• by Joe Mandese , March 14, 2011

Netpulse Inc., which operates a place-based video network distributed across stationary exercise equipment in health clubs nationwide, this morning announced a series of deals that will integrate its software and content and ad serving technology directly through the manufacturers of leading fitness equipment. The deals ensure Netpulse will accelerate its distribution, effectively making every new piece of exercise equipment - everything from treadmills to elliptical trainers - shipped an affiliate of its network.

The deals, which were struck Friday during the Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association Trade Show in San Francisco, were with some of the biggest manufacturers, including companies such as Life Fitness, Tehnogym, Matrix Fitness, and Woodway, which in total represent more than 70% of all fitness equipment sold.

The deals are a significant part of Netpulse's strategy to build a digital network that reaches exercise-minded consumers whenever and wherever they are interacting with equipment, says CEO Bryan Arp.

"Now wherever a consumer goes, all they have to do is log in and we can deliver their favorite TV shows, music videos and personal fitness history," he says.

Significantly for Madison Avenue, Netpulse can also deliver advertising that is suited specifically for that consumer based on a variety of information, including their personal registration data, and their programming and exercise history.

That makes Netpulse something special for TV advertisers, says Mitch Oscar, the executive vice president-televisual applications with Havas' MPG, who has been working closely with Netpulse to place "addressable" and "geo-targeted" TV ads for the agencies clients. ,p> "Most importantly, it is the only addressable TV platform out there that offers video addressability with interactive TV applications, ie., request for interaction," says Oscar, noting that other big players are still only testing the long-awaited concept that is expected to give TV the kind of pin-point targeting and interactivity as online media.

Oscar said companies such as Invidi Technologies and Visible World have struck deals to deploy addressable TV advertising via cable operators such as Comcast and Cablevision Systems, while other companies like Microsoft's Navic and cable industry venture Canoe Ventures are deploying interactive banner addressability, but he that at best, those systems only target households, while Netpulse can reach individuals based on their unique personal history.

To date, he says MPG has placed addressable TV advertising deals for two of its clients - Tag Heuer and DKNY - and that it also helped bring ABC digital network ABC Live Well into the system with specialized content aimed at people who are exercising.

Netpulse's Arp cites another deal WPP's Kinetic recently placed for client Abbott Labs' EAS brand, which featured branded content featuring an athlete performing "30 Sports in 30 Days." He says content, as well as advertising, can be custom tailored to match the unique lifestyle interests of people who routinely use exercise equipment, and that now with the new "OEM" deal with manufacturers, their workout, content and advertising histories can follow them around wherever they work out.

Arp says this is possible, because every single piece of equipment installed on its network can identify an individual user when they log-in, and it is immediately downloaded to that piece of equipment.

That enables the user to access their personal workout history, as well as media content and advertising.

And if those personal data points weren't compelling enough, Arp says Netpulse also collects some potentially powerful biometric data from its registered users, including the type of equipment they are exercising on, how long they exercise, the amount of calories they burn, and their hard rates on a second-by-second basis. He says Netpulse hasn't figured out what to do with that data, or whether it might help marketers understand the mental or physical state consumers might be in while engaged in cardiovascular exercise, but Madison Avenue currently is exploring all sorts of new methods of using biometric research to understand how consumers react physically, emotionally and cognitively to media.

In the short run, the equipment manufacturers' deal will help Netpulse accelerate its deployment from a few million users monthly. The manufacturers covered in the agreement reach 70% of a market that is estimated to reach 70% of the U.S. market for health club equipment.