A collection of key reports and data for marketers from the past year
Part of The Year Ahead 2020 special web issue
DoorDash, White Claw and Postmates Top List of Fastest Growing Brands
Morning Consult Brand Intelligence released its list of the fastest growing brands for 2019, with food brands and delivery services taking 11 of the top 20 spots. DoorDash won the No. 1 spot across Gen Z, millennials, Gen X and baby boomers. After DoorDash, the top five fastest growing brands overall were White Claw, Postmates, Impossible Foods and Venmo. The ranking is determined by measuring growth in the share of consumers who say they would consider purchasing from a brand over the course of the year.
Instagram Influencer Activity Increased 48% in 2019
A report from Klear found analyzed sponsored posts (those tagged with #ad) to find a 48% increase of Instagram influencer activity in 2019, a 9% increase from 2018 growth figures. The study also found 84% of sponsored posts were created by female influencers, despite Instagram’s global user base being 52% female and 48% male. Millennials continued to dominate the influencer space, with 54% of all influencer content created by users 25-34. Ninety percent of all branded partnerships were will micro-influencers, who have a fanbase of 5,000 to 30,000 followers.
Bots May Have Cost Online Retailers $10 Billion in 2019
Cheq and the University of Baltimore estimate that 5% of global web sales were at risk of opportunistic bots, resulting in a possible loss of $10 billion. For example, Ticketmaster’s estimation of 2019 losses caused by bots that restricted other users from using its site cost it $5,000 in a one-year period. The report noted that bots can also damage a company’s SEO and website reputation in addition to scrapers stealing content.
Amazon Will Earn $9.85 Billion in Net U.S. Digital Ad Revenue This Year
A report from eMarketer found Amazon is expected to make $9.85 billion in net U.S. digital ad revenue this year, accounting for 7.6% of the market. This marks a 33.1% year-over-year increase for 2019. The company became the No. 3 digital ad seller in the U.S. in 2018. EMarketer estimates that 72% of Amazon’s U.S. net digital ad revenue come from search ads.
Mexico, Brazil and China Named Top ‘Social’ Countries
Japan showed the lowest percentage of frequent social media use, while Mexico, Brazil and China show a high rate of use on various social platforms, according to an Ipsos report. The 2019 study found Twitter is by far the most “public” social media platform, as only 17% of users keep their tweets to their friends only, while 34% of Facebook users and 31% of Instagram users are the most “private” are private-only posters.
Consumers Willing to Pay More for Sustainable Products
A survey of 3,000 online adults in Great Britain, the U.S. and France found consumers would pay more for products if they used ingredients that promote good health (68%), treated workers fairly (64%), used recyclable or compostable packing (63%), are transparent about where and how products are made (62%), limit contribution to pollution (61%) and comply with regulations (61%). Ipsos also found a 25% gap between aspiration and action by consumers. Polling showed knowledge—after cost—is the main barrier to buying products that are produced responsibly, and that product labels are the No. 1 source of information (40%), followed by web searches (36%).
Photos: Woman taking selfie by Tommy Huang, via Pexels; illustration of woman via unDraw; grocery bag by Sylvie Tittel, via Unsplash.
Sarah Steimer is a writer, editor, podcast producer, and yoga teacher living in Chicago. She has written for Marketing News, Chicago magazine, Culture magazine, the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette, and other outlets.