Discover the latest trends sparking action in culture right now.
Introducing the Spark Guide by Group Nine Media.
A responsive trend report that drops trends right as they’re bubbling up.
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% Growth yOY
video views
40 million Americans engage with our content every day, 3x a day
Group Nine is the #1 publisher on mobile with the largest mobile audience in the U.S.
We have over 5 billion monthly video views
We reach over 80% of U.S. adults in their 20s
We have over 140 million social engagements each month
WE CAN MINE ALL OF THIS DATA...
WHAT DO WE DO WITH ALL OF THIS?
We identify an emerging trend.
We go deeper to understand it and its implications.
We triple check.
GIA
G9’s proprietary AI tool. It processes 115K video views every minute.
Lab 9
G9’s proprietary audience panel of
10,000 people A13-64 (US).
To understand content what’s resonating across categories, audiences and seasons.
We ask our panel detailed questions about each identified trend and then collect the qualitative feedback. This yields highly specific, actionable insights related to each trend.
We use third party resources to verify that what we’re seeing to determine if it has greater market implications.
We reference IAB, Google Trends, Nielsen, Facebook and social platform insights, and white papers from Bain, Deloitte, and Kantar.
Verify with outside sources
what
how
why
traveling off
the beaten path
… Because no one wants to feel like a tourist.
Gone are the days of cookie-cutter vacations, powered by travel guide books, crowded resorts, and disappointingly inauthentic dining tips.
Audiences want new and unusual experiences in faraway places —quite simply, they’re traveling off the beaten path to discover their own hidden gems. From hole-in-the-wall restaurants to cliff jumping adventures, audiences are becoming tour guides in their own right, using social media to tout their adventures and discover their next great getaway.
SEPTEMBER 2019
download THE latest report
G9 videos featuring isolated destinations
and unique vacation getaways have seen a
Travel content has exploded on Instagram from 2018-2019,
Making a splash, everywhere.
Audience snapshot
This trend is resonating with all travel enthusiasts, but it’s especially popular among adults A25-44 who have disposable income, are active on social, and want to experience big adventures before they start a family.
Millennials and young Gen Xers love this stuff.
09/19
traveling
Source: Facebook Insights.
Audiences consuming and engaging with this content over-index in the $100K+ and $200K+ household income segments.
Source: comScore. Standard census income distribution. Over-indices on $100K+ and $200K+ segments.
They have money in the bank.
Millennials that enjoy travel over-index for adrenaline-dense adventure including: surfing/windsurfing (218 index), skiing/snowboarding (623 index), whitewater rafting (128 index), camping (197 index), kayaking/canoeing (276 index), and rock climbing (619 index).
Source: US Millennial digital population via comScore (compared to the general US population 13+).
They like to
get their blood pumping.
Age breakdown
This trend is particularly pronounced with
A25-44 because these adults have completed their bucket list trips and are craving something new and unusual. Furthermore, they want to pursue thrilling experiences before they settle down with a family.
Source: Facebook audience insights
Norm = General population on Facebook and Instagram (US only). The highlighted portion represents those who like or interact with things associated with travel
We see a slightly lower index for A18-24 because they are still working through their mainstream bucket list trips, which tend to be “on the paved path” (ex. Visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris)
Lowest because this audience segment is less active on social media and the “off the beaten path” trend is inherently driven by social discovery and social sharing.
111
NORM
a18-24
124
a25-34
115
109
95
a35-44
a45-54
What's interesting...
Bye bye, white sandy beaches and snorkeling tours.
Friend-orsements
go a long way.
If it makes for a good photo, it makes for a good trip.
Mainstream vacation destinations and activities are losing steam. Travelers under 35 seek adventure and novelty in their travel experiences. 82% mainly travel in order to see new cities or towns, and 73% do so to explore different parts of the world.
Of course, the vast majority of our users - 80% under 35 - rely on internet research for new vacation ideas. And, there is a special place in our heart for the 20% who pick up a travel book. But, we all still trust our friends to send us on our way, with 70% of people relying on recommendations from "friends of friends who know someone who knew someone who went to that remote island you just read about on Thrillist!"
34% of consumers have admitted to posting vacation photos just to “show off” where they visited. Consumers want to be seen as adventurous, creative, and trendy in their representation on social.
Source: Laboratory Nine audience panel.
Source: Laboratory Nine audience panel.
Source: Alamo Vacation Survey 2019
What's driving this trend?
When in doubt, blame it on Social Media
Platforms like Instagram make it extremely easy for people to discover and share “off the beaten path” travel ideas. Monthly video consumption of travel content has grown 56% on IG, and aggregate views of travel content reached 374MM on the platform in Jan '19.
