It’s no secret that the most popular health and wellness apps feature video content. “Six out of ten of the top Health & Fitness apps are apps that offer video workouts or video-guided exercises,” according to Apptopia’s The Future of Fitness Report.
With applications like Fitbit featuring premium health videos from celebrities to mental wellness app Calm debuting their A World of Calm TV series on HBO Max, the best of health apps not only feature tools to improve your health, but content to sustain engagement and deliver better value. These health content offerings transform the health fitness experience into one worth repeating.
Health videos help eliminate friction, reframing information into a format as digestible as Netflix. Our generation of screen-first health seekers crave content that fits our lifestyle of binges, TikTok challenges and Zoom. Health-fitness exercises are a lot more inviting when your favorite YouTuber is guiding you through a yoga set, rather than a doctor blabbing “you need to exercise more”.
But, the only people watching health fitness videos are those who are seeking to improve their fitness. What about those of us who find physical activity too hard or discouraging? Not all of us have the patience or even interest to try meditation or CrossFit.
I believe there is something more engaging than a well-crafted fitness video. You could have Batman leading me through a HIIT set and I would still find a reason to not watch it.
But put on a Batman movie (preferably Christian Bale’s batman), and I’ll spend nearly 3 hours glued to the screen.
Where’s the happy medium? Imagine content that is entertaining and enduring. You watch from beginning to end, captivated by the character and story. But at the end of the 30 minute episode, you’ve managed to improve your health and well-being, and perhaps break a little sweat.
Sounds implausible. But it’s not.
Just take a look at the Cosmic Kids Yoga. With nearly 1M subscribers, close to 200M+ views, this health entertainment studio founded by Jamie Amor, invites viewers to immerse themselves in the story, physically participating in the character’s narrative through yoga moves. After 30 minutes of participatory entertainment, I found myself appreciating the visceral necessities of a good story with the Frozen Cosmic Kids Yoga Adventure.
Cosmic Kids Yoga is able to improve health by cleverly focusing on character driven narrative, leveraging our natural love for stories to turn our intent into action. We are immersed in an entertaining experience, not recognizing that healthy side effects. Cosmic Kids Yoga takes something of leisure and fun and is able to produce better health outcomes.
Now what if more of our screen time was spent being entertained but also improving our well-being? While apps like Fitbit will continue to create health how-to videos, and health care providers will try to catch up to the content revolution, there’s a growing need for something better and more sustainable.
If kids can spend 15 minutes playing as their favorite cartoon character and improving their well-being, why can’t the rest of us immerse ourselves in our favorite stories and come out healthier? Why limit ourselves to health how-to videos when we can join our favorite characters, like Batman, in an adventure that ultimately makes us healthier?
At WellPlay, we’re doing just that. We believe that entertainment can improve health outcomes. As a health entertainment company, we use character driven narrative and immersive technologies to transform health into a fan-worthy experience.
Join us on our adventure at WellPlay.World