How Peloton Advertises Their Instructors on YouTube

Key Takeaways

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Paid Focus Allocation — YouTube: Over the last four years, Peloton has allocated 93% of their instructor-related advertising spend towards YouTube. However, the total amount of instructor-related ad spend decreased by -78% from 2018 - 2019, where it has stayed at an average of $637K a year. In 2020, Peloton only allocated 9% of their total ad spend towards instructor-related advertising.

Content & Messaging — Instructor Benefits: Peloton focused their instructor-related ads within three content buckets:

• Class Previews: Short teaser clips featuring instructors that give the target audience a sense of what live classes are like.
• Trail At Home Series: Short clips that showcase the experience of trial users and how they enjoyed the motivating effect of instructors.
• Live Instructor Highlights: Video clips that start with a close-up of the instructor hosting a live class with their voiceover as the main audio clip of the ad. 
  

Ad Tactics: Peloton uses many different tactics in their ads to highlight the benefits of their instructors: 

• Diversity: Showcasing a diverse range of target users who all enjoy the motivating nature of the instructors.
• Instructor-Focus: In many of the ads, Peloton highlighted the instructor as the main benefit, not specific product features.
• Behind-The-Scenes: Giving an exclusive look into the thought process that went into creating workout programs from the instructor’s perspective.
• Curated Playlists: Highlighting that instructors create their own workout playlists that bring a unique flair to each class.

Voiceovers: Using the audio from live classes in the ad to give the target user an idea of the energy and motivation an instructor brings to their class.

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Over the last four years, Peloton has allocated 93% of their instructor-related advertising spend towards YouTube.

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From 2018 to 2019, Peloton decreased their instructor-related ad spend by -78%. Since then, ad spend has levelled off to an average of $651K a year.

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In 2020, Peloton only allocated 9% of their total ad spend towards instructor-related advertising, which is a -55% decrease from a high of 20% in 2018.

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On YouTube, Peloton advertised a 1 min preview of Jess Sim’s bodyweight strength class and a 30-second preview of Sam Yo’s pilates class, giving new consumers an inside look into what an actual class looks like.

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At the very beginning of the video, both instructors introduce themselves and their names are clearly displayed at the bottom of the ad. Incorporating the instructor’s names humanizes the ads and makes them more approachable to viewers.

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In 2019, Peloton launched a series of three video ads as part of their “30-Day Trial At Home Series”. In these ads, Peloton emphasized the importance of having live instructors to keep users motivated.

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Each YouTube ad showed a brief clip of the instructor as the user talked about how the instructors were the best feature of the Peloton.

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A large number of general Peloton ads start with a clip of an instructor hosting a live class with their voiceover as the main audio clip of the ad.

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Instructor Rebecca Kennedy is featured in an ad that goes deep into the concept behind Peloton’s treadmill and talks about how the instructors were involved in the creation of the product and experience.

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On Instagram, Peloton also emphasized the motivating benefit of instructors in their ads, as well as the curated music playlists for each class.

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Peloton’s display ad featured instructor Alex Toussaint and highlighted that users get “live instructors riding right by your side.”

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