iWorkout

Apple Fitness+ will be out later this year, as Apple officially announced the personalized workout app yesterday. The app will be connected to Apple Watch and offer workouts through its other products like iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, with metrics from the watch displayed on screen.

The news came with the official announcement of Apple One subscription bundles. Fitness+ is launching into a world where gym goers are shifting to at-home workouts. Apple’s stock rose only 0.16% today, whereas Peloton was up 4.19%.

Peloton CEO John Foley — whose company saw fourth-quarter sales jump 172% year-over-year — welcomed Apple into the fitness streaming space. “The biggest thing I will say is it’s quite a legitimization of fitness content, to the extent the biggest company in the world, a $2 trillion company, is coming in and saying fitness content matters,” Foley said. 

Apple Fitness — which will cost $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year — will include classes for: 

• Cycling
• Treadmill
• Rowing
• HIIT
• Strength
• Yoga
• Dance 
• Mindful cool down

Up against a robust slate of other sports, Week 1 of NFL primetime viewership was down across the board. ESPN saw double-digit decreases for its “Monday Night Football” doubleheader while NBC saw drops for both “Sunday Night Football” and its Thursday night season opener.

Despite the downturn, NBC’s games still ranked as two of the top three most-watched shows in primetime TV over the past seven months.

While the primetime games were all down compared to last year, Fox’s Sunday afternoon game — Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. New Orleans Saints — was the most-watched TV program since Super Bowl LIV in February. It had 25.8 million viewers, up 7% year-over-year.

NFL Week 1 Ratings: 

• NBC Thursday Season Opener: 5% decrease year-over-year
• NBC “Sunday Night Football”: 14% decrease
• ESPN “Monday Night Football” (first game): 18% decrease
• ESPN “Monday Night Football” (second game): 27% decrease
• Fox Sunday Afternoon Slot: 7% increase

Gyms continue their struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic as spin boutique operator Flywheel Sports has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. After the pandemic shut down its locations, Flywheel will seek to sell its assets to pay off up to $100 million in liabilities.

A former potential buyer of Flywheel, Town Sports International, filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 14, with liabilities of up to $1 billion. TSI will permanently close at least 22 locations and look to modify lease agreements at another 13.

Gold’s Gym and 24 Hour Fitness both filed for bankruptcy earlier this summer.

Gym Bankruptcy Impacts:

Flywheel: Approximately 300,000 members will be affected by closures in cities such as Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Seattle.

Town Sports International: 600,000 members across 161 locations, largely New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington Sports Clubs.

Gold’s Gym: German company RSG Group bought Gold’s Gym for $100 million in August.

24 Hour Fitness: Permanently closed 100 locations in June as it hoped to keep another 300 afloat.

The next generation of video game consoles are set to arrive this year, and they are likely bringing higher-priced games with them. New video game prices have stayed fairly steady at $60 for the past 15 years, but it might not be that way for long.

Xbox Series X/S and Playstation 5 are due out for the holidays, which allows for an opportunity to correct for the 200-300% increase in production costs, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said. Zelnick also has said Take-Two will announce pricing on a title-by-title basis.

“We deliver a much, much bigger game for $60 or $70 than we delivered for $60 10 years ago,” he said.

Price Check:

$70: Price of NBA 2K21 on Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

$60: Price of NBA 2K21 on current generation consoles.

$60: Price of a new game in 2005.

$80: Price of a new game in 2005 adjusted for inflation in 2020.