RSS feedsAlthough it has been running for less than a year, VirtualGym TV has already built a strong and growing client base. Launched by former employee benefits and pensions adviser Richard Davis, VirtualGym TV provides on-demand fitness workouts either via your computer, streamed to your TV or burnt to DVD.
The service offers a constantly expanding bank of full-length, professional fitness and training sessions: around 40 new classes are uploaded to its website - www.virtualgym.tv - each week. Each class focuses on the instructors who take you through all manner of different sessions, including Abs Blast, Spinergy and KickFit. And the beauty of it is that you can get hot and sweaty in the privacy of your own home, rather than running the gauntlet of the über-fit at your local gym. ‘The idea was born a couple of years ago following a conversation with a friend,’ says Davis. ‘Unless you mass-produce DVDs or appear on television, the maximum number of people you can teach depends on the size of your class. I had a look on the internet and nobody was doing what we are doing.’
At the same time, Davis recognised that increasing broadband speeds and take-up rates meant internet users would have no problem downloading individual videos. ‘It seemed very do-able and the more I researched the market, the more I realised this wasn’t just a niche market opportunity; there was a great big hole in the market.’
All the videos are produced in-house, recorded and edited ‘as live’, to ensure the experience is as real as possible. ‘It is as if the instructors are in front of a live class, so if they make a mistake, they have to recover it,’ Davis explains. Such a system means that the turnover of videos is very high, ensuring there is a wide variety to choose from on the website. ‘Editing takes about 20 minutes and then it is ready for encoding and uploading,’ he says.
‘We are still very new, but we have found our feet quickly and know what our markets are,’ Davis says, adding that target turnover for the first year is in the region of £700,000. So far, the company has nearly 1,500 subscribers. Based in Rochester, Kent, the company has six permanent staff members, including a creative director, live editor, cameraman and IT manager. Then there is a pool of 25 instructors, headed by Nicki Waterman, fitness instructor to the stars, who operate on a freelance basis.
The cost of sessions depends on the package - you can go for either monthly, quarterly or annual memberships, or there is a pay-as-you-go option.
The business was originally funded by Davis himself and his business partner, though Davis has secured funding from Medway Council and the south-east England development agency. And now the business is going through a second round of fundraising that will provide the cash for a second studio, doubling output of classes, a public relations push and the development of new products with partner companies. As part of the fundraising activity, the company appeared at the Venturefest in Oxford and is pitching at the ‘Angels’ Den’, an online service that matches investors with small businesses.
In terms of market development, Davis is looking at the corporate market, where he will tap into larger businesses’ desire to look after the wellbeing of their employees. He is also looking at forming other partnerships - with other industry-related partners. Sheactive.co.uk is one online distributor that it works with, as well as Mumsnet.com.
Having gone through the ‘cash burn’ period of starting up the business, VirtualGym’s costs are now mostly running costs plus payments to suppliers such as the instructors. The only real restrictions to growth are the volume of sessions that can be produced. Davis is keen to ensure there is a variety of workouts to suit all levels, one of the keys to the success in any gym world, virtual or real.
The main challenge
- Raising final round investment
- Targeting corporate market to grow subscriptions
- Growing the number of available workout sessions, while maintaining costs
Click here to read what our experts from HSBC think Richard Davis should do to move on
