fitness, Les Mills Team Up To Offer Group Fitness Content To Gyms
The partnership allows clubs to capitalize on the growing demand for digital fitness content as a compliment to traditional gym memberships
It’s about to get a lot easier for gyms to provide their members with access to popular group fitness classes.
ABC Fitness Solutions and Les Mills announced a new partnership that makes the group fitness giant’s on-demand video classes available to ABC customers. With the partnership, club operators using ABC platforms can offer Les Mills classes to their members both virtually and in-club, allowing gyms and studios to capitalize on the growing demand for digital fitness offerings as a compliment to traditional brick-and-mortar gym membership.
Clubs using ABC’s Ignite Engagement and Trainerize Enterprise platforms will be able to offer popular Les Mills classes including Bodypump, Bodycombat and Les Mills Grit, among others, to their members.
“ABC Fitness has a 40-year track record in bringing best-in-class technology solutions to market, and now as the need for cutting-edge content grows with the insatiable desire of members to workout anywhere, we are excited to work with Les Mills,” Bill Davis, CEO of ABC Fitness, said in a statement. “Its quality, variety and delivery of fitness content cannot be matched, and being able to offer this to our customers is a game changer for ABC, our customers and the members they serve.”
ABC, whose apps and other tech solutions power some of the biggest fitness clubs in the world, is making content a priority. Sharad Mohan, president of the ABC Trainerize platform, told Athletech News that the fit tech company is looking to partner with fitness content providers so club operators can satisfy their members’ increasing demand for digital content.
“One of the reasons we partnered with Les Mills is because a customer told us they have members streaming Les Mills content,” Mohan said.
“It really boils down to what our clubs’ members want and meeting them where they’re at,” he added. “We know a lot of people stream Les Mills classes at home, so it made sense to bring the club into the mix and make the club be the hub of that content.”
While people have returned to physical gyms in large numbers post-pandemic, the demand for virtual content remains high. That means hybrid options are increasingly important for clubs.
ABC says that according to recent industry reports, 80% of gym members want digital offerings as a part of their workout plan post-pandemic. Clubs with a digital model have seen a 22% increase in membership sales, the fit tech company added.
ABC notes that clubs can use the Les Mills content to create additional revenue streams through digital subscriptions, virtual personal training options and streaming memberships.
Les Mills, whose highly popular group fitness classes are available in over 21,000 clubs across 110 countries, continues to make its digital content available to brick-and-mortar gyms. In November, the group fitness company struck a deal with Fitness International to have its Les Mills+ streaming platform available to LA Fitness, Esporta Fitness and City Sports Club members.
According to Les Mills, as a result of the pandemic, most exercisers now prefer a 60-40 split between the gym and at-home fitness.
Les Mills also recently partnered with Gympass, making over 1,5000 of its on-demand workouts and virtual training sessions available through the corporate wellness platform.