Why Is NBN Paying The Bachelor To Make YouTube Fitness Videos?

We’re not making this up. The brains behind the National Broadband Network have teamed up with the original Aussie Bachelor, Tim Robards, to release a bunch of workout videos on YouTube — apparently to promote the NBN.

On the surface, it makes sense — Robards is a personal trainer and runs fitness business The Robards Method, and more people than ever are turning to technology to help their exercise. Millenials in particular, NBN says, are more likely to be intimidated by the gym, but want to get their beach bodies ready for summer. But this is weird, right?

Bachelor Tim (who’ll always be Bachelor Tim to us, despite being happily matched to Anna Heinrich, who he met on the show) has been signed up by NBN to create “a series of nbn™ Virtual Trainer workout films.” Tim will take the viewer through a few different half-hour exercise routines, designed to be watched over the NBN: “with the latest trends from animalistic moves to Bollywood inspired dancing, these 30-minute long workouts are designed to be streamed from the comfort of your home over fast broadband.”

Here’s the first and second videos in the nbn™ Virtual Trainer series:

As well as the actual sessions themselves, Robards is appearing in a couple of different ads to promote the NBN — and how having fast internet “opens up a whole new world of fitness possibilities”. (That’s cold comfort to anyone that doesn’t have the NBN, by the way.) Here they are:

Here’s the thing, though. The videos themselves are great, don’t get us wrong, but this is just YouTube at 1080p, guys. You don’t need the NBN to watch a video that has a maximum bitrate of 8Mbps; if you have half-decent ADSL at home, or any cable connection — or even bloody 3G — then you’ll be able to stream these smoothly. As a demonstration of the power of the NBN, these videos aren’t very effective.

Crikey asked the government how much was spent on the campaign, and got a stock answer: “NBN has a publically available advertising and marketing budget within which it operates in order to generate revenue and ensure a return on investment to taxpayers. Within that budget, NBN has run a number of consumer campaigns in order to drive activations and ensure people are aware of the benefits of the NBN network.”

We’re also sure, from looking at his physique, the Bachelor gets just the right amount of fibre in his diet.