Kim Kardashian, Ashton Kutcher & Chris Paul: Could Peloton Shares Ride A Celebrity Wave?

Interactive fitness company Peloton Interactive PTON has had a rough year, with shares down 90% and a new CEO working to turnaround the company that saw huge demand and interest during the COVID-19 pandemic. Could a new series featuring celebrities on Peloton products help with brand awareness and interest?

What Happened: Actor and entrepreneur Ashton Kutcher partnered with Peloton on a new series called “Our Future Selves.” The series will see Kutcher interview and host training sessions with Peloton trainers and celebrities.

The new show coincides with Kutcher training for the 2022 TCS New York City Marathon (Nov. 6, 2022) and an effort to raise money for his nonprofit Thorn.

“Our Future Selves” is a 16-eisode series that will air classes over the course of 10 weeks. Scheduled to appear in the series are Kim Kardashian, Natalie Portman, Kenny Chesney, Thomas Rhett, Allyson Felix, Jon Batiste and Chris Paul. The celebrities will all run and train on the Peloton Tread in the episodes. Each episode will feature a motivated Peloton coach. The classes will be available to Peloton users alongside the series.

The series began on Aug. 30 and featured Peloton Instructor Becs Gentry.

“Having Peloton instructors get me marathon ready has been incredible and creating this series has been a blast,” Kutcher said. “I’ve talked to brilliant actors, musicians, writers, athletes and doctors about what keeps them going and their ‘why.’”

Kardashian will be featured on an episode that will be released on Sep. 6, 2022.

Related Link: Don't Treadmill On Me: Peloton Chops 750 Jobs, Boosts Prices, Closes Stores As Reorganization Picks Up Steam

Why It’s Important: Kutcher is a “passionate Peloton member” according to the company and could help the company increase brand awareness and show that celebrities are using the products.

Kardashian is of particular note, given her wide reach on social media and the potential for a post about the company's products. Kardashian is the 12th most followed person on Twitter with 73.5 million followers. On Instagram, Kardashian is the seventh most followed account with 329 million followers.

Kardashian is also featured on the show “The Kardashians,” which airs on streaming platform Hulu, a unit of The Walt Disney Company DIS. The show has seen strong viewership and Kardashian could mention the Peloton workout during an episode, providing another brand boost to the fitness company.

Peloton reported fourth quarter sales of $678.7 million, which were down 28% year-over-year and lower than estimates from analysts.

While overall revenue fell, the company saw the number of Peloton members and connected fitness subscriptions rise on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter.

The company is working on reducing inventory, outsourcing manufacturing, job cuts and exploring the option of having customers assemble products themselves to save on costs.

Another item that could help the company is a partnership with Amazon.com Inc AMZN that will see the company’s products, apparel and accessories available on the ecommerce company’s platform.

CEO Barry McCarthy took over in February 2022 and is working through an intense turnaround. While one celebrity won’t make or break it for the company, the new Kutcher series could help bring more brand awareness and get people excited about its products again.

PTON Price Action: Peloton were down 8.17% to $9.44 on Friday, versus a 52-week range of $8.22 to $40.35. Shares are down 73% year-to-date in 2022.

Photo: Courtesy of TechCrunch on flickr