Peloton Interactive (PTON -0.98%) crossed the 1 million connected subscriber threshold back in May and already it sees a pathway for growing that number 10,000% to 100 million subscribers in the years ahead.
It might not come as quickly as 1 million subscribers, but CEO John Foley told shareholders yesterday at the connected fitness company's first investor meeting since going public that it was an achievable goal.
Image source: Peloton Interactive.
Planning for exponential growth
Peloton has benefited from the increased interest in fitness that occurred as a result of the lockdown orders issued in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. With gyms forced to close, consumers took matters into their own hands by buying fitness equipment for the home.
Peloton's fiscal fourth-quarter revenue surged 172% as its membership base grew to 3.1 million people, up from 1.4 million a year ago. That was driven by connected fitness subscriptions more than doubling year over year to 1.09 million with paid subscribers tripling to almost 317,000.
Foley told shareholders that today's 200 million gym-goers were "paying hard money, month after month, to access what we believe to be inferior fitness equipment in an inferior location."
Many people say they don't plan to return to the gym, either. A TD Ameritrade survey this summer found as many as 56% of gym-goers don't plan to renew their memberships.
Whether they'll turn to Peloton's pricey home fitness equipment remains to be seen, but the connected fitness leader is introducing cheaper models and Foley told investors:
I believe we can have -- in 10 or 15, 20 years from now -- we could have 100 million subscribers. Right now we have one million, so we're 1% into our opportunity from the way we're defining it. And so it just feels like very early days.
