Clubs & Studios · NEWS BRIEF
Planet Fitness Leans on Rate Growth as Members Hit 21.5M
Revenue up 7.1% to $365.2 million with same-club growth coming entirely from rate, a 68% Black Card mix and a $200 million buyback — the value giant's growth engine is now price, not traffic.
Planet Fitness grew its second quarter the way the value segment now has to: on price, not footfall. Revenue rose 7.1% to $365.2 million and system-wide same-club sales rose 1.7%, driven entirely by rate growth, per the earnings call held 6 August. Membership ended the quarter at roughly 21.5 million, up 3.6% year over year, with Black Card penetration at 68% — a gain of 210 basis points that does much of the pricing work on its own.
The capital return followed the cash flow: a $200 million share buyback executed at an average of $50.44, alongside 23 new club openings and full-year revenue guidance of +7%.
Read against the survey data, the strategy is coherent. Wellhub’s Fitness Business Growth Report 2026, covering 662 gym and studio owners across 11 countries, found member requests prioritise flexible or shorter contracts (66%) and better digital or hybrid options (65%) well ahead of lower prices (46%). Demand is less price-anchored than the value category’s own marketing implies — and the largest value operator in the world just booked a quarter in which every point of same-club growth came from rate.
The watch-item for the rest of 2026 is what happens when rate growth meets a member base growing more slowly than revenue. This quarter’s same-club figure carried no traffic component; if Black Card penetration keeps climbing, the rate lever holds. If it stalls, the 95% of owners who report competition intensifying over three years will be knocking at Planet Fitness’s door too.