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Steinfeld chats about VOD exercise

FITNESS GUIDE: Fitness celebrity breaks new ground with ExerciseTV

By Cindy Spielvogel -- Video Business, 4/14/2008

APRIL 14 |
He was one of the first workout video celebrities, and now Jake Steinfeld of Body By Jake is breaking new ground with ExerciseTV, the video-on-demand business he is partnered in with Comcast, Time Warner Cable and New Balance. Now in 25 million homes, ExerciseTV last month surpassed 7 million views for the month. The company also has downloadable programs on its Web site, ExerciseTV.tv, which has 1 million page views a month and is now averaging 10,000 download sales per month. Steinfeld also has DVD co-productions with Lionsgate. He spoke with VB’s Cindy Spielvogel about the workout video business of the past, present and future.

VB: How has the workout video business changed since the early days?
Steinfeld: I remember my first video in 1983 for MCA Home Video and going to the Video Software Dealers Assn. convention in a small ballroom at the MGM Grand. Jane Fonda was across from me. We did signings at mom-and-pop video stores then. Now here we are with ExerciseTV. Fitness was born for on-demand. You can stop, rewind and pause workouts from over 200 trainers. The consumer at home can try anything for free, like having an entire fitness video store. And we have download-to-own, which is not unlike iTunes for music.

VB: What do you think of today’s workout video stars?
Steinfeld: Jillian Michaels has shown that the power of TV is uncanny. She had a video that was well done but didn’t do well, but now that she’s back on The Biggest Loser, her video does gangbusters. If people see a

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person on TV, something clicks. Jackie Warner has a lot of charisma. Everyone who works with us at ExerciseTV should have a credible background in all aspects of training, but the bottom line is charisma, how a person emotes, how the consumer gets along with them. Jackie does a gangbuster job of breaking down the fourth wall and giving you the feeling that she’s with you.

VB: Will you ever make another workout video yourself?
Steinfeld: No, I’m not doing another one. I’ve moved on from that part of the world. But if I were to do it again, I would do it very differently. If you look at the videos from 1983-’84, I was wearing tight short shorts and orange and purple L.A. Lakers sneakers. I would definitely change the outfit.

 

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