Peloton CEO Apologizes for Thanksgiving Ride Issues
Peloton may have broken records for its annual Thanksgiving Day live ride, but technical problems let many members down
The most devoted fitness enthusiasts opt to get moving on Thanksgiving morning, and Peloton members showed up in full force for the connected fitness company’s annual 2023 Turkey Burn classes — only to find they couldn’t join Peloton instructor Robin Arzon’s holiday ride for the first 20 minutes of the live class.
Despite the outage, Peloton earned some bragging rights for setting Guinness World records for the largest cycling and running classes. It was a feat Peloton hoped to pull off, as it heavily promoted the Turkey Burn event to its members, offering a special badge for those who beat their personal record.
While the issue was resolved within 20 minutes for some, many Peloton members had logged off already and others experienced an ongoing outage.
The Turkey Burn blunder led Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy to issue an apology in an official Peloton community group on Facebook, saying that while the connected fitness company had intended to create an “amazing” ride event, it had let members down.
McCarthy acknowledged that the number of Peloton members who attempted to join the Turkey Burn ride “overwhelmed” Peloton’s technical infrastructure, making Peloton unable to support those trying to participate in the annual class.
“While over 37,000 members were able to participate, we know far too many of you could not,” penned McCarthy. “I know for many of you, this has become an annual tradition, and we owe you the best possible member experience. On behalf of the team, we apologize.”
Although many Peloton members accepted the apology, others were less than understanding and indicated that the outage wasn’t a one-off but a chronic issue.
“The thing that is truly so sad and disappointing about this is that much of the membership called it many weeks ago regarding the IT infrastructure simply not being able to support the goal being promoted. If we knew it, how is it even remotely possible that Peloton didn’t?” wrote one disgruntled Peloton member under McCarthy’s apology post.
Still, others were able to shake off the disappointment.
“I was a bit sad but did an outdoor walk instead,” shared one member. “No reason to stress out about something like that when we have so much to be thankful for!”
Peloton, which recently announced a five-year global partnership with athleisure giant Lululemon, has been struggling to convert free users into paid subscribers.
The company ended Q1 2024 with 2.96 million paid connected fitness subscribers, reflecting a net reduction of 33,000 in the quarter and 763,000 paid app subscribers, showing a net reduction of 65,000.
While the early results have been lackluster, McCarthy revealed that Peloton’s new marketing strategy focusing on its paid app has shown some promise, writing in his recent letter to shareholders that the company is “making a large bet on growing Peloton App subscribers in FY24.”
