VHS Queen vs. App Queen Revenue Breakdown

Jane Fonda sold 17 million VHS tapes. Kayla Itsines sold her app for $400 million. Both built empires by convincing women that transformation was one workout away. The medium changed. The message didn’t.

The Jane Fonda to Kayla Itsines comparison reveals fitness monetization’s evolution from physical products to digital subscriptions. One required manufacturing plants and retail partnerships. The other required only an iPhone and Instagram. Both understood the same fundamental truth: women’s fitness sells aspiration, not exercise.

How Jane Fonda Built Her Fitness Fortune

Fonda released her first workout video in 1982. The timing was impeccable—home VCR ownership had just crossed 10% of American households. She wasn’t just selling a workout. She was selling a new way to exercise: privately, at home, without judgment.

That first tape, Jane Fonda’s Workout, became the highest-selling VHS of all time (non-theatrical). According to Billboard records, it held the top-selling video position for six consecutive years. The suggested retail price was $59.95—roughly $180 in today’s dollars.

Her workout empire eventually included 23 different videos. The Forbes profile of Fonda estimates total fitness-related revenue exceeded $500 million at retail, with her personal take reaching $80 million or more through royalty arrangements.

The Fonda Revenue Model

VHS royalties typically ran 10-15% of wholesale price. On a tape that wholesaled for $30, Fonda received approximately $3-4.50 per unit. Multiply by 17 million units, and the royalty math generates $50-75 million in tape revenue alone.

Book sales extended her fitness brand into print. Jane Fonda’s Workout Book sold over 2 million copies. At standard author royalties, this added approximately $3-5 million to her fitness fortune.

Licensing deals covered leotards, leg warmers, and branded equipment. These secondary revenue streams likely added another $10-15 million over the empire’s peak years.

How Kayla Itsines Built Her Fitness Fortune

Itsines started as a personal trainer in Adelaide, Australia in 2008. Her transformation photos began going viral on Instagram around 2014. By 2016, she had 6 million followers and a PDF workout guide generating over $17 million annually according to Business Insider reporting.

The Sweat app launched in 2017 and quickly dominated the fitness app category. At its peak, Sweat generated $100 million in annual revenue with subscription pricing of $19.99 per month. The app’s success attracted acquisition interest from multiple strategic buyers.

iFIT acquired Sweat in 2021 for a reported $400 million. Itsines and her co-founder partner Tobi Pearce split the proceeds, with Itsines’s personal take estimated at $200+ million after the transaction.

The Itsines Revenue Model

App subscriptions generate recurring revenue with near-zero marginal costs. Unlike VHS manufacturing, adding one more subscriber costs essentially nothing. This margin structure enabled rapid wealth accumulation.

Sweat’s conversion funnel moved users from free Instagram content to paid PDF guides to monthly app subscriptions. Each step increased customer lifetime value. According to Statista, premium fitness app users spend an average of $174 annually.

Brand partnerships provided additional income streams. Itsines launched workout apparel lines and equipment partnerships. However, these represented smaller portions of her total fortune compared to app revenue.

Revenue Breakdown: Then vs. Now

Fonda’s Estimated Fitness Empire Economics

Total VHS units sold: 17 million. Average retail price: $45. Total retail revenue: approximately $765 million. Fonda’s estimated royalty take: $50-75 million. Book royalties: approximately $3-5 million. Licensing and merchandise: approximately $10-15 million.

Fonda’s fitness fortune accumulated over 13 peak years (1982-1995). Her annual fitness income likely averaged $6-8 million during this period—exceptional for the era, but limited by physical distribution constraints.

Itsines’s Estimated App Empire Economics

Peak annual app revenue: $100 million. Estimated operating margin: 60-70% (SaaS-typical). Annual profit: approximately $60-70 million. Acquisition value: $400 million. Personal take (estimated): $200+ million.

Itsines accumulated more wealth in 7 years (2014-2021) than Fonda did in 13. The digital margin advantage explains the difference. Every additional Sweat subscriber added pure profit. Every additional Fonda tape required manufacturing.

What Fonda Got Right (That Itsines Inherited)

Transformation Imagery Sells

Fonda’s before-and-after marketing positioned her workout as the path between bodies. Itsines’s Instagram empire was built entirely on transformation photos—user-generated proof that her system worked. Both understood that aspiration outperforms instruction.

Women Want Women Instructors

Fonda was the first female fitness celebrity to achieve mainstream cultural penetration. Itsines built her following specifically among women seeking female-led guidance. Neither competed directly with male-dominated bodybuilding content.

Community Creates Stickiness

Fonda’s workout classes became social events—friends gathered to exercise together in living rooms. Itsines’s BBG (Bikini Body Guide) community created similar accountability structures through hashtags and Facebook groups. Both converted individual exercise into social identity.

What Itsines Improved

Digital Subscriptions Beat One-Time Purchases

Fonda earned once per customer when they bought her tape. Itsines earns monthly for as long as subscribers stay. A customer with 24-month retention generates $480 for Itsines versus a one-time $45 for Fonda. The recurring revenue advantage compounds dramatically.

Social Proof Replaces Marketing Spend

Fonda required television advertising and retail placement to reach customers. Itsines required only organic Instagram growth. The customer acquisition cost difference approaches zero for digital-native brands with strong transformation content.

Global Distribution Happens Instantly

Fonda’s tapes required separate manufacturing, distribution, and retail arrangements for each country. Itsines’s app launched globally simultaneously. International expansion that took Fonda years took Itsines weeks.

The Margin Story

The margin comparison tells the real story. Fonda’s VHS business likely operated at 15-25% net margins after manufacturing, distribution, retail cuts, and returns. Itsines’s app business operated at 60-70% net margins with minimal variable costs.

On $100 million in revenue, Fonda would have netted $15-25 million. Itsines netted $60-70 million. The three-to-fourfold margin advantage explains why digital fitness fortunes dwarf their VHS predecessors.

Legacy Impact Comparison

Fonda’s cultural impact extended beyond fitness. She made exercise acceptable—even fashionable—for women of her generation. Her influence on women’s relationship with their bodies shaped decades of fitness culture that followed.

Itsines’s impact focused more narrowly on fitness app economics. She proved that social media audiences could convert to subscription products at scale. Her exit established valuation benchmarks for fitness tech acquisitions.

Both created categories. Fonda created home fitness video. Itsines created the Instagram-to-app pipeline. Both demonstrated that women’s fitness represents a massive, underserved market willing to pay premium prices.

What Today’s Fitness Entrepreneurs Can Learn

The Fonda-to-Itsines comparison offers actionable lessons. First, prioritize subscription over one-time purchase models whenever possible. Recurring revenue compounds. One-time purchases don’t.

Second, invest in transformation content. Both empires were built on the promise of physical change. Third, build community around your content. Fonda’s living room gatherings and Itsines’s hashtag tribes both created social proof at scale.

Finally, understand that platform shifts create category-defining opportunities. Fonda captured VCR adoption. Itsines captured Instagram-to-app conversion. The next fitness fortune will likely capture whatever platform transition comes next.

Read More: Return to our pillar hub From VHS to Viral: How Fitness Fortunes Evolved for the complete generational analysis.

Compare More Lineages: Explore how Joe Weider to Joe Rogan compares magazine moguls to podcast kingmakers.

Legacy Profiles: Deep dive into Jane Fonda’s Workout Empire complete financial breakdown.