Health & fitness channels

Fitness channels not only provide quality entertainment, they can also help promote healthy lifestyle choices in an interactive format. Consider using these strategies to tailor your fitness channel so that it can have maximum impact on your fans and watch time.

Target your audience

• 1. Tailor workouts to a target audience

  Workout and other types of fitness-focused videos can be useful for everyone; but successful fitness channels often focus on developing videos that meet the unique health and fitness needs of a specific audience.

  Some ways to do it

  • Identify your current demographics: Monitor the demographics report in YouTube Analytics to determine who is visiting and subscribing to your channel. Is this who you expected?
  • Choose relevant topics and formats: Brainstorm what types of videos your target audience will most likely enjoy and which you’re able to consistently deliver. Both are important for a healthy channel.
  • Package your videos: Consider developing thumbnails and metadata that appeal to your core audience.

  See it in action

  • 
    Create a great user experience for families
    Cosmic Kids Yoga provides fun and simple workouts that 
are designed to help families practice yoga together.
  • 
    Design workouts for specific audiences
    Blogilates built a fiercely loyal subscriber base, who are 96% female, by tailoring workouts, thumbnails, metadata and community-building tactics to their target audience.

• 2. Make it easy to follow along

  An in-person instructor can make it simple to complete entire workouts. Creators who replicate this experience frequently see higher video completion rates and increased audience engagement.

  Some ways to do it

  • Describe each move: If viewers can’t easily see their screen while working out, they’ll rely on your voice to guide them. Be sure your directions are clear and motivating.
  • Show modifications: Enable viewers of all fitness levels to follow along with your routines. Consider demonstrating and explaining exercise modifications within your videos.
  • Provide aids on-screen: It can be helpful to display useful elements like exercise names, progress bars, time remaining, and the next exercise in the set, to help viewers stay oriented during and make it through workouts.
  • List exercises and reps: Consider using the description field to list all exercises and suggested reps. This is not only useful for viewers deciding which videos to watch, but also serves as rich metadata that can help YouTube’s discovery systems surface your videos more effectively.

  See it in action

  • 
    Visual aids can help motivate viewers to finish strong
    Livestrong helps viewers follow along by including visual aids like (A) moves & modification demos (B) exercise names, (C) progress bars, and (D) time remaining.
  • 
    Audience retention can increase with visual aids
    This chart illustrate how workouts that do not include on-screen cues to follow along (A) frequently receive lower audience retention rates and watch time than videos that have these elements (B). (C) indicates a 43% increase in average watch time per video in workout videos that have progress markers.

• 3. Jump into a routine

  Without proper structure and motivation, viewers are less likely to commit to your channel’s workouts. Encourage viewers to stick to a clear regimen so they continue returning to achieve their personal fitness goals.

  Some ways to do it

  • Create a workout calendar: Consider developing a day-by-day workout plan. Some creators who do this will link to each exercise listed on their calendar to the corresponding video on their channel.
  • Upload regularly: Aim to create and communicate a consistent upload schedule so your audience knows when to come back to your channel for new workouts.
  • Remind fans to get moving: Try utilizing social media outlets, like Google+, to build awareness and drive repeat visits to your channel. Get creative -- consider posting video links, inspirational messages and success stories to keep the momentum going.
  • Issue workout challenges: Some creators experiment with challenging their fans to get through a series of workouts that they compile.
  • Get users to create playlists: Encourage viewers to click “Add To” below the player so they can add your workouts to their playlists and easily find them each time they come to YouTube.
  • Use annotations: Help viewers navigate through a workout series by linking from one video to another via annotations.

  See it in action

  • 
    Workout calendars can help build repeat behavior
    Blogilates posts monthly workout calendar PDFs. Each of the curated exercises corresponds to a full workout video on the blogilates YouTube channel.

• 4. Organize workouts into sets

  With so many workout videos on YouTube, viewers may find it difficult to choose. Many top fitness channels help their fans find workout routines that are right for them by organizing them into sets using playlists and metadata.

  Some ways to do it

  • Develop full programs: Consider organizing individual workouts into playlist compilations so fans can go from one workout to another for a complete body workout.
  • Target body parts: Some channels create playlists to enable their viewers to target a specific body part, such as abdominals, arms, or thighs.
  • Organize by discipline: If your channel has multiple exercise disciplines like yoga and dance, think about how you could organize them into playlists for easy discovery and use.
  • Indicate workout lengths: Arranging videos by workout length can help users quickly find exercises that fit into their schedule constraints.
  • Separate by ability levels: Make it easy for beginner, intermediate, and advanced users to use your workout videos by creating playlists specifically tailored for them.
  • Equipment needed or not?: Some creators help viewers choose appropriate videos based on the equipment they have available.

