Whoop announced on Tuesday the launch of a monthly membership geared toward consumers in an effort to expand its market beyond elite athletes.
The Whoop wrist wearable tracks recovery, strain, and sleep and has gained traction in the pro ranks since its debut in 2015. The NFL Players Association struck a partnership last year in which every active NFL player received his own Whoop. MLB has approved the device for in-game use. Among other major teams in the U.S. sports world, the Boston-based company supplies Duke basketball and Penn State football.
When Whoop first made its device available to consumers in November 2016, the band retailed for $500. The new subscription costs $30 per month (albeit with a minimum six-month, $180 commitment). The plan includes a Whoop 2.0 strap, all the accompanying app-based analytics and access to a community of other users.
“We’ve created an opportunity for people to sign up for Whoop at a low-entry point, and we’ve created a business model that marries the value that we’re giving to people over time with their satisfaction,” founder and CEO Will Ahmed said.
Whoop measures metrics such as heart rate, motion, and skin conductivity 100 times per second. Since the consumer launch, Ahmed said 82 percent of users who are active monthly are also active daily.
“We’ve seen the platform’s been received by a really wide audience, and in part because we’ve taken all this data, but really simplified it to a few key metrics,” he said. “With this subscription, you’re effectively going to have a 24/7 coach to help you improve your body.”
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SportTechie Takeaway
Whoop is aiming to take a product used by elite athletes and tap into a halo effect by rebranding to a broader consumer audience. Sports equipment manufacturers have long followed this tactic, with recent examples like Marucci bats and Catapult GPS wearables. Whoop has a host of NFL stars touting its efficacy, not to mention Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James, recent investor Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors, and all-time leading Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.
The challenge for the company is in explaining the product’s utility and why an amateur fitness enthusiast would need such a device. The data needs to be understood and actionable without a team of sport scientists to help interpret the information. Whoop’s approach to this is to convert the raw data into recommendations about when to sleep and how much to work out.