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Home::Multimedia
Fitnesscasting - Podcasting for The Health and Fitness Industry
Author : Ryan M. Hoback
Fitnesscasting is the commercial application of podcasting for
the personal fitness industry. Fitnesscasting is the
distribution and publishing of audio and video feeds, that offer
personal health and fitness training and information delivered
over the Internet, for on demand listening.
This is a new step in the evolution of on-demand health and
fitness information delivery, making it accessible, informative,
useful and appealing. This mix presents the health and fitness
industry with a very unique opportunity to reach its audience
through this new medium. Those individuals, who are already
seeking health and fitness information actively, will use RSS
subscription technology built into each podcast feed, to receive
information immediately as it is updated by each organization.
With one click of a button, a user can subscribe to a feed that
may be interesting, and any related information that is ever
updated to that feed will be automatically processed to their
personal aggregator. An aggregator is able to subscribe to a
feed, check for new content at user-determined intervals, and
retrieve the content.
To take this process one step further, podcasting publishes each
feed with the capability to be transferred to any portable audio
or video device. So with the growth of the ipod and all the
other portable media devices, you have the ability to grab
fitnesscasts and place them on your portable player for
listening or viewing. Most users attach their portable players
to their computers daily or weekly, and once the player is
attached they automatically receive the new Fitnesscast updates.
The flexibility of this medium is what will drive the growth of
Fitnesscasting tremendously over the next few years. There are
numerous formats that can be used in developing a fitnesscast.
Audio and video workouts give the power to the listener or
viewer to receive on-demand health and fitness training. In
addition, podcasts are being placed on portable video devices to
offer exclusive training workouts for those clients who may
travel a lot, or want to workout in the comfort of their home or
on their own schedule.
The best thing about fitnesscasting is that the opportunities
are endless. Here are some examples of how podcasting will
benefit the fitness industry. Most Americans have heard of 6
minute abs or the home jazzercise videos, in fact, these have
sold extremely well in our society. With as busy as people are
in today's society, some individuals do not have the opportunity
to make it to a gym as much as they would like. However, these
same individuals are not looking to give up their workout
routine, they just need it custom fitted to their likings. With
fitnesscasting, you have the ability to utilize this medium
on-demand at the convenience. In addition, with audio and video
ipods you can take these fitnesscasts with you when traveling.
Another example of its use could be in large scale gyms. All
gyms have trainers who help their patrons' workout and develop
their bodies, yet, sometimes there are either not enough
trainers or time schedules do not match up. With fitnesscasting,
you have an audio or video of a trainer giving you instruction,
at the touch of your fingers and on your time schedule.
The options are wide open for the development of fitness
programs that are cutting edge, and highly opportunistic in
terms of converting listeners and users into consumers and
revenues.
The popularity of portable on demand information will grow even
greater as wireless internet services continue to flourish
across the country. These portable devices will no longer have
to be connected to the internet; they will receive information
wirelessly as it is updated. In addition, as cell phones and
portable devices continue to merge together, the market grows
larger.
For organizations that have members worldwide, the distribution
of company information is very important, and once again this
offers each institution a method of on-demand delivery which is
convenient to all.
There are numerous uses for Fitnesscasting, and over the next
few years it will explode in popularity. It is beneficial to
organizations as well as the consumer, and it will be seen as a
great tool in any health and fitness organizations' operations.
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