I came across this chart in Charlie Bilello's latest newsletter. It was under the heading "the great reopening in 2 charts." The other chart was live nation (so concerts) vs. zoom. Both are showing returns over the last year. And both are showing a similar divergence between in-person and online activities.
Now, I'm not a Peloton guy.
But I know many people who swear (or swore) by them. Maybe it's because I've never been a class guy. I prefer to self direct myself at the gym and I like doing lots of different things. So I have a hard time believing that connected at-home gym equipment can completely supplant traditional gyms. There's also a social aspect to in-person workouts that I think a lot of people value. I personally find it more motivating to be working out around others.
But this wasn't the narrative last year. We were all going to move to the country, zoom into our meetings, and then switch to another sitting device and another screen so that we could connect with our trainers. For me, this chart is yet another reminder that 1) cities are resilient and 2) there are always opportunities in the midst of short-term market dislocations.
