(2018-12-15) Headspace Vs Calm: Meditation Battle

Headspace vs. Calm: The Meditation Battle That’s Anything but Zen. Behind the blissful marketing mantras, Headspace and Calm are locked in a head-to-head fight to dominate the booming $1.2 billion meditation market. (Self-Help)

Rich Pierson, CEO and co-founder of Headspace, (would) rather focus on his Santa Monica, Calif.-based company’s authenticity, he says, which is drawn from co-founder Andy Puddicombe’s 10 years of studying meditation at Buddhist monasteries... Calm’s founders previously worked in online gaming and advertising.

Both apps have been downloaded more than 38 million times, with each hitting 1 million paid subscribers in June, the companies say.

Calm has topped the category in both downloads and mobile revenue since last December, with revenue through October at $50.7 million, according to estimates from mobile-data firm Sensor Tower. Headspace, now in second place, saw revenue of $34.3 million, according to Sensor Tower. Both offer standard subscription rates of $13 a month. Annual subscriptions cost $96 a year at Headspace and $70 a year at Calm.

All the attention has fueled a digital bonanza, with more than 2,000 new meditation apps launched over the past three years. Headspace and Calm account for about 85% of the revenue generated by the top 10 apps in the category, according to Sensor Tower data.

Headspace is pushing for growth through corporate partnerships, last year hiring chief business officer Ross Hoffman away from Twitter , where he led global content partnerships... “We’re just fishing where the fish are,” Mr. Hoffman says. Over the past 18 months, he has signed deals with more than 300 companies to integrate Headspace subscriptions into their employee health and wellness benefits, including Unilever , Adobe , Genentech and LinkedIn. Last March, Headspace announced a deal with the National Basketball Association to become the league’s official mediation and mindfulness partner. It involves branded content, promotions and about 7,000 subscriptions for players and staff, but no money exchanged hands, Headspace says.

Its Headspace Health division is currently seeking Food and Drug Administration approval to become the first prescription meditation app for certain chronic illnesses. FDA approval would pave the way for Headspace programs to be covered by health insurance.