SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 1 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nathan Sassover, CEO
of WRLD1 /TVNET today announced further development and increased
strategic presence with the creation of additional Wellness and
Longevity news targeting the surging sectors at home Wellness
and Disease Prevention.
Powered by the TVNET APTVE mobile netcast architecture and user
interface driving an enlarged platform of therapeutic
and preventive health options and general well being and wellness
oriented lifestyles video programming.
Sassover further noted: "Our Health/Wellness hubs now provide
increased range of topics and content diversity coupled with the
fusion of legacy 'standard of care' modalities in transition
to enlarging Health/Wellness awareness further impacted by
the ongoing challenges of the COVID19 global pandemic as
presented by the 9 networks on air:
■HealthMedica.com. | Health & Wellness Network
■NeuroMedica.com | Brain Health Network
■MaleAging.com | Male Health
Network
■FemaleAging.com | Womens Health Network
■GynoMD.com | Womens Health
Guide
■WorldCancerInstitute.com | Global Cancer Network
■E0NS.com | Longevity Network
■NiteSleep.com | Sleep Health Network
■COVID19TV.com | COVID Global Network
WRLD1: Health in the Future: Redefining Health at
Home-Enlarging the Scope of Wellness
Embracing Telemedicine, At Home Fitness, Digital Therapies
Health has emerged as a key focus for consumers readjusting to
their 'new normal,' and experts say consumers' approach to fitness
and overall wellness may be permanently altered. — Mirror
The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken up nearly every consumer
category, influencing new consumer behaviors, stifling entire
industries and inspiring growth in others, including pockets of the
health sector.
The health and wellness industry, already a booming $4.5
trillion business, has seen particularly marked change as
housebound consumers adapt to life without gyms, fitness studios or
easily accessible doctors' offices, and reconsider overall what it
means to be well in the age of a pandemic.
These new behaviors rely on the power of the internet to
maintain human connection and interaction. As consumers comply with
social distancing recommendations, the home has become the central
stage for everything from eating and socializing to working and
working out.
To keep non-COVID-19 patients out of hospitals and doctors'
offices, for one, doctor visits have moved online. Indeed,
telemedicine and home fitness have been two of the obvious
beneficiaries of these shifts, with companies from Doctor on
Demand to Peloton, respectively, well-positioned amid the
crisis.
Meanwhile, companies running once high-touch operations have
found creative ways to bring business online and into customers'
homes.
Health has emerged as a key focus for consumers readjusting to
their "new normal." And after months of social distancing,
consumers' approach to fitness and overall wellness may be
permanently altered, experts said.
While "billions will be lost in the wellness industry in 2020
because of months of shuttered brick-and-mortar businesses," said
Beth McGroarty, vice president of
research for the Global Wellness Institute, "at the
big-picture, long-term level, the case for the wellness concept and
wellness markets post-pandemic looks very bullish."
■Pre-pandemic wellness and the rise of preventative
healthcare disruptors
Pre-pandemic, wellness was already emerging as the biggest
consumer spending opportunity in decades, Wendy Liebmann, CEO of WSL Strategic
Retail stated: "We've been seeing this growth since 2014 [in]
what we call the move from 'sick care' to 'well care.'" According
to WSL's 2019 How America Shops study, 73% of the U.S.
population said it was engaged in some aspect of living well, from
healthier eating and meditation to stress reduction and
fitness.
"Even before the pandemic, many people around the U.S. were
beginning to dabble in proactive and preventative health and
wellness practices," Liebmann said. "What this pandemic has
revealed is that taking care and control of your own health —
individual, family, home, etc. — is even more critical than
before."
Enabled by the internet, startups
like 98point6, Plushcare, Maven and the like
sprung up to deliver a more convenient and accessible means of
seeing a primary care provider. According to Liebmann, this taking
control over one's own health, combined with flagging consumer
trust in many industries, gives self-service options like digital
healthcare and at-home self-testing "every reason to grow," and the
data so far confirms her prediction.
According to a recent McKinsey survey, consumer adoption of
telehealth soared from 11% in 2019 to 46% in 2020, largely due to
the COVID-19 epidemic. McKinsey also estimates that virtual
healthcare has the opportunity to represent up to $250 billion in healthcare spending.
The continuing rise of preventative care has the effect of
making 'well-care' more accessible to all. "Going forward,
opportunities will continue to emerge around telehealth, putting
people in increased control of their own well-being," she stated.
"More services will become democratized through digitized and
affordable models."
As people work from home in unprecedented numbers, more
consumers will incorporate new practices for both self-care and
cleaning into their personal spaces. To that end categories of
'functional wellness' will be added to homes, reflecting
consumers' interest in protection from electromagnetic pollution
like cell phones to circadian lighting that mirrors the
natural sleep/wake cycles of the human body.
