iHeartFitness

In 2015, I worked on a conceptual project, exploring different possibilities of what happens when iHeartRadio becomes part of a fitness experience. Some goals to keep in mind are: increasing the TLH (total listening hours), business opportunities, and technological feasibility. Out of the concepts generated, one was selected to be submitted to a Hack Day Competition (24-hour company-wide event). 

Job Story

When I want my workout to achieve personal fitness goals, I expect to have a customized music experience that can influence my performance that are as effective as possible.

Research

Studies show that music helps to induce brain wave activity leading to a state of ultimate motivation where people are completely immersed in what they are doing. Music can persuade your mind into feeling less tired during a workout and also encourage positive thoughts. At the point when your body is shouting to stop, music has the power to lift your mood and beckon you on.

“It won’t turn you into a superhero but some studies have proven that listening to music before or while exercising can increase performance. [...] Music can influence the body to have greater energy output, and also reduce the perception of feeling tired. When we are bored with doing the same things day in and day out (like at work or in class), music is what keeps us going while putting a beat under our feet.” - www.hongkiat.com

In preparation for conceptualization, we researched what the recommended heart rate should be during resting moments and during exercises between men and women. As illustrated below (Figure 1, Figure 2), the recommendations are influenced by gender, age, and personal goal.

Approach

Most music apps match song beats per minute with the users running pace, which is not ideal because then the user isn’t being challenged. As a result, we decided to gear our workouts towards the type of exercise a user wants to do. 

By customizing the user’s workout experience using age, gender, type of activity and duration, we curate a personalized workout experience pulling songs from different buckets and creating an ultimate workout with a warm up, workout and cool down. The user's age and gender information is taken from the registration form, when the user had created an account with iHeartRadio.

Figure 3 shows our strategy for how we wanted to approach this iHeartFitness app.

Proto-Persona

To ensure alignment among the team on the target user's needs/goals, and to have a starting point which will facilitate in evaluating our early concepts, we put together a proto-persona (Figure 4).

How it works

Competitor apps play songs that match the user's current heart rate, but we found this counterintuitive. The user needs to hear songs with beats that are faster than the user's current heart rate for the warm-up phase. Music should motivate the user, not the other way around.

Just as importantly, the app should pick songs with a slower beat than the user's heart rate in order to motivate the user to slow down during the cool down phase (Figure 5).

Concept 1

In Concept 1, I explored the possibility of partnership with the Olympics. Research shows that music plays a large and critical role when Olympic athletes are training, practicing, or competing, whether on land or in the water. For example, while Michael Phelps trains for 5-6 hours per day, he listens to music (with H2O Audio's Waterproof headphones) to keep him entertained for the long stretches of time. Serena Williams listens to specific artists for motivation during workouts, and for helping her prepare right before matches.

Pros
+ Increases branding awareness for iHeartRadio
+ Inspirational

Cons
- May be costly, depending on partnership strategy
- Potentially limited number of playlists per sport
- Might not accrue enough fresh content periodically to keep users engaged

Concept 2

While it is fairly common for users to listen to music while working out, we found an exercise app we thought could use iHeartRadio's music component. The Nike app contains a section for users to listen to audio files that exist on their device, but with an empty library, there is nothing to listen to. iHeartRadio has existing workout playlists and stations that will make playing music while exercising only a tap away.

Pros
+ Pre-existing area in Nike app for music integration
+ iHeartRadio already has workout playlists and stations
+ Cost efficient

Cons
- Easy to ignore iHeartRadio's content within the workout experience
- Number of users that fit within the target audience profile may be limited
- Nike might have their own reasons not to be receptive to a partnership

Concept 3

Contrary to highly active physical exercises, concept 3 explores what happens if iHeartRadio offered audio content which helps the user relax or destress. Content sections could include: going to sleep, meditation, yoga or focus.

Pros
+ iHeartRadio already has playlists and stations for this category
+ Easy integration
+ Simple and inexpensive app to create
+ Reinforces the breadth of iHeartRadio's library

Cons
- Number of users that fit within the target audience profile may be limited

Concept 4

As we researched existing apps that utilized a user's heartbeat to generate personalized audio content, we found that there weren't many, and the ones that did exist on the market, didn't have intuitive experiences. These apps simply took the user's current heartbeat, and surfaced songs that matched the heartbeat. This means that if the user is just beginning to workout, their heart rate will be near resting heart rate, which then causes the app to only return songs that are close to the resting heart rate. The user has to force themselves to exercise faster to get their heart rate up to a speed which will cause the app to return music at the pace they want. We wanted to improve upon this experience, as we believe that music motivates the user, not vice versa.

Pros
+ Very personalized experience
+ Integrates with smartwatches
+ Suitable for beginner to advance athletes
+ iHeartRadio already has workout playlists and stations
+ Cost efficient
+ Expandable and updatable library of content for higher user engagement

Cons
- Developer resources may be limited

Results