Chris Paul teaches you to pass, DeMar DeRozan teaches you to shoot in the middle school, is the business of star online video teaching just a gimmick?
In December 2020, training video subscription platforms Through The Lens and ProClass were announced to be launched one after another. Judging from the team composition and course content settings, these two platforms have many similarities.
Through The Lens is jointly launched by NBA star Carmelo Anthony and basketball coach Alex Bazzell. NBA and WNBA stars such as Trae Young, Candace Parker and Sabrina Ionescu will also launch their own basketball tutorials on the platform.
more than 0 stars have joined ProClass.
As for ProClass, this platform is launched by Players Media Group, a sports media company invested by more than 30 athletes, providing users with online video courses. ProClass's star lineup is also strong, with NBA and WNBA stars such as Paul, DeRozan, Damian Lillard and Aerial Powers participating.
both platforms have a large number of stars joining and are deeply involved in the production of course content. This is also the biggest difference between Through The Lens and ProClass and other training video subscription platforms. As a newly established platform, can have strong star resources as soon as it is founded, which is not unrelated to the background of its founding team.
Bazel trains with Anthony.
Bazel was once a trainer for stars such as Anthony and Trae Young. Through player introduction and his own popularity accumulation, he can reach more star resources and prepare for the founding of Through The Lens. Collin Castellaw, the founder of ProClass, is a shooting coach and has created the "ShotMechanics" channel on YouTube, with a total of 969,000 subscribers. Later, Castro became the co-founder of Players Media Group and had rich connections in the basketball world.
For platforms like Through The Lens and ProClass, the star lineup in hand is an excellent promotion and distribution resource. By introducing various stars, the platform can quickly accumulate popularity, attract external attention, and make a name for itself among the fans. Fans can also learn technical movements by watching video tutorials, and they can also gain the feeling of training with stars, both star chasing and training.
On the other hand, the platform can also seize the professionalism and scarcity of the behavior of the stars recording tutorials themselves, build their own "moat", and attract more students for their online courses. "For so many years, trainers and commentators have disassembled each round as experts, analyzing why we do this move and the impact on the game. But who is more qualified to explain than the players themselves?" Paul said.
Anthony and Trae Young's tutorial is online.
Currently, Through the Lens has launched some tutorials, including passing and layup skills. In the existing courses, Trae Young recorded 12 episodes of tutorials and Anthony recorded 13 episodes of tutorials, with a total duration of about 90 minutes. ProClass’ courses will be launched on January 1, 2021, including basketball skills training courses recorded by more than 20 stars.
As for course pricing, the unit price of Through the Lens single star tutorial is $90, and the first episode of all tutorials is free to users. In addition, if the user pays $150 a year, all courses on the platform can be unlocked.
Compared with other training video platforms, Through The Lens and ProClass have certain differentiated advantages. But if they are put on the home fitness and exercise track, they will face more fierce competition, especially this year.
Amid the epidemic, home fitness is more popular.
In the context of the COVID-19 epidemic not yet completely dissipated, the more convenient and safer home fitness scenarios are more popular among consumers and capital. According to previous statistics from Lazy Bear Sports, in the third quarter of this year (July-September), there were 11 related financing events in home fitness tracks at home and abroad, with a total financing amount of RMB 5.123 billion. In addition, a total of 8 financing rounds were disclosed, of which 5 financing rounds were in round B or later.
[Note: All published amounts of "ten millions" and "nearly ten millions" are calculated as eight million; all "ten millions" and "millions" are calculated as twenty millions or two million; foreign currency exchange rates are calculated as the average exchange rate from July to September 2020; undisclosed amounts are not included]
A large amount of capital has poured in, and many companies have also begun to enter the field of home fitness and exercise. Peloton has strong user growth momentum during the epidemic, Lululemon acquired home fitness app Mirror, and Apple officially launched fitness app Fitness +... From sports companies to technology companies, everyone hopes to expand the company's development space through home fitness and exercise products.
At the same time, when the epidemic eases or ends completely and a large number of users begin to return to offline fitness and training venues, the online courses and subscription platforms will face severe tests. How to retain users and improve their activity is a question that the platform needs to think about.
Through The Lens and ProClass also need to solve the limitations of the video subscription platform itself, such as interactivity and feedback. From the user's perspective, can learn the key points of technical movements and competition experience through online training courses, but it is difficult to obtain instant feedback and action correction suggestions during learning and training, so this model may be more suitable for beginners. For advanced users who want to further improve, Through The Lens and ProClass may develop online one-to-one guidance products in subsequent operations as a supplement to the product system. What’s more interesting is that although the two platforms have many similarities, it is possible to move in two completely different directions in the future. In addition to basketball training courses, ProClass plans to launch tutorials for other sports in the future, which are recorded by professional athletes and trainers, hoping to create an integrated platform for multi-category training courses. Through The Lens hopes to continue to focus on the field of basketball, allowing groups such as coaches, management and media people to participate, and provide fans with everything related to basketball.
For the future, Through The Lens and ProClass have adopted different development ideas. As for which platform can eventually break out in the training video platform track and even home fitness field, it will take time to give the answer.
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