Sportswear Giants Stock Up on Fitness Apps

A couple of years ago, when you went for a run, you laced up your shoes and you ran. You didn’t know how many steps you took, how many calories you burned and hopefully there was no little voice in your head telling you how good a job you were doing. Well, things change. These days, a smartphone with a proper fitness app seems to be just as essential to many runners as running shoes were back in the days.

This trend hasn’t gone unnoticed by sporting goods companies. According to research conducted by Statista’s Digital Market Outlook, Adidas, Under Armour and Asics alone spent a total of more than a billion U.S. dollars on fitness app acquisitions over the past few years. It’s an investment that does seem to make sense: Having their own fitness app doesn’t only put sportswear companies in touch with millions of sports fans; it also provides them with tons of valuable information about them.

By 2020, the number of users of paid fitness apps in the United States is expected to reach 38.7 million. So it might be worth to keep an eye on this particular market. To find out more about the use of technology in sports, check out Statista’s free market report “eHealth: Fitness”.