"With the concepts of wellness and mindfulness becoming ever more important for consumers, fitness has become a more relevant goal for many people," says Forbes. And what potential fitness industry customers want is technology to both help them along with their fitness journeys and to track their progress. "Work done by LatentView Analytics looked at approximately 150 million data points including information on products, product usage, product reviews as well as search terms and social media conversations over the last 10 years. The data revealed the following major trends about gyms and fitness."

Potential Fitness Industry Customers Want Technology

Fitness technology hasn't had a dramatic impact on the market of Americans who are working out in their own homes. However, potential fitness industry customers want technology use to be increased in their gyms and when working out outdoors and playing sports.

These settings are where consumers tend to do their most extreme workouts. If they can track their progress in these places like they do at home and can see the results of this hard work, they'll be more likely to become loyal customers and keep coming back for more.

With Fitness Technology, the Gym can be Anywhere

Fitness industry customers want technology, but not just the stereotypical wearables that anyone can get easily. Many are interested in the virtuality offerings popping up in more gyms. "A user in a gym puts on a virtual reality headset and attaches to weights made for the purpose," Forbes explains. "A video game begins in which there’s no hand-​held controller, the user’s body movements control the game. As the user moves, the weights are lifted. Because of the weights a user gets a complete workout by the time a game is over. If you love playing video games but are not highly motivated to work out in a gym, this will bring you in and keep you there."

Fitness technology can also be a godsend for consumers who enjoy group fitness classes, but can't always make it to the gym in time to participate in their favorites. To fulfill this common desire among consumers, many classes are now being filmed and posted online so that consumers can follow along on their own time and in their setting of choice. If they enjoy a particular video, they can also watch it repeatedly in the future to get that same workout. If they didn't like a particular workout, no problem. They'll never have to watch it again with the extensive library of other online workout videos.

"These technological advances are driving the fitness business," reports Forbes. "Consumers interest in new fitness technology coupled with the continued desire for gyms is clearly how consumers want to manage their own fitness. Whether gyms and studios can keep up with the desire for new technology will determine their future success."

According to AudienceSCAN, Potential Gym/​Health Club Switchers are just as motivated by digital ads as they are by fitness technology. Last year, these consumers were driven to action by ads that were either on their mobile smartphone apps or that they received via text, email ads, and ads on daily deals sites such as Groupon. At least half clicked on text link ads on websites. They're also 113% more likely than others to find ads on mobile apps useful and 80% more likely to find ads on social networks helpful. Additionally, within the last 30 days, this audience has played online games and used the internet to find coupons and discount codes and research health and medical information. At least 31.5% also listened to audio podcasts.

AudienceSCAN data is available for your applications and dashboards through the SalesFuel API. In addition, AdMall contains industry profiles on health clubs and electronics and accessories stores, as well as lead lists at the local level. Media companies, sales reps and agencies can access this data with a subscription to AdMall from SalesFuel.