Planet Fitness Rebalances National Marketing and Local Control

Planet Fitness is shifting the balance between national brand control and location-level responsibility. How that balance plays out could offer a useful lesson on how strengthen local execution at scale.

Planet Fitness is considering transferring more company-operated clubs to franchisees while directing a larger share of required marketing spending toward national advertising. Together, the moves test whether a brand can give operators more responsibility for individual locations while retaining greater control of the marketing intended to attract customers.

Planet Fitness has begun reviewing the possible sale of some of its approximately 280 company-operated U.S. clubs to new or existing franchisees. The company wants corporate ownership to remain below 10% of its network.

Franchisees already operate approximately 90% of Planet Fitness’s 2,962 clubs. They were responsible for 25 of the 33 locations opened during the third quarter, serving a system that now includes approximately 21.5 million members.

More locations will rely on franchisees

Transferring clubs to franchisees puts more responsibility for staffing, service, member acquisition and community relationships in the hands of local operators. It can also bring decision-making closer to individual markets, where franchisees may understand local competitors, customer routines and potential partnerships better than a national corporate team.

Planet Fitness works primarily with experienced multi-unit operators. At the end of 2025, 98% of its franchised clubs belonged to groups operating at least three locations. The company had 86 franchise groups, with its largest operating 208 clubs.

These are not isolated business owners working without centralized support. Many are regional organizations with their own management teams, market knowledge and local media experience. As they add clubs, Planet Fitness will need to ensure that their location-level insight remains connected to national strategy.

Marketing is moving toward the national level

While franchisees may operate more clubs, Planet Fitness is centralizing a larger share of marketing. Franchisees voted to increase their National Advertising Fund contribution from 2% to 3% of membership dues in 2026, while required local marketing spending declined from 7% to 6%. The total commitment remained the same, but one percentage point moved from local activity to national campaigns.

The national fund supports brand awareness, media partnerships and creative materials that locations can use during promotional periods. Local budgets fund tactics such as digital advertising, direct mail, outdoor media, sponsorships and community partnerships. Planet Fitness can also organize regional advertising cooperatives when several operators share a market.

The change gives Planet Fitness more resources to deliver a consistent national message. That can help individual clubs, particularly when campaigns reinforce widely recognized positioning such as affordability and the “Judgement Free Zone.”

Customers, however, do not join a national network in the abstract. They choose a nearby club based on its location, hours, equipment, cleanliness, reviews and overall experience. National media may create interest, but individual clubs still need to convert that interest into visits and memberships.

With a smaller percentage allocated to local marketing, franchisees and their agencies will need to use those dollars more selectively. A mature club in a well-established market may require a different approach than a new location building awareness or a club facing aggressive local competition.

Connecting national campaigns with local demand

Planet Fitness has an opportunity to measure how national campaigns perform across different club types and trade areas. Systemwide membership growth alone will not show whether media is supporting the locations that need it most.

The company can examine whether campaigns generate searches, website visits, trial offers and new memberships around individual clubs. It can also compare results between established markets, expansion territories and locations transferred from corporate management to franchisees.

Regional cooperatives could become increasingly important as more clubs move into franchisee hands. They allow multiple locations to coordinate around a shared media market while adapting national campaigns to local conditions. They also provide a middle ground between every operator acting independently and every club receiving identical marketing.

Planet Fitness is building a system in which franchisees may control more of the physical customer experience while the company controls more of the advertising message. Those approaches can work together if national campaigns create measurable local demand and operators retain enough flexibility to address the conditions surrounding their clubs.

Planet Fitness’s challenge will be ensuring that a larger national voice still helps each club compete in its own local market.