How To Launch A Profitable Fitness Streaming App

Step 1: Pick An App-Building Method

Now, there are 2 main ways to launch your own fitness streaming app:

1. Lease From a Provider

Leasing an app from an OTT service provider like Uscreen is a: 

• Cost-friendly option.
• Technically hands-off solution.
• Dedicated team to support and maintain your app (for free) after launching.
• A full-on fitness platform that’s ready to go. 

Better still, our new community features give you more ways to bring people together, like:

• Providing an exclusive safe space for your members to interact with you and each other.
• The ability to address all your followers at once for updates and notifications.
• A way for your audience to contribute, post ideas, and get more involved.

With Uscreen, creators can easily launch a wide range of OTT apps – as part of a package – like Roku, Apple TV, Apple Watch Fitness, iOS, Android, and more! 

Here’s how you can get started with us: 

1. You set up a Uscreen account and place an order for your app.
2. You get your video website ready by adding content.
3. You set up a developer account (Our team will help you figure that out).
4. You provide us with your app requirements – the assets needed to build your app.
5. We review your submitted app requirements and ask for any incomplete assets.
6. We build your app, which you test and provide feedback.
7. We submit your app for approval in the designated app store.* 
8. After it’s published, you launch it to your customers and celebrate!

*We cannot control how long the approval process takes.

2. Hire A Developer

If you’ve got the time and the money, you can hire an agency or developer to create a custom fitness app that will be built from scratch. 

But, since it’s a full-on app-development project, it will usually take between 3 to 6 months to go live. And, will likely cost you anywhere between $10k to $20k depending on the features you require. 

That’s a lot of time and money! 

The cost estimate is just the developing fee, without the monthly expenses of running and maintaining the app, providing support, and hosting. So, if you do go ahead with this method, just keep in mind it will be more resource-intensive.

The biggest mistake you can make here is trying to cut-corners, which will just result in a really buggy app and will cost you more time and money to fix.

Step 2: Create a Marketing Launch Strategy

A good marketing launch strategy can help you generate buzz and interest in your new fitness video app before its official launch. 

Here are 3 straightforward steps you can take to help build up that hype and get members engaging with your app from the get-go:

1. Decide on a Launch Date

When choosing the right launch date for your fitness video app, it’s important to give yourself enough time to build anticipation and excitement around your app launch.

Another important factor to consider is your own internal timelines and resources. 

Make sure you have enough time to complete all the tasks necessary for a successful launch, like developing your app, creating marketing materials, and building your email list.

Once you’ve nailed down a launch date, you can move on to developing a marketing plan.

2. Create a Dedicated Landing Page

Creating a dedicated landing page is a great way to collect email addresses from potential members who are specifically interested in your app offering.

When creating your landing page, make sure to include the following elements:

• A clear and concise headline that summarizes the benefits of your app
• Eye-catching images or videos that showcases your app
• A brief description of your app’s features and benefits
• A call-to-action (CTA) button that encourages visitors to sign up for your email list
• The launch date of your app

To further entice visitors to sign up for your email list, consider offering a free trial or early access to your app for that extra push. 

And, if you’d like to go the extra mile, consider creating a blog to help build your brand and establish credibility. This is a marketing asset that can serve your business during and long after your app launch.

You can use your blog to share information about your app, provide fitness tips, and answer frequently asked questions about your membership.

3. Start Promoting Your Launch

Social media is a powerful tool for promoting your app launch and generating buzz. You can increase visibility by including eye-catching graphics, videos, and hashtags.

A social media calendar is a helpful tool that you can use to plan out your posts in the weeks leading up to your launch date. 

In addition to social media, make sure to promote your launch to your email list. Send out regular newsletters to keep your audience engaged and hyped for your upcoming launch.

To cut down on work, it’s totally encouraged that you repurpose your marketing materials across different channels. 

For example, you can…

• explain a bit about each new app feature
• emphasize the benefits of your new app for members
• host live stream Q&As and app sneak-peeks

… in both your social media posts and email newsletters.

Now that your launch strategy is in place, let’s look at how you can market your app long after its launch.

Step 3: Market to Your Community

Once your fitness app is up and running, you’ll need to do 2 things: 

1. Market to your unpaid online community: develop a digital marketing strategy to promote your exclusive fitness content to your unpaid community.
2. Nurture your paid online community: make sure your paying members are still getting value off their fitness app membership.

Let’s get into each one.

1. Market To Your Unpaid Online Community 

To promote your fitness app to your unpaid community, you’ll need to stay active on social media platforms to guide your fitness fanatics to download your app.

You’ll need to have consistent branding on all your social media accounts and upload new content regularly. 

You can repurpose your paid content on different social media platforms. See what’s valuable, practical, or shareable from your premium content, and think about different ways you can present them. (i.e. video snippets of short workouts that can be done daily.) 

You can also turn your YouTube channel, where you’ve already built a following, into a powerful marketing engine. 

To do this, adopt the YouTube Marketing Funnel by making content that focuses on the customer journey from YouTube to your fitness app.

The YouTube Marketing Funnel is split into 3 stages: 

So, you can create content for all 3 stages:

1. TOFU: where people first find out about your content. Your videos need to attract viewers, build brand awareness, and give them a reason to watch future videos. 
2. MOFU: where people begin to engage with your content, form concrete opinions about your brand, and join your community. Your content needs to educate and be helpful to people, build a relationship with viewers, and give viewers a taste of what your paid service can do for them. 
3. BOFU: where you promote your paid fitness app and convince people to try your premium content. This stage takes place off YouTube after viewers have followed a strong call-to-action to download your fitness app. 

Next, we’ll discuss nurturing existing members to your fitness app.

2. Nurturing Your Paid Online Community 

A big part of having a successful online community is checking in with them and making them feel special. 

After all, they are your paying customers and they should get that VIP treatment. 

You can do this by offering members additional, exclusive content and perks like:

• Podcasts.
• Fitness programs.
• Nutrition plans.
• Meal prep recipes.
• Discounts.
• Early access to online events. 

You should also ask your community what else they’d like from your platform. This will drastically improve your user experience because you’ll get direct feedback on how to improve your content and product.

Wrapping It Up

That’s all folks! 

To recap, there are 2 main ways to launch a fitness app:

1. Hiring a developer and building it from scratch.
2. Leasing it from a specialized app provider. 

We recommend doing the latter for a cost-friendly and time-sensitive solution!

As for monetizing your fitness app, you’ll need to grow and nurture an online community to marry up your awesome content with a group of people who want to see it.