Are you keeping score? The gamified fitness market

Gamification has been rapidly transforming the health and fitness industry. While AR & VR has not caught on as quickly as expected, the market size is set to grow by over $250B, from $30.7B in 2021 to $297B in 2024. And the trend is catching on at leAD too. If you stop by our office in Lake Nona, you will even meet our very own Augmented Reality Officer Manager.

The fitness world is no stranger to elements of gamification. Anyone who wears an Apple watch will know that it daily prompts you to close your activity rings, Fitbit challenges you to take 10,000 steps every day, and even my Whoop scores my sleep and recovery (100% sleep performance and 91% Recovery Score as I write this!).

What is really interesting is now I am seeing aspects of gamification go beyond wearable technology. Just like how Peloton expertly leveraged leaderboards and status, NBA Topshot has integrated various aspects of live-play gamification to exponentially engage their users. Their strategy seems to be paying off. They’ve just done over $208M in transactions. Now, that’s market validation.  

Gamification aims to engage and entertain us so it begs the question: Are fitness companies becoming entertainment companies? 

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