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New Research Shows Untapped Potential For Alcohol Brands In The Video Space

Top Four Alcohol Ads Account for 97% of Shares; Wine & Spirit Brands Have Untapped Potential in Social Video, According To New Study By Video Tech Company Unruly.

Market leaders in the alcohol sector are being left behind in social video marketing because they are not optimizing their content for the social web, according to new research released today by video technology company Unruly.  

The report, called ‘Untapped Potential: The State of Sharing in the Alcohol Sector’, found that despite enjoying significant growth last quarter, 97% of the shares across the social web came from just four ads – fewer than 1% of the alcohol adverts released in 2013 – including Budweiser’s runaway Super Bowl hit “Brotherhood” and a controversial video by little-known Russian-Austrian vodka brand, Neft. Meanwhile, market leaders such as Diageo and SAB Miller are lagging behind. Wine brands remain the slowest to embrace social video, attracting less than 1% of the sharing activity during both quarters.

Beer brands, which historically dominate alcohol advertising, were also impacted by spirit brands in Q1, lowering beer brands’ share of voice from 97% in Q4 2012 to 75% in Q1 2013.

The key findings of the report were:

  • Four ads drove 97% of the video shares in Q1: Budweiser, Neft Vodka, Carlsberg and Heineken;
  • Underdog brands lead social video in the spirits industry, which is outstripping sales growth of wine and beer at 3.7% CAGR;
  • Alcohol brands accounted for almost half (47.1%) of total FMCG/CPG shares in Q1 2013, helping to drive a 78.2% quarter-on-quarter increase in the overall sector;
  • AB InBev increased video shares from 8% in Q4 2012 to 59% in Q1 2013;
  • The top 10 alcohol ads were an average of 2 minutes 16 seconds long;
  • Of the top 10 alcohol videos in Q1 2013, only one – Beck’s Sapphire – was 30 seconds long.

“The research found that some of the big alcohol brands – and sub-sectors – are vastly underperforming in social video,” said Ian Forrester, Unruly’s Insight Director. “For wine and spirit brands, the opportunity to increase brand awareness and sales conversion rates through social video in a way that that is socially responsible and meets LDA requirements is huge, as there has been very little mass movement from these brands in creating shareable video content. Additionally, leading brands like Diageo and SAB Miller that have very strong market share are lagging behind competitors when it comes to social video share of voice.”Additionally, leading brands like Diageo and SAB Miller that have very strong market share are lagging behind competitors when it comes to social video share of voice.”

The research, which evaluates social video success in the alcohol industry, found that overall video sharing in the alcohol sector increased 1,593% from Q4 2012 to Q1 2013.
Top 10 Performing Alcohol Videos – Total Shares – Q1 2013

top alcohol ads (1)

Click here to download the full report.

About the Methodology

Data in this report is supplied by Unruly Analytics™, a cloud-based dashboard which measures social reactions to video content from 1,300 brands across all verticals.

Analysis period is Q3 2012 to Q1 2013 inclusive. The data used in Unruly Analytics also powers the Unruly Viral Video Chart™, which has been trusted since 2006 by advertisers worldwide to track their video content and has tracked over 329 billion video views worldwide.

Data from Unruly Analytics has been combined with insight from Unruly ShareRank™, a proprietary algorithm created by combining data from the Unruly Viral Video Chart with the responses of thousands of viewers and incorporating 100+ variables that affect ‘shareability’.