  See it in action

  • 
    Organizing workouts into user-friendly playlists
    As part of its playlist strategy, Six Pack Shortcuts indicates which set of videos require equipment and which do not so viewers can find the right workouts. For example, the playlist on the left is titled, “Workout videos (No Equipment Needed” and the playlist on the right is titled, “Workout Videos (Equipment Needed)”.
  • 
    The power of well-optimized playlists
    Two playlists that indicate if equipment is required (red) or if no equipment is required (blue) are responsible for more than 50% of total watch time driven by playlists on Six Pack Shortcuts.

• 5. Blast the music

  Music can be a powerful way to help push your audience through tough workouts, but sometimes it’s more important to hear what the instructor’s saying. Several different audio strategies have proven to be equally effective. If you choose to include music in your workouts, be sure it doesn’t infringe on any copyrights by artists, labels and others.

  Some ways to do it

  • Use free audio tracks: Find and download music for your videos using YouTube’s cost-free Audio Library. If you’re monetizing your videos, you get this music for free.
  • Pay for specific tracks: Some creators use third-party music library providers to purchase the music they think their community will enjoy the most.
  • Collaborate with musicians: Reach out to YouTube musicians whose music complements your workout style. You could promote their music within your videos.
  • Leave music out: Focus exclusively on your workout instruction and leave the music choice to your users.
  • Upload two versions: Let your audience decide! Try uploading two versions of the same workout video -- one with music, the other without -- and then link between the two videos using annotations or the description field.

  See it in action

  • 
    Some channels don’t use music at all
    FitnessBlender guides more than one million subscribers through workouts without any background music; 
this allows users to select their own workout soundtrack.
  • 
    Other channels use music to make their videos stand out
    Blogilates leads more than one million subscribers through pilates workouts set to Top-40 music hits, like this one by Dia Frampton.

• 6. Bring a friend with you and collaborate

  The buddy system can work as well on YouTube as it does at the gym. Popular fitness stars frequently collaborate on new videos and recommend each other’s channels to their respective fans; when done correctly, collaborations can be an effective way to attract new audiences and increase views.

  Some ways to do it

  • Build relationships in advance: Interact with channels you respect and want to work with before asking them to collaborate with you -- this can help build stronger and more effective partnerships in the long-run.
  • Find complementary channels: If you have more than a thousand subscribers, access the Fans tool to discover and reach out to other channels that your existing subscribers enjoy watching.
  • Experiment with collaborative formats to get the best results:
    • Guest appearance: Some creators choose to invite popular YouTubers to appear in one-off episodes. 
(E.g., You could ask a popular beauty vlogger to go through your workouts.)
    • Guest-based series: Consider creating a recurring series with at least one guest featured prominently in each episode. (E.g., Have popular YouTubers demonstrate workout modifications.)
    • Skill-sharing: Find collaboration opportunities in which both parties can leverage the other’s skills and/or resources. (E.g., you could set a workout to a music channel’s audio tracks.)
    • Co-creation: Some creators work with one or more other creators to ideate, create, and promote videos together (E.g., individual videos within a series live on one another’s channels and link between each other via annotations, calls-to-action, etc).
    • Fan collaboration: Use the Fans tool to find your most engaged and influential fans, and consider featuring them in your videos.

  See it in action

  • 
    Get creative with collaborations
    LivestrongWoman combined the fitness know-how of Tone It Up and style expertise from a popular fashion/beauty channel for a collaboration that drove thousands of new subscribers.
  • 
    Yes, collaborations really work
    This LivestrongWoman collaboration video drove over 40% of total channel subscriptions during the month immediately following the fitness/beauty collaboration.

• 7. Tap into fitness culture and events

  Shared experiences can be powerful ways to join conversations that have built-in audience interest. Take advantage of  “tent-pole” events, or cultural milestones that organize our viewing habits throughout the year such as major holidays, big sporting events, movie releases and more. Increasingly, top fitness channels are identifying tent-pole events that their audiences care about most, and are creating special videos or playlists around those events.

  Some ways to do it

  • Identify opportunities: Monitor YouTube search interest using Google Trends to uncover potential topics for tent-pole events. (Notice how searches for “pilates” jump every January, while searches for “Olympics” jump only every four years. This shows seasonal popularity.)
  • Release early: Try publishing tent-pole programs well ahead of the actual event so you can tap into the pre-event buzz and get indexed by YouTube’s discovery systems. Learn more.
  • Promote event-specific programming: Consider using social media, paid promotion and other means to drive new and existing audiences to this special set of videos.

