In the Chinese fitness equipment export industry, everyone is familiar with Kinomap—an interactive training application designed for indoor cycling, running, and rowing on cardio fitness equipment. Many manufacturers frequently receive requests from international buyers to integrate Bluetooth modules in their console systems to enable connectivity with the Kinomap app.
Notably, Kinomap is the official organizer of the Connected Marathon in collaboration with the 2024 Olympic Games. At the Paris Olympics, the combined number of on-site and digital marathon participants is expected to reach 300,000, making it the largest marathon event in history and securing Kinomap’s place on the global stage.
As Chinese Lunar New Year of snake approached, I had an interview with Kinomap’s founder and CEO, Philippe Moity.
1. Introduction to Kinomap
Could you provide a brief overview of Kinomap, including its history, mission, and core product offerings?
Kinomap is an interactive training app for indoor cycling, running and rowing. We are the world’s largest geolocated video sharing platform, with thousands of videos from the best tracks around the world. We pair to your equipment and respond to the inclines and resistance seen in the video on your screen.
This isn’t ‘at-home training’, this is the real thing.
We believe that variety in sports training is integral to maintaining motivation, enjoyment and improvement. Indoor training allows us to exercise in a flexible way that fits our lifestyle, however it shouldn't mean sticking to the same old routine. We believe that when indoor training is more exciting and enjoyable, people will train better and for longer. Ultimately leading to a healthier, happier life.
Our mission is to connect people with the best tracks in the world, and give our community a truly innovative training experience.
Our vision is to re-imagine indoor workouts, and set a new standard for at-home training.
Our Values
Healthy : Our goal when we started Kinomap was to help people train better, for longer. This remains true today, always with the goal of helping people create a healthier and happier lifestyle for themselves.
Explorative: If you promise to be curious, adventurous, and push the boundaries of your training, then we promise to broaden the horizons of your location with videos of the best tracks from around the world.
Motivating: With thousands of routes to discover, workouts to choose from, and a community of coaches and athletes to connect with, our range and variety means you will never get bored using Kinomap.
Convenient: Indoor training allows you to exercise in a flexible way that fits your lifestyle while also gaining access to some of the most inaccessible tracks on earth. The world is your training ground with Kinomap
What are the target markets and user demographics for Kinomap?
See next email with the country ranking.(According to the email from Philippe, it shows 203 countries and areas)
In term of activities and equipment types: exercise bikes (upright, recumbent, spinning) 38%, rowers 23%, treadmills and walking pads 18%, smart trainers 14%, Elliptical and cross trainer 7%
In the winter time, home trainers go up to 35% as this is more seasonal than anything else.
Kinomap is widely recognized as one of the leading fitness apps, supporting both home and commercial fitness equipment. How many brands have partnered with Kinomap, and how many models are compatible with your platform?
We have 260 brands on board, so approx 3,600 machines made compatible. No doubt Kinomap is the one having the broader compatibility on the market. this is the main reason with the IOC asked Kinomap to run the Marathon pour Tous (for all) last year during the Olympics Paris 2024 https://www.kinomap.com/en/compatibility/brand/get/all
Can you share the current number of registered users, and what percentage are active users?
We have over 2 million members having a Kinomap account, got 400,000 active users last year.
What unique value does Kinomap bring to its users compared to other fitness apps?
Our video footage with over 50,000 videos (coaching and scenic) adding 20 to 40 daily fresh videos.
our 5 training modes: scenic, coaching, free ride, structured workout and map mode. A new mode will be launched by April time frame. stay tuned.
the app is available in 17 different languages including simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Brazilian etc.
2. Competitive Landscape
Who do you consider Kinomap's main competitors in the fitness app market?
Netflix is our main competitor. Most of the people watch TV during their training session.
How does Kinomap differentiate itself from apps like Zwift? Are there specific user groups Kinomap targets more effectively than competitors?
Zwift is 100% set for hardcore cyclists on smart trainers. we do not see Zwift at all for rowing and running. Need for a proof ? Zwift remains free for years on a treadmill or rowing machine, not having ben able to find a business and get interest from users.
Zwift is a 23D game. Really well done and addicting enough like any video game. great for cycling willing to feel the pain, enjoy some drafting in peloton etc. this is a niche market. the niche is quite large and rich as cyclists are passionate enough to buy a 5 to 10k carbon bike, enjoy some week ends for a cyclosportive and remain their place as a pain cave.
Kinomap is more on the entertainment side. to ensure you train more often, more longer with fun. to travel the world from home
In what areas do you believe Kinomap outperforms its competitors?
The indoor cycling is tough. so many good players with Zwift, Rouvy, Bkool, Indievelo, Training Peaks, Fulgaz and now Mywhoosh for free and forever. Hard to compete. hard to growth. hard to survive.
In the past years, our growth came from the cardio training market despite the fact we remain a decent player on the indoor cycling market.
3. Partnerships with Fitness Equipment Brands
Kinomap has established partnerships with numerous fitness equipment manufacturers. How does Kinomap collaborate with these brands, and what benefits do these partnerships bring to both parties?
We have 260 brands on board.
These brands find in Kinomap a very reliable partner. Our App is great. our content is huge and amazing. you can really travel the world.
