LG, SM Entertainment join forces over new fitness joint venture

LG Electronics, a South Korean electronics major, has recently stated that it has formed a joint venture with entertainment company SM Entertainment to tap into the increasing home fitness market.

Cho Joo-wan, LG Electronics CEO, said that the new joint venture Fitness Candy would be encouraging LG from being a home appliance maker to a tech company that rebuilds consumers’ lifestyles.

The firm plans to utilize its abilities in building platforms and develop software to provide completely different home training services, ultimately innovating into a solution platform that suggests a smart lifestyle for each consumer, said Cho in a news conference.

The partnership between LG Electronics IT technology and SM Entertainment’s dance, music, and artist content will provide a prospect for contributing to the global health and fitness industry, said Lee Sung-su, SM CEO.

LG will be developing several home fitness devices, including artificial intelligence (AI) camera that senses a user’s movement and a wrist band that monitors calories burned and heart rates.

SM will offer its music resources and celebrity network for developing several fitness-related contents, from at-home training programs to workouts with the help of K-pop choreography.

South Korean celebrities like dancer Aiki from 2019 NBC’s World of Dance competition, chef Austin Kang and fashion model Han Hye-jin will be starring in the video.

The planned joint venture will be 51% owned by LG and 49% owned by SM.

Kim Bee-oh, Chief Security Officer of Fitness Candy, said that its services are expected to be priced per month from around 20,000 won ($15) to approximately 30,000 won ($23), which is higher than Apple’s Fitness Plus offered at $9.99 per month.

The long-term objective of the firm is to have 50,000 paid members and sales of 10 billion won威而鋼
($7.6 million) by 2023.