This morning’s Peloton on-screen announcement is heralding in the “ride with streaming services” feature that the bike probably could have had for a while now. We took a quick Top Gun ride to try it out…
As a background, the Peloton screen is really just a huge Android screen, and it has been capable of running a browser and Android apps since the beginning. We’ve even showed you how to download Netflix and other APKs.
Former CEO and founder John Foley when asked about streaming services said:
I don’t hate [streaming services] idea. We talk about it. Never say never.
John Foley
Today is that day.
And you might want to keep the Netflix app on there because at launch Peloton only includes Prime Video and YouTubeTV.
The Prime partnership makes sense since Amazon is now slinging discounted Peloton bikes and accessories/apparel. We’re not sure why YouTubeTV got the launch nod (vs. regular YouTube or Netflix for example), but here we are.
The old way:
The new way:
With a quick streaming ride under my belt, I’m impressed. The video quality is good and sound quality great through headphones.
The apps look and act like embedded web apps and the video is boxed with your normal ‘just ride’ or scenic Peloton scoring on the outside. I wonder if a future full-screen letterbox would be possible here with the scores either being outside the letterbox or overlaid on what’s playing.
I can see this as a great way to catch up on a show or ride through a sporting event for instance.
This isn’t to replace an instructor led ride which really push you to your limits, it is more to replace watching videos on the couch or in bed.
Obviously, we’ll look forward to more services here like Netflix, Youtube, Hulu, and more, though perhaps Peloton is wary of other competing ride video
The streaming service is also available on Peloton Row and Tread, which also got a new Lane Break game today.
An awesome but unlikely future feature would be to allow people to watch videos together over the internet like you can currently take instructor classes.
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