In the times of COVID-19, when fitness has become a priority for every citizen, Disney+ Hotstar enters the health and wellness sector.
The streaming platform has partnered with Brilliant Wellness to introduce value-added content from top fitness experts, yoga and spiritual gurus, along with celebrity nutritionists spread across more than 100 fitness programs. Additionally, Indian start-ups and game-changers Sarva and Cult.Fit, known for their state-of-the-art workout models, have also come on board to instil a healthy lifestyle and fitness regime among audiences bound by social distancing and lockdown restrictions.
The streaming service plans to bring 3,000 pieces of health and wellness content in English, Hindi and Telugu on its platform. The category and offerings are aimed at helping viewers monitor and maintain their wellness quotient while quarantining at home, and even after, as and when they resume their normal lives.
According to industry studies of the fitness market in India in December 2019, citizens spent $350-400 towards fitness services, which amounted to a market size worth $2.6 billion. As per estimations by Brilliant Wellness, there are about 200 million people in India seeking fitness services and this market is growing at a CAGR of 10 per cent. Additionally, people are now more inclined towards fitness through virtual workouts owing to the COVID -19 pandemic.
“Health and fitness has become extremely important in our stressful lives, and never more so than today. With free access to video offerings tailor-made to suit the staying-at-home population, workout regimes that can be done through the day and fitness mantras to suit the current times, we want to help people to be healthy. To make this relevant across India, our content will be available in English, Hindi as well as Telugu. Going forward, we will also provide content in Kannada,” reads the official statement.
Celebrity Malaika Arora, who has invested in Sarva, says, "Now, more than ever, people are excited about trying new modes of working out because they have realised that this is the new normal. We hope this association help us reach a wider set of audience and open them up to consuming daily content on an everyday platform.”
From workout videos to cooking healthy recipes, the diverse repository of fitness-related content will target advanced fitness enthusiasts, and fitness dabblers as well as fence-sitters.