Peloton‘s YouTube channel is launching its most ambitious series to date.
The fitness brand/media empire is teaming with big names like Joe Jonas and Usain Bolt for On The Leaderboard. In each episode of the show, a Peloton instructor will interview a celebrity while they both run on treadmills.
If its trailer is to be believed, On The Leaderboard will fit right into the “interview show, but…” category that exists on YouTube. The best-known examples of that genre include First We Feast’s Hot Ones and Vogue’s 73 Questions. Instead of forcing guests to eat increasingly spicy wings, Peloton will make them run at increasingly faster speeds as the questions (theoretically) probe deeper. Each episode will run for about ten minutes.
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The most recognizable faces in this trailer belong to Jonas and Bolt, but On The Leaderboard is part of Peloton’s plan to trumpet the star power of its instructors. Olivia Amato and Jess Sims will host the first two episodes, and they’re two of the home fitness brand’s most influential personalities.
Peloton was featured in an ill-fated And Just Like That… plotline that sent shockwaves across the internet (and the stock market) last year. That Wall Street dip occurred during a period of great turmoil for Peloton. Ultimately, founding CEO John Foley was ousted and replaced by Netflix and Spotify vet Barry McCarthy. Shortly after his hiring, McCarthy told The New York Times that Peloton’s software is more important than its hardware. “The magic happens on the screen,” McCarthy said. “That’s where the user experience is, right? It’s the music. It’s the instructors. It’s all the social aspects that we have only just begun to develop — and that’s where we’re going to spend our money.”
Lest you think Peloton has strayed from that path, chief content officer Jennifer Cotter told Billboard that the On The Leaderboard hosts “have become synonymous with pop culture.” “They live so naturally next to a decorated athlete like Usain Bolt or Joe Jonas, an international pop icon,” she said. “As we continue to explore storytelling outside the traditional class, a conversation between two high-profile Peloton members was an obvious place to go.”
Beyond the leaderboard, there’s much more room for Peloton to grow. The company’s media-first approach, when combined with the influential nature of its instructors, provides a competitive edge in the busy home fitness market. One of those instructors, Alex Toussaint, will host the NewFronts this year for IAB. That week-long event is a hotspot for digital ad buying, so if Peloton has some bigger content plays up its sleeve, Toussaint would be a fitting spokesperson to introduce them.
