As we conclude 2023 and look toward the new year, MediaRadar reviewed advertising for fitness & weight loss industry.

Whether this sector is quickly advancing or slowly rebounding, gain insights to create strategic outreach and make informed media planning decisions for your clients.

Read on for our exclusive analysis of this category poised to fizzle up in 2024 based on the latest national advertising insights. For more updates like this, stay tuned. Subscribe to our blog for more.

Ad spend through November 2023 was over $917 million after decreasing 14% YoY. The nearly 900 companies’ advertising is flat compared to 2022, while brands or product lines slimmed down by 4% YoY to 1.1k. 

A big driver of the advertising investment decrease was Aviron Interactive, down by 99% this year, and why August’s ad spend saw such a steep decline of 69% YoY. 

Not surprisingly, these fitness and weight loss advertisers leaned into the first quarter as potential customers aspire to a fitter lifestyle jump-starting the New Year. Q1 2023 reached $316mm, which was a 20% YoY expansion from Q1 2022. 

TV was the reigning media snagging over half of the advertising dollars. Closely following are online video ads reaching $294mm after scaling back by 37% YoY. The remaining was a mix of print, paid social, native, display, and OTT – all stretching past $10mm. Podcast spending floated around $2.7mm and email, webinar/whitepaper, and mobile advertising were tracked as well. 

Top Fitness & Weight Loss Brands to Watch in 2024

MediaRadar’s data sample revealed three top spenders in the space, weight loss services, fitness equipment, and weight loss prescription advertisers, were responsible for over $826 million in ad spend this year, which is 90% of the total. Each adjusted differently in 2023 with athletic and fitness equipment companies putting the brakes on ad spend by contributing 47% YoY less than they did in 2022. 

12 out of the over one thousand fitness & weight loss brands are highlighted below. Each of which spent over $6 million so far this year. Combined advertising investment was $640 million after collectively increasing by 83% YoY, compared to the same period in 2022. 

Peloton Bikes (Division), part of Peloton Interactive, Inc., was fairly flat with a modest 2% YoY increase to $185 million, despite its parent company’s bumpy terrain as of late. Online video ads captured 60% ($112 million), followed by cable at 28% ($51 million). Video through OTT, OTV, TV, and paid social was 97% of the investment. YouTube’s Music channels, MTV, and ESPN captured 44% of the bikes’ video advertising. 

GOLO, LLC leaned into its advertising spend by 71% more year-over-year in 2023 reaching nearly $148 million. National cable and broadcast ads were at 98% and there was $2.5mm in digital media mostly landing with OLV and OTT outlets. Peak spending occurred with Fox in January and ESPN captured the most TV dollars during October. Other top networks where GOLO’s ads were placed included Hallmark, TBS, and CBS. 

Wegovy loosened its belt on advertising to spend more than $131 million through November. Digital media was the focus, with OLV ads at 99% of the spend. Ad tech providers were responsible for 99% of the investment, which was the majority with YouTube ads longer than 60 seconds. The weight loss prescription, along with Ozempic, isn’t a stranger to the public. It was mentioned in diabetes and obesity prescriptions advertising data featured in CNBC’s article among many others. 

Weight Watchers (Brand) spent over $75 million, which is a 31% YoY expansion from the same period last year. The concentration was in TV with nearly $64mm invested. Digital media surged by 48% YoY to $11.5mm, with a mix of display, paid social, and online video. Despite declines in both broadcast and OLV, video dollars exceeded $68mm across more than 200 outlets. Most ads were 11 to 15 seconds with MTV, TBS, and Lifetime at 15% of the video dollars. 

LegXercise wasn’t skimping on advertising this year with over $28 million spent through November, after pumping up investment by 403% YoY. There was consistent spending throughout 2023 with peak months occurring January, July, and October. ESPN, E! Entertainment Television, and Fox News Channel saw over half of the spend from the fitness equipment brand. Ads varied across programming channels from reality TV, movies, sitcoms, sports information, and pro football.

Nutrisystem Plans & Pricing increased advertising spending by over a whopping 1000% YoY to nearly $23 million. This weight loss service making the list, spread ads across 41 cable and six broadcast networks including ABC, CBS, and Fox News Planet with the largest spend in news programming. It also ran digital video on 20 sites, which was less than $7k, but shows expansion for the brand to place pricing & plan creative online. 

Jenny Craig, Inc. stacked ad spend up by 38% YoY to $20.2 million this year, with dollars concentrated in Q1 2023 as eating goals and resolutions commence. Cable snagged 85% of the spend across TBS, Fox, Lifetime, A&E Network, and 33 other cable networks. It also ran digital video on 81 sites. There’s an agency relationship with Horizon Next and a predicted RFP in January was noted for the weight loss service. 

Groove Life Corp up its ad investment by 168% to nearly $13 million. The direct-to-consumer fitness equipment brand dedicated the majority to digital media, but not by much. Decreases were seen in native, display, print, and exhibit space among others, while cable, paid social, and podcast increased YoY by at least 260%. Groove Life’s peak integrated spending occurred in June, September, and November. 

Mad Muscles was at 100% digital advertising for its fitness website, and lifted spend above $9.4 million with 87% placed through ad tech providers. The brand leaned into digital display with $5.5mm – 59% of the total ad spend. Its $1.7mm of video spend went to Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, which saw 97% of that. 

HydroxyCut spent more than $11 million so far this year with a 42% TV, 40% digital, and 18% print media mix. The weight loss supplement ran with nearly 100 outlets such as Star Magazine, TLC, and YouTube’s Society & Culture channels among others. Integrated peak spending happened in Q1 then digital dollars ramped up from September, peaking in November. 

Found Health, Inc spent $6.4 million from June to November with 100% as paid social investment. Buys were 89% programmatic. The weight loss service spent with OLV, webinar/whitepaper, and email tracked, which combined is less than $650k. Video was 68% ($4.36mm) with ads varying in length, but most dollars concentrated on 11 to 30 seconds in length. 

WaterRower’s increase by more than 1000% YoY rippled into more than $6 million spent, mostly on online video advertising. There was exhibit and print spending of less than $16k tracked. Peak spending was in Q4. Over half of the video spend was placed with YouTube’s Health & Fitness, Comedy, and Sports channels. Pre-roll placements were 54% of the $6.4mm video investment. Ads were tracked in 37 states, showing WaterRower is reaching a wider geographic audience compared to fitness equipment advertisers, which run in an average of 18 states.

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