The Covid-19 pandemic led to a boom in demand for digital and virtual reality fitness products and services. And such services are unlikely to be just a temporary trend, according to a report from eMarketer, revealing the long-term influence that virtual workouts will have on the fitness industry.

It is thought that the home tech workout industry may not enjoy the same rapid growth that was first seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, these programmes and services seem to have serious long-term potential with consumers. Research Drive speculates that the global virtual fitness market will grow 33.5% between 2019 and 2027. Virtual reality fitness service Flow Athletic TV was launched during the pandemic, and has reportedly seen 2,000 new sign-ups a week.

eMarketer expect virtual reality and digital workout technologies to increase the accessibility of fitness routines and programmes. It is thought that this would lead to the reduction of metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

Membership platforms such as Supernatural are noted as having “relative affordability”, meaning heightened accessibility for people with lower incomes. The report outlines the fact that since these technologies offer a gamified approach to becoming fit, they give motivation to those who may not otherwise have an active lifestyle.