These brands find in Kinomap an app provide that really care. our customer support is dedicated to the end-users of these brands. we want to ensure they enjoy training on the equipment they just bought.
There is no cost or investment from the brands. They get Kinomap for free.
Over the past decade, many fitness equipment manufacturers have shifted from developing their own apps to using third-party solutions like Kinomap. Do you agree with this trend, and how do you see it evolving?
Back in the 80’s we had IBM willing to provide hard and software to refocus later on on hardware. then oracle to do software then hardware… this is a back and forth cycle. we believe it requires a huge dedication. Making machines is ver y complex from the design to the factory to the resellers and customers support. Making an app look easy but most of the brand that tried to make their own app did fail to bring content on it. the app worth nothing without any content.
Back to the covid, every body had a look at Peloton that raised $1b at the stock exchange then got a $55bn valuation ,now down to a few? the content is killing them. 25% of the subscription is related to the music rights. the content is obsolete after a month or two…
I noticed that Kinomap has different levels of partnerships, such as Gold and Silver. What criteria do you use to classify your partners?
The purpose of our partnership program is is reward the best brands based on their commitment with Kinomap but also the quality of their products.
4. Integrating Fitness Equipment Brands
Could you describe the process for a fitness equipment brand to partner with Kinomap? Specifically, what is required on the hardware side (e.g., Bluetooth protocol integration)?
It really depends on the connectivity side. is there any connectivity on the console? is is a standard protocol or more proprietary that may require some integration later on? Is it a LCD console with any bluetooth smart connectivity or higher end.
You once mentioned Kinomap offers an embedded app solution for smart fitness equipment. How does this solution work, and what steps must fitness equipment console suppliers take to integrate it?
When the app is embedded on a console, there is no pairing process anymore. The App gets access to the data from the control board using any uart/serial protocol.
We also have to optimise the app according to the console hardware and software specifications.
Last but not least is the mechanism behind top keep the console (firmware and apps) updated as such consoles don’t get access to the official Play Store etc.
5. Fitness Trends &Technology Impact
Based on your backend data, how has user activity shifted from the COVID period to the post-COVID period?
We grew quite decently in 2020 and 2021. most important is the fact we have been able to keep that customer base and continue to growth year on year (approx 20% YoY net organic growth) when most of our competitors fall down after the covid period, having sold in 1 year what they were supposed to sell over 2 or 3 years...
AI coaching is predicted to be a major trend in the fitness industry over the next 3-5 years. What are your thoughts on this?
We are working on few projects but Kinomap is not really a coaching app...
How do you see the evolution of smart fitness equipment, and what major technological advancements do you anticipate in the near future?
We have a key player on the home fitness market. No doubt.
The challenge for us is to jump on the light commercial fitness (hotels, education, physiotherapists) and commercial fitness (gyms) markets. One step was to provide an embedded version of the Kinomap App to be pre-installed from the factory on the consoles having a TFT screen.
6. Challenges and Opportunities
What do you consider the biggest challenges facing the fitness app industry today, and where do you see the most promising opportunities?
For the app providers, the huge competition with daily new entrance.
For the manufacturers, so many brands (look at amazon) with cheaper than ever prices but bad quality to keep the users active after a week or two.
What advice would you give to new Fitness App entrants trying to make their mark in the fitness tech space?
Welcome to a tough world, hard to say anything than good luck
What advice and suggestions would you give to fitness equipment developers?
With Kinomap on bord, you can expect to sell more machines , at a more expensive prices and keep your customers happy and healthy.
7. Kinomap's Future Plans
Kinomap acquired fit-immersion, what new things will you bring in near future?
Really a win win deal between Fit Immersion and Kinomap
- It was a good opportunity to get a 360 video app, for less than it may have cost us by developing it by ourselves, with a 2 years delivery lead time.
- good for fit immersion as this is now made compatible with our 260 brands.
Do you have any plans for expansion into new regions or markets?
We continue to invest on Kinomap for races, to bring race content on board and sell virtual BIBs
We are looking for a partner to expend in mainland of China
We are working on a new but promising project to move the TV and OTT markets some immersion to interactivity.
Given the increasing popularity of strength training in the past few years, do you have plans to incorporate strength training content into Kinomap’s offerings?
There are many goo ideas and opportunities to investigate but considering the right of being too much disperse, the strength market was put on hold for some time.
Looking at first for an appropriate wearable sensor to track all the movements, then convince the content creators on Youtube to switch to Kinomap..
Many fitness apps have successfully integrated e-commerce, selling fitness equipment, supplements, and other related products. Do you see Kinomap exploring this avenue in the future?
We are dealing with too many brands on too many countries to do it effectivement. What we can sell in one country where we may have a warehouse doesn't make sense overseas. Cardio training means heavy machines and on site maintenance. And we do not want to compete with our brand partners so no plan here.
Are there any other exciting initiatives or plans for Kinomap that you can share with us?
I think our TV and OTT project can be a game changer on the market. and not only on the fitness market but overall. Watching TV will not mean anymore to be lazy on your sofa, drinking beers and eating chips or candies.
By Roger Yao from Taicang, Suzhou, China,
Feb1st, 2025
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