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Contrary to the general belief, the Online Yoga business in the U.S. market is not increasing but decreasing.
The Blue Media team conducted a research project for a major brick-and-mortar yoga business to explore the potential of expanding into the online yoga sector by offering subscription-based online yoga videos. The findings were surprising. While there was an overall decline in interest and subscriptions for online yoga, current market players like The Yoga Collective, Ekhart Yoga, Gaia, My Yoga Works, Yogaglo, and others haven’t fully penetrated the U.S. market, let alone the global arena. They’ve managed to capture only 21.1% of U.S. web traffic, leaving a significant opportunity for new entrants to attract this untapped audience.
Brick & Mortar Yoga Studios: A Competitive Landscape
The yoga business, especially in brick-and-mortar studios, is more competitive than ever. With high bounce rates, customers frequently explore different studios, contributing to the saturation of the market.
Our research shows that less than 5% of yoga studios are effectively utilizing Google’s GEO Location Intelligence feature introduced since September 2016.
As discussed in our article “How to Implement a GEO Funnel to a Website” this feature helps local businesses become more visible based on the user’s location.
Many studios miss out on this opportunity, remaining invisible to potential customers and losing ground to competitors who use this technology.
The Varied Landscape of Online Yoga Businesses
- Diversified Yoga Studios
These are traditional studios that have branched into online video offerings. Their existing infrastructure, skilled teachers, and video production capabilities make this a viable extension. - Online-Only Yoga Platforms
Examples include The Yoga Collective, Ekhart Yoga, Gaia, My Yoga Works, and Yogaglo. This category also encompasses sites offering free videos like DoYogaWithMe. - Online Fitness Businesses with Yoga Offerings
These platforms, like Cody and BooyaFitness, offer yoga as one of several online fitness options. - Yoga-Focused YouTube Channels
Individual-run channels like Yoga With Adriene, often with substantial followings and revenue from AdSense.
Is the Online Yoga Business Increasing?
The Yoga Alliance reported in 2016 that spending on yoga equipment and accessories had increased from $6 billion to $16 billion over four years. Additionally, 30% of Americans, roughly 80 million, expressed interest in trying yoga within the next year. However, this study, focusing on 2012-2016, is now outdated and doesn’t reflect the rapid changes in the yoga industry. More importantly, it doesn’t address online yoga, which should consider user behavior, search interests, and the online visibility of yoga studios.
Upon closer examination, the online yoga sector is not performing as strongly as one might expect.
Worldwide, there’s been a 5.7% decline in online interest in yoga. In Europe, the trend is stable, with Germany seeing a slight 2% increase and the UK experiencing a 1% decrease. However, in other English-speaking countries like Canada, there’s a significant 60% decline.
More notably, in the United States, which is the primary target market, there has been a 46% drop in online yoga interest over the past five years.
Research on Online Yoga
Our Search Engine Visibility Research 2017 reveals that the big players such as Yoga Download, So Much Yoga, The Yoga Collective, Yoga With Adriene, and My Yoga Works have only be able to achieve 21% of the Google visibility. That means, 78.9% of keyword opportunities and user demand is still not being fulfilled. Also, the SEO market has a yearly potential of $14.7 M, while all players have so far be able to cover only $3.1 million (not considered gaia.com):
Let me also explain what SEO value means. If you were to spend Google Ads for the keywords you are ranking organically, you would have to spend $243K — this is what the website is worth per year from an SEO perspective. The Search Volume is the number of search volume these players capture every year from the Google Result Pages.
The market worth overall is 14 million dollars. And if we sum up all the competition, only $3,1 million are being utilized at the moment.
What does this mean?
It means that a potential user looking for Online Yoga actually doesn’t find what it’s looking for, because the Online Yoga Websites don’t have enough visibility on the web for these competitors. Around 80% of the users are being directed to magazines, forums, blogs, social media, YouTube videos, and many more other sides rather than getting enough offers from these online yoga businesses.
