{"id":150491,"date":"2015-08-14T16:22:54","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T23:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=150491"},"modified":"2015-08-14T16:44:21","modified_gmt":"2015-08-14T23:44:21","slug":"is-the-swimming-market-too-small-for-entrepreneurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/is-the-swimming-market-too-small-for-entrepreneurs\/","title":{"rendered":"Is The Swimming Market Too Small For Entrepreneurs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Commentary by Nico Gimenez @nicomg17<\/em><\/p>\n

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Some people think the swimming market is too small to build an investable business. Before my co-founders and I decided to develop a swim product, we explored this hypothesis and concluded that swimming is an underrated niche within the broader fitness market. That said, the goal here is to (i) provide perspective on the number of core swimming participants, and (ii) shed light on the sport\u2019s growth domestically.<\/p>\n

Rather than rattling off the largest participation numbers we can find online (meaningless without context), we make an \u201capples to apples\u201d comparison between swimming, running, and cycling. Why? Because when you ask someone if you can build an investable business in running, the response is, \u201cof course, look at MapMyRun.\u201d What about cycling? \u201cOf course, look at Strava\u201d. Swimming? \u201cUm…isn\u2019t the market too small?\u201d<\/p>\n

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1. NUMBER OF CORE PARTICIPANTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

While swimming may not be America\u2019s most popular sport, it\u2019s sizable and it\u2019s increasing in popularity. In England and Australia (figures below), as well as other international countries, swimming is more popular than running and cycling.<\/p>\n

Note on figures:<\/p>\n