• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, September 15, 2020

In particular, what about the recent speculation around CNBC concerning one high-flying company: Is Peloton a bike, a Software-as-a-service (SaaS) or... a Netflix company? Peloton has seen its stock growing 32% over the past month -- with the company now near $1.8 billion in revenue and now profitable.

Some would say much of this growth has been fostered by COVID-19 pandemic disruption, prompting much in-home activity. But Peloton was ramping up before the pandemic.

When the pandemic led to a struggling economy, another question arose: How can people afford a $2,000 bike and another $20 or so a month for a video-connected subscription?

Even then, what about scale? Right now, Peloton has just over 1.1 million monthly subscribers. But way of comparison, Netflix has 73 million, while Disney+ also has 54.5 million.

So is Peloton a streaming service? Many might expand this notion to new kinds of premium video platforms — such as Zoom (for personal and business video conferences) and Teledoc (for connection to medical professionals).

In that regard, if all these companies — Peloton, Zoom, or Teledoc —  have deep and extensive niche, engagement “networks,” who is to say they can’t expand into other areas.?

Some believe the next generation of premium video platforms could be a hybrid model —  bridging the virtual world and the real world of direct contact with people, who may still be six feet apart for some time.

Yes — real health clubs, office meeting rooms, and doctors' offices will still be very much part of our future. For many, there is only so much a video screen can do for our all our needs when it comes to entertainment, health, exercise, information or otherwise.

If you are wondering who the next Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock, or Amazon Prime Video platform will be, you may need to expand your definition.