Fitness Apps Work-Out Hard, But First Place is Elusive

Key Takeaways:

• IAP Revenue growth for the Sensor Tower fitness cohort has been positive every quarter since 2Q20, though the pace of growth has slowed substantially, from a peak of 54% YoY in 4Q20 (peak of the pandemic) to 4% YoY in 3Q23, per ST data

  • In-app revenue growth was led by a 172%, 132% and 56% YoY jump at Burn.Fit, Hevy and Workout for Women, respectively, in 3Q23, but was tempered by weakness at Daily Workouts (-23% YoY), FitOn Workouts (-25% YoY) and Freeletics (3% YoY)

• Downloads have fallen substantially every quarter since 4Q20, with the average quarterly rate accelerating to an average decline of 19% YoY per quarter in 2023, an increase from -15% YoY in 2022; similarly, 3Q23 user growth fell 16% YoY for the cohort

• While the decline in MAUs poses a threat to long-term engagement and monetization efforts, engagement trends were strong in 3Q23, with sessions and time spent up 4.3% YoY and 1.6% YoY, respectively, for the group

• Ad spend in the US, Canada, UK and Germany increased 138% YoY in 1Q23-3Q23 compared to the prior year for the fitness cohort, per Pathmatics by Sensor Tower data, though impressions jumped over 175% YoY over the same period, a positive indication of the reach of the advertising, even though total MAU growth for the apps in these geographies fell 12% YoY

  • These apps allocated a majority of spend to Facebook (43%) and Instagram (28%) in 3Q23, a significant shift from the prior year when Facebook and Instagram made up 9% and 55% of spend for the group, as the group appears to be trying to reach a more mature audience; this audience may be more inclined to try to a new fitness program, given health concerns due to aging

  • These apps’ advertising efforts may have also lifted new user acquisition for select apps. Of the three apps with both ad and churn data (from ST’s Consumer Intelligence), Freeletics saw the largest jump in both new and resurrected user penetration, up nearly 5pps YoY and 2pps in 3Q23, respectively

For more information, request the full report from reports@sensortower.com.