  See it in action

  • 
    Annual summer bikini series
    Tone It Up releases an annual bikini series each April to give audiences enough time to get in shape before beach season is in full swing.
  • 
    Olympics-inspired programming
    Olympic hopeful, Amanda Russell, tapped into the interest surrounding the 2012 London games with Olympics-inspired workouts, like her “Train Like An Olympian Workout” and athlete interview series.

• 8. Beef up beyond your core

  Expanding the scope of your videos can open your channel to new audience-building opportunities. Established creators sometimes post videos about topics closely related to their own channel to provide viewers with a holistic fitness experience and to help ensure their channels continue to grow.

  Some ways to do it

  • Put your existing audience first: Before introducing new topics and formats, consider your existing audience’s demographics and preferences. Make sure you don’t alienate your most loyal fans with content they didn’t subscribe to.
  • Ask your audience: Find out what other topics your fans want to learn about. Ask them directly!
  • Do your homework: Before introducing drastically new topics, review the 10 fundamentals of a creative strategy and then see what the top channels in your area are doing particularly well. Use these insights to maximize the appeal of new video genres.

  See it in action

  • 
    Supplementing workouts with healthy recipes
    CrossFit® launched a Constantly Varied Nutrition series which naturally complements the channel’s core focus on strength and conditioning training.

• 9. Define what makes you unique

  Not surprisingly, people tend to follow fitness trainers who inspire and motivate them, and who deliver real results. Channels that clearly communicate their unique style and philosophy are often able to develop close connections with viewers, which can result in increased subscriber growth.

  Some ways to do it

  • Get your channel page into shape: Consider outfitting your channel with a banner, an icon and a channel trailer that work together to help visitors quickly understand whether it’s the right channel for them.
  • Create a concise channel description: Develop an elevator pitch that clearly and quickly communicates what your channel is about and why people should watch it.
  • Include video bumpers: If you decide to include bumpers (or intros and outros) in your videos, consider briefly referencing what type of content can be found on the rest of your channel.

  See it in action

  • 
    Clear channel description and branding
    StrengthCamp uses clear branding, an introductory trailer, and playlists on the channel page to inform viewers that the channel is all about strength training questions and answers.
  • 
    Fitness channels tend to get subscribers from the channel page
    This chart shows the percentage of subscribers from the channel page: 80% is considered high (A) and less than 60% is considered low (B). Most viewers of fitness videos, approximately 65% (C), subscribe from the channel page, where they learn about the trainer and his/her approach to fitness.

• 10. Connect with your audience

  Building rapport with viewers can be a powerful way to grow your community and turn casual viewers into super fans. Popular fitness channels frequently interact with their viewers through video and good old-fashioned meetups.

  Some ways to do it

  • Solicit questions: Ask audiences what they want to see next -- their feedback can serve as powerful inspiration for your channel’s future programming.
  • Live Q&A hangouts: Make yourself available to fans around the world by holding live question-and-answer sessions on your channel.
  • Host offline meetups: You can take fan interaction offline by organizing meetups in the cities you travel to. Consider filming these meetups and using the footage for special episodes. Build excitement for future visits.
  • Feature success stories: You could ask your fans to contribute before-and-after stories, photos and videos to serve as inspiration and proof that your workout system works.

  See it in action

  • 
    Let the audience ask you questions directly
    On top of its core exercise videos, Fitness Blender directly addresses audience-submitted questions with its "Your Questions Answered" Q&A series.
  • 
    Meet fans in the real world
    LivestrongWoman organized an in-community meetup and group workout for Tara Stiles and her biggest fans.

• 11. Maximize results with full-length workouts

  Short tutorial clips are popular on YouTube, but viewers are increasingly turning to full-length workouts for their fitness needs. Many fitness channels successfully feature a mix of demonstration clips and full-length workouts that compile individual moves into cohesive regimens.

  Some ways to do it

  • Film as if your fans are working out beside you: Consider walking audiences through a full-length workout as you would in a gym setting. As an added bonus, you could link to short clips that teach correct movements and modification options.
  • Compile clips: Try stitching together existing short-form tutorial clips into a full-length video.
  • Incorporate breaks: When running viewers through full-length workouts, consider including natural breaks for water and rest. Doing so may increase video view-through rates.
  • Add progress markers: Motivate your viewers through an entire workout by enabling them to track their progress. You could add visual guides and graphics during post-production.

  See it in action

  • 
    Upload long-form, full-body workouts
    FitnessBlender uploads full-length workouts (30-60 minutes) that consistently drive millions of views per video.
  • 
    Viewers appreciate full-length workout videos
    A popular fitness channel’s short-form videos (<10 minute) (A) were not as popular as their full-length videos (B) as indicated in this graph showing average views per video. The full-length videos drove 40x more average views (C) per video over the same time period.