2019 State of Spintertainment
Hi Guys,
I wanted to give you a quick update on the state of Spintertainment.
2018 was not stellar from a customer point of view and we did not grow much. However I began working on addressing the customers wants and have been putting more time than ever into the company.
The first thing I started doing in 2018 was experimenting with some new high end First Person View video techniques. The main feedback we have gotten from our customers or potential customers is wanting more FPV. You may share my opinion which is, why would you want sketchy on board footage when we have all this high quality third person point of view footage of great riders doing great things? Of course small camera video stabilization has come a long way in the last few years. I contacted Nate Hills who has been making the popular follow cam videos and got some tips on how he was keeping it so smooth. I took those suggestions and added even more stabilization techniques to it. Along with that I have been using a Rylo 360 camera with software based stabilization as a 2nd on-board camera so with a single ride I can get multiple points of view for cut shots.
Once I had a system sorted out I went back to all the trail locations and rode them by myself with the new FPV systems strapped to me. I have been editing that footage to perfectly match the third person view videos so I can lay the exact same workouts/graphics/music on top of them with no extra work and doubling the quantity of videos with minimal work. What I expect to happen is people "think" they want FPV but when they have the choice they will see how much better TPV really is. But people want to see that choice and it will make them feel better about buying if more FPV is available in our library.
Another version of all these videos is having a Virtual Instructor integrated into the videos so you get that personal feel of being guided through the workout and hearing stories from the trail. Recently I turned my home office into a green screen studio and have been chipping away at filming virtual instructors for all the videos. I have tried several different versions of this in live spin classes that did not turn out very well but the new solo studio where I just focus on the workout and what you see on screen is working good. We are testing virtual instructor videos in live spin classes at a local gym with surprisingly good results!
Speaking of live classes in a spin studio, I have also been refining what commercial gyms will need out of a video series. I have created a unique version of all our videos dedicated for studio use. These videos feature a 10 minute welcome to class and a 10 minute thanks for coming on top of the basic 1 hour video so they are 1:20 long. They are licensed differently than the personal versions and hosted by a separate video host with commercial monthly rates adjustable from $50 a month up to $250 a month depending on the size of the gym. I currently have not marketing to gyms yet and don't have any gyms using the videos yet but we will soon enough.
I am not done editing all the FPV footage I took over the summer and am not done filming all the virtual instructor videos but when it is all said and done this is what it will look like:
7 Third Person trail videos with 5 workouts each = 40 videos/workouts. (This is what we have been running with for the last 2 years)
7 new FPV trail videos with 5 workouts each = 40 more.
Virtual Instructor versions of all these videos = 80 more.
Totaling 160 potential videos from our 7 trails!
Studio/Commercial versions of each of these = 160 more.
Total of the full library of unique videos will be 320 videos!
Another project I tackled last year was finding a way to integrate smart trainers. Using the Trainerroad software I was able to make custom workouts that perfectly match all of our video workouts. The process is not very elegant but works well and is a good overall experience. People have to subscribe to Trainerroad and Spintertainment so it is a bit expensive and overall I have not seen many people using this feature. I thought lack of smart trainer integration was holding us back but after not seeing much movement after launching this feature I learned this was not our problem.
I was disappointed in the subscriber base in 2018 and the lack of growth. We started with 30 subscribers and ended with 36. For 2019 I hired a new marketing guy. He helped me identify some confusion of how to buy and use our videos. We started releasing a full free video on our Youtube page each week and did a few cheap facebook ads. In a little over a month we have grown to 59 subscribers! My goal is, and has always been, 1000 subscribers a month for the personal series and 100 spin studios for the commercial series.
In 2019 I will finish building out all the new FPV and Virtual Instructor videos. I am also partnering with Lee McCormack inventor of the RipRow standing row machine to make a video series for his customers. I really like Lee and I hope that adding RipRow videos to our library will bring additional publicity to the basic Spintertainment platform to sell more of everything we offer.
I have also committed to pro XC racer Alexis Skarda as the title sponsor of her race program this year from Spintertainment and TowWhee. I really like Alexis and she has plans on attending many of the large US races and even some international events. I will be helping her with media to share socially and hopefully together we can raise awareness of these brands.
I of course still want to film more new videos and work toward building our own app to integrate with smart trainers. I need to finish what is in front of me and will continue driving forward with new ideas and features. Sometimes I feel like what we have made here is not wanted by the world...It does hurt to put so much time and money into something with such low adoption. I have faith in what we have built though & I am not willing to give up!
Please stick with me. Help promote Spintertainment however you can and I am hoping the next report you get from me is even better!
Thank you for everything,
Sincerely,
Eric Landis
Owner
Spintertainment - Breathtaking Spin Videos
2768 Compass Drive, Suite #104
Grand Junction, CO 81506