YouTube and Facebook have both driven billions of monthly views against travel content for years, but YouTube saw real growth (17%) in viewership from Q1-18 to Q1-19, largely driven by the emergence of web series, hosted programming, and digital extensions of legacy linear programming.
Source: GIA, Google Trends, searches for travel and flight details peak times. comScore, site traffic to major travel booking websites and apps.
Based on GIA insights.
Source: GIA
Millennials agree that they feel overworked, 47% wish their companies had policies in place to prevent nighttime and weekend emails, or work communications to employees on PTO. This may contribute to the value attributed to “unplugging” while on vacation because people don’t feel like it’s an option.
98% of travelers feel that their smartphone makes travel more comfortable.
78% feel that their smartphone makes travel feel safer.
It’s impossible to unplug.
Technology is creating fearless travelers.
Source: UMass Amherst Scholarworks Research
Source: Harris Polls.
Source: global stats, Facebook Quarterly Earnings Report Q2 2019).
Come on in, the water's fine!
It’s the perfect time to jump in on this trend.
The audience has a distinct appetite for this type
of content, but the market isn’t saturated.
Off The Beaten Path Trend
check back
in october!
CoMING
SOON
G9 Social Video
Views to date
G9 total
current
audience
est.
G9 total
future
audience
est.
G9 TIME SPENT
TO DATE
371
Million
views
20-25
million
people
30-35
million
people
244M minutes watched
tktk
How to apply this trend
Here are a few tips and tricks that have worked well for us…
Timing
This trend works all year long. How do we know? People never stop daydreaming about vacation, duh! Studies show searches for travel-related content are pretty consistent from month to month.
With that said, we do notice soft peaks from March-July and Oct-Jan. That means there are slight increases in volume and interest for travel content, influenced by cultural and seasonal moments.
Food
“Off the beaten path" posts featuring drool-worthy foods won't disappoint. Use content with a vibrant color palette and leverage slow-mo to hone in the most indulgent aspects of your meal (like cheese pulls!). Enticing fusion dishes are frequent hits too.
Accommodation & Activities
Videos highlighting brag-worthy lodging and extreme activities perform very well. Open with a long, establishing shot, then zoom out with a full 360-view. To further engage your audience, include a photo album or slideshow of the experience to maximize interest and… well, envy. Heh.
Local Guides
People don't want a tourist trap, but they trust a local expert. If you fall into that category, showcase hidden gem restaurants with behind-the-scenes footage and lesser-known attractions and locations (like secret waterfalls).
Media Mix
Creative
These are the leading subcategories related to the "off the beaten path” trend
hover for details
29mm
island destinations
Off the Beaten Path
Travel Activities
37mm
41mm
beach destinations
independent
restaurants
Methodology: 365 compared to previous 365 days / YOY growth 2018-2019 Bubble width based on estimated audience size
These are some of our biggest categories in regards to total consumption related to off-the-beaten-path.
245mm
109mm
untraditional lodging
• Private
• Remote
• Wilderness
• Cliff diving
• Sky diving
• Backpacking
• Hiking trails
• RV camping
• exotic
• views
• Camping
• Roadtrip
• Off-the-grid
• Holes-in-the-wall
• Local spots
• Hidden gems
29mm
island destinations
Off the Beaten Path Travel Activities
37mm
41mm
beach destinations
independent
restaurants
Methodology: 365 compared to previous 365 days / YOY growth 2018-2019 Bubble width based on estimated audience size. These are some of our biggest categories in regards to total consumption related to off-the-beaten-path.
245mm
109mm
untraditional lodging
Get inspired
Here are some videos we’ve published at G9 that lean into the "off the beaten path" trend and creative recommendations
ORIG. PUBLISH DATE:
5/24/19
ORIG. PUBLISH DATE:
1/28/19
ORIG. PUBLISH DATE:
2/05/19
This Guy Carried His Dog 800 Miles After She Lost Her Sight To Help Her Love Hiking Again
THIS ARIZONA OASIS IS THE PERFECT DESERT GETAWAY… AND IT COMES WITH ITS VERY OWN GROTTO.
This Hotel's Guests Can Soak in A Human-Sized Hot Pot for Lunar New Year
still Curious?
Email us at trends@groupninemedia.com
a55+
hover for details
Technical
Quick pacing, 1 - 3 minutes is optimal.
(Except on YT, longer-form will work well there.)
1:1 aspect ratio for feed-based environments.
16:9 aspect ratio for more cinematic content as well as easy streamability on larger screens.
Use the most unique, unusual features as the still for the video thumbnail. If it’s the location, use an aerial shot.
Content should be eye-catching and highly immersive. People want a peak behind the curtain —or cave, if you will.
Source: Crowd platform specific analytics modules (video views), Nielsen (80% reach), Nielsen DCR stat (engagement), ListenFirst Media (social engagements)
SOURCE: GIA, Q1 2018-2019. Group Nine channels include O&O. YT, FB and IG; Tubular Labs
Source: GIA.
