Sports and fitness apps market

Global Market- Insights

Sports and fitness apps have become an integral part of daily lives of millions of mobile users, allowing them to use smartphones to do everything related to sports and fitness of individuals.

Fitness apps are gaining high adoption among individuals seeking a healthy lifestyle. Mobile apps are available in both free and paid versions, where paid apps require one-time payment during the installation. Due to limited budget and time, every fitness-conscious individual cannot afford membership in fitness centers or health clubs. Easy availability of cost-effective apps has led to growth of global sports and fitness apps market.

Sports and fitness apps are based on the data analysis to improve and manage the overall athletic performance and fitness. Fitness apps are widely accepted in the market as personal advisers of sports and fitness trainer. Fitness apps are being largely used by sports coaches and athletes to enhance the performance of their teams by monitoring user performance and analyzing the strong areas of the users.

Global sports and fitness apps market is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period (2019–2027). The market growth is majorly attributed to increase in the use of smartphones, adoption of healthy lifestyles among individuals, and easy availability of the fitness apps. Moreover technology integration in wearable devices is also expected to boost the market growth. Mobile apps can be integrated with fitness trackers and smartwatch that offer various benefits such as activity tracking and distance measurement with the help of GPS technology. This trend is attributed to use of wearable devices such as fitness bands and smartwatch that encourage individuals to track their daily exercises and monitor weight. Therefore, increasing use of wearable devices and smartphones is expected to bolster growth of the global sports and fitness apps market. For instance, in November 2015, according to NYU Langone Medical Center’s study, around 52% of smartphone users collect health and fitness information on their smartphones in the U.S. Around 52% of users said they downloaded health apps to track physical activity, while 48% wanted to track what their eating habits.

Figure 1. Global Sports and Fitness Apps Market Share (%), by Region (2018)

Source: Coherent Market Insights, 2018-19

North America is expected to be the one of the largest contributors in global sports and fitness apps market, owing to the change in lifestyle of people and increasing health awareness. Increasing consumption of fast food and high prevalence diseases such as cardiovascular disease among the geriatric population are the major factors that are expected to boost demand for sports and fitness apps in this region. For instance, according to American Heart Association 2018, around 2,300 American die of cardiovascular disease each day, an average of 1 death every 38 seconds. Therefore, in order to monitor heart rate, there is a rise in adoption of fitness apps among individuals in this region, which helps to grow this market positively.

Asia Pacific is also expected to be the leading region in the global sports and fitness apps market, owing to the rapid increase in the production and sales of smartphones and tablets. Countries such as India and China are the heavy demand generator for the smartphones and tablets. As the awareness among people towards health is increasing, demand for fitness apps is expected to rise sharply in this region.

Figure 2. Global Sports and Fitness Apps Market Share (%), By Application (2018)

Source: Coherent Market Insights, 2018-19

Global sports and fitness apps market is segmented on basis of application as health monitoring and activity tracking and monitoring. With the significant increase in the global mobile application market, vendors are increasingly focusing on developing mobile applications that will cater to the needs of customers. Millions of smartphone users use sports and fitness apps to monitor their activities. Yoga instructor, meditation and workout class apps are gaining traction in the market. Hence, this segment will boost the overall growth of global sports and fitness apps market.

Some of the key players operating in the global sports and fitness apps market include ASICS Digital (The ASICS Run keeper), Inc., Azumio Inc., Fitbit Inc., Freeletics, Garmin Ltd., Jefit Inc., Nike Inc., Polar Electro, Runtastic GmbH, Under Armour Inc., Wahoo Fitness, and others.