"Home has turned into a sanctuary," said Shin. "It's also turned
into a wellness hub, where people build their self-care routines
and find simple joy in their everyday lives."
What this pandemic has revealed is that taking care and control
of your own health — individual, family, home, etc. — is far more
critical than before.
■The parallel events driving the Remote-work boom drives
home-fitness boom
Reflecting the presence of ongoing health challenges driven by a
perennial pandemic environment, consumers continue to telework,
home fitness has become an especially notable business opportunity,
with online sales of home gym equipment skyrocketing as the virus
spread and consumers sheltered in place, surging 66% from
the same period in 2019.
Yoga retailer Lululemon's recent $500 million
acquisition of home workout smart mirror company, Mirror,
signals that wellness' major players are getting into the game as
well.
Meanwhile, more traditional brick-and-mortar fitness companies
such as Crunch and Barry's now offer a wide
variety of classes via Instagram Live, said Shin, noting social
media's ability to help blur the line between physical and digital
activity. In addition, boutique fitness
chains Equinox and SoulCycle are moving
members online with dedicated home bikes and virtual classes.
The question then becomes: Is this growth of digital fitness
platforms sustainable, or will consumers return to the gym as soon
as they're able? "The post-virus wellness future will be a 'hybrid'
approach for many more people," McGroarty predicts, with consumers
making selective trips to gyms, fitness studios or businesses they
trust, but otherwise keeping much of their activity online.
Prior to COVID-19, digital/in-home fitness platforms like
Peloton and Mirror were already gaining market and under the
pandemic, this trend has accelerated putting them in a
stronger position post-crisis.
As wellness becomes increasingly homebound, it's also become
more accessible to more people, and expanded consumers' ideas of
'wellness' to include mental health, community and preventative
lifestyle changes.
"Before the virus, the wellness industry was rightly accused of
a too-myopic focus on the wealthy," McGroarty said. "In the future,
I believe more people will reject super-elitist, absurdly expensive
wellness experiences and products. Wellness in general will become
more important in people's lives — and command a bigger share of
wallet, even if the wallet has shrunk."
WGSN's Shin believes this democratizing effect will only grow as
consumers reprioritize the needs of their own families and
communities. "Since the coronavirus outbreak, people are
increasingly shifting focus from 'me' to 'we,' looking at ways to
tackle their anxiety with acts of kindness and compassion," she
said. "As a result, the wellness industry is now looking beyond how
the individual feels and towards how they exist in a society."
McGroarty predicts that wellness culture will grow to include
more everyday, rather than aspirational, activities, such as
walking outside or meditating, often with the aid of tools like
meditation app Calm, or therapy
apps like TalkSpace or BetterHelp. "Mental
wellness and meditation app companies are going to be in a much
better position financially post-pandemic," she said, "and will
invest in bold new directions and platforms."
According to a recent McKinsey survey, consumer adoption of
telehealth soared from 11% in 2019 to 46% in 2020, largely due to
the COVID-19 epidemic. — PlushCare
■What the future holds for wellness
Companies in sectors like telehealth and home fitness have made
invaluable gains in mindshare throughout the pandemic, shaping the
future of consumer behavior and the wellness sector.
"Most of the behaviors that we see remaining will be those that
were already ingrained or beginning to be pre-COVID," Liebmann
said. For example, the redefining of a healthy lifestyle to include
financial, emotional and intellectual wellness will continue, and
it will inform behaviors related to sustainability and the
environment as well, she said.
Driven less by celebrity trends and influencers, post-pandemic
wellness culture will likely center around self-examination and
-improvement, and digitally enabled well-being, said Shin. "The
democratization of wellness will also come to the fore, with more
people seeking brands that make health and fitness more accessible,
especially for marginalized communities."
However, as virtual health and fitness becomes the "new normal,"
the same competition that powered growth of the wellness industry
will shape the options consumers face.
"The digital fitness and wellness space will get even more
crowded during and after COVID," McGroarty said. "Affordable
options will really matter. And the virus has shown the power of
how even one yoga teacher can create audiences of millions
using Zoom at home.
The WRLD1 Health / Wellness Networks group in addition to all
other TVNET categories of geocentric and key industry vertical
networks will continue to be resources for AI development that
permit more targeted insights and diversity of video
programming driving decisions in personal and family health choices
leading to improved overall well being.
Sassover noted: "Our challenges with this group of Networks are
balance and engaging range of content within our video display
innovations to optimize video viewing within the content
'window' to each Health /Wellness news hub and beyond which link to
other WRLD1 destinations on the platform."
Contact:
Lauren Holt
News@WRLD1.com
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SOURCE TVNET Inc