Social views IN Q1 2019
Source: Estimate based off Nielsen and Facebook audience insights.
Source: Projection based off GIA finding from 2017 - 2019. This is the projected monthly audience size in 2020.
GIA, Google Trends, searches for travel and flight details peak times. comScore, site traffic to major travel booking websites and apps.
To identify trends that audiences are engaging with and best practices for creative, formats and timing.
G9 reaches
67% of A25-44
in the US.
72% increase in views
from Q1 ’18 to Q1 ’19
56% growth
in monthly video views — 374M in January 2019
Source: Nielsen DCR
G9 ENGAGEMENT TO DATE
Source: GIA.
TIME SPENT IN Q1 2019
Source: GIA.
Engagement IN Q1 2019
Source: GIA.
TIME SPENT IN Q1 2019
520K
Engagements
YouTube
This highly immersive environment is perfect for posting guided tours and revealing unknown local hot spots.
Instagram
Leverage this highly visual platform to foster FOMO amongst users. Capture the most adventurous, appetizing or breathtaking parts of a trip through short-form stories, photos, and video content.
Facebook
Users come here to get tips from their friends and share detailed recaps of their latest trips. Still highly visual, but more of a resource than soundbite.
O&O
A highly functional and search-driven resource. Think “how-to” stories and popular keywords like “cities”.
Yep, they’re massive numbers.
We identify an emerging trend.
GIA
GIA is G9’s in-house tool. It digests 115,000 video views every minute, surfacing top-performing content. This allows us to reveal micro and macro trends in content and culture.
To understand content that’s resonating across categories, audiences and seasons, as well as identify trends that audiences are engaging with and best practices for creative, formats, and timing.
We ask our panel detailed questions about each identified trend and then collect the qualitative feedback. This yields highly specific, actionable insights related to each trend.
Lab 9
G9’s proprietary audience panel of
10,000 people A13-64 (US).
We go deeper to understand the trend and its implications.
We use third-party resources to verify that what we’re seeing has greater marketplace implications.
Verify with outside sources
We reference IAB, Google Trends, Nielsen, social platform insights, and white papers from Bain, Deloitte, and Kantar Millward Brown.
We triple check.
what
how
why
Source: Crowd platform specific analytics modules (video views), Nielsen (80% reach), Nielsen DCR stat (engagement), ListenFirst Media (social engagements)
40 million Americans engage with our content every day, 3x a day
Group Nine is the #1 publisher on mobile with the largest mobile audience
in the US
We have over 5 billion monthly video views
We reach over 70% of US adults in their 20s every month
We have over 140 million social engagements every month
Audiences spend over 50 million hours engaging with our brands every month
WE MINE ALL OF THIS DATA...
CLICK HERE TO GET HYPED!
CLICK HERE TO GET HYPED!
YoY this trend has grown
We predict there’s more growth coming, so it’s the perfect time to lean in and apply it.
AUDIENCE
5 MM
10 MM
15 MM
20 MM
25 MM
30 MM
2017
2018
2019
2020
year
Source: GIA/Nielsen/Facebook Audience Insights and comScore.
Based on consumption (based on our views around the category, against the % interest of the topic) of the off the beaten path category and related content.
CLICK HERE TO GET HYPED!
how
To understand content that’s resonating across categories, audiences and seasons, as well as identify trends that audiences are engaging with and best practices for creative, formats, and timing.
why
We go deeper to understand the trend and its implications.
Lab 9
G9’s proprietary audience panel of
10,000 people A13-64 (US).
We ask our panel detailed questions about each identified trend and then collect the qualitative feedback. This yields highly specific, actionable insights related to each trend.
what
how
why
We triple check.
Verify with outside sources
We reference IAB, Google Trends, Nielsen, social platform insights, and white papers from Bain, Deloitte, and Kantar Millward Brown.
We use third-party resources to verify that what we’re seeing has greater marketplace implications.
what
how
why
coming soon
Audiences consuming and engaging with this content over-index in the $100K+ and $200K+ household income segments.
They have money
in the bank.
Millennials that enjoy travel over-index for adrenaline-dense adventure including: surfing/windsurfing (218 index), skiing/snowboarding (623 index), whitewater rafting (128 index), camping (197 index), kayaking/canoeing (276 index), and rock climbing (619 index).
They like to get their blood pumping.
Source: US Millennial digital population via comScore (compared to the general US population 13+).
What's interesting...
Mainstream vacation destinations and activities are losing steam. Travelers under 35 seek adventure and novelty in their travel experiences. 82% mainly travel in order to see new cities or towns, and 73% do so to explore different parts of the world.
Bye bye, white sandy beaches and snorkeling tours.
Of course, the vast majority of our users - 80% under 35 - rely on internet research for new vacation ideas. And, there is a special place in our heart for the 20% who pick up a travel book. But, we all still trust our friends to send us on our way, with 70% of people relying on recommendations from "friends of friends who know someone who knew someone who went to that remote island you just read about on Thrillist!"
Friend-orsements
go a long way.
Source: Laboratory Nine audience panel.
34% of consumers have admitted to posting vacation photos just to “show off” where they visited. Consumers want to be seen as adventurous, creative, and trendy in their representation on social.
If it makes for a good photo, it makes for a good trip.
Source: Alamo Vacation Survey 2019
Source: Laboratory Nine audience panel.
Source: Laboratory Nine audience panel.
Source: Laboratory Nine audience panel.
Source: Alamo Vacation Survey 2019
What's driving this trend?
Platforms like Instagram make it extremely easy for people to discover and share “off the beaten path” travel ideas. Monthly video consumption of travel content has grown 56% on IG, and aggregate views of travel content reached 374MM on the platform in Jan '19.
YouTube and Facebook have both driven billions of monthly views against travel content for years, but YouTube saw real growth (17%) in viewership from Q1-18 to Q1-19, largely driven by the emergence of web series, hosted programming, and digital extensions of legacy linear programming.
Source: global stats, Facebook Quarterly Earnings Report Q2 2019).
When in doubt, blame it on Social Media
Millennials agree that they feel overworked, 47% wish their companies had policies in place to prevent nighttime and weekend emails, or work communications to employees on PTO. This may contribute to the value attributed to “unplugging” while on vacation because people don’t feel like it’s an option.
It’s impossible to unplug.
Source: Harris Polls.
98% of travelers feel that their smartphone makes travel more comfortable.
78% feel that their smartphone makes travel feel safer.
Technology is creating fearless travelers.
Source: UMass Amherst Scholarworks Research
Here are a few tips and tricks that have worked well for us…
40 million Americans engage with our content every day, 3x a day
Group Nine is the #1 publisher on mobile with the largest mobile audience in the US
We have over 5 billion monthly video views
We reach over 70% of US adults in their 20s every month
We have over 140 million social engagements every month
Audiences spend over 50 million hours engaging with our brands every month
YouTube
This highly immersive environment is perfect for posting guided tours and revealing unknown local hot spots.
Instagram
Leverage this highly visual platform to foster FOMO amongst users. Capture the most adventurous, appetizing or breathtaking parts of a trip through short-form stories, photos, and video content.
Facebook
Users come here to get tips from their friends and share detailed recaps of their latest trips. Still highly visual, but more of a resource than soundbite.
O&O
A highly functional and search-driven resource. Think “how-to” stories and popular keywords like “cities”.
Media Mix
Source: GIA
NEXT>
How to apply this trend
Quick pacing, 1 - 3 minutes is optimal.
(Except on YT, longer-form will work well there.)
1:1 aspect ratio for feed-based environments.
16:9 aspect ratio for more cinematic content as well as easy streamability on larger screens.
Use the most unique, unusual features as the still
for the video thumbnail. If it’s the location, use an aerial shot.
Content should be eye-catching and highly immersive. People want a peak behind the curtain —or cave, if you will.
Technical
Based on GIA insights.
NEXT>
This trend works all year long. How do we know? People never stop daydreaming about vacation, duh! Studies show searches for travel-related content are pretty consistent from month to month.
With that said, we do notice soft peaks from March-July and Oct-Jan. That means there are slight increases in volume and interest for travel content, influenced by cultural and seasonal moments.
Timing
GIA, Google Trends, searches for travel and flight details peak times. comScore, site traffic to major travel booking websites and apps.
NEXT>
Food
“Off the beaten path" posts featuring drool-worthy foods won't disappoint. Use content with a vibrant color palette and leverage slow-mo to hone in the most indulgent aspects of your meal (like cheese pulls!). Enticing fusion dishes are frequent hits too.
Accommodation & Activities
Videos highlighting brag-worthy lodging and extreme activities perform very well. Open with a long, establishing shot, then zoom out with a full 360-view. To further engage your audience, include a photo album or slideshow of the experience to maximize interest and… well, envy. Heh.
Local Guides
People don't want a tourist trap, but they trust a local expert. If you fall into that category, showcase hidden gem restaurants with behind-the-scenes footage and lesser-known attractions and locations (like secret waterfalls).
Creative
Source: GIA, Google Trends, searches for travel and flight details peak times. comScore, site traffic to major travel booking websites and apps.
NEXT>
We see a slightly lower index for A18-24 because they are still working through their mainstream bucket list trips, which tend to be “on the paved path” (ex. Visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris)
Lowest because this audience segment is less active on social media and the “off the beaten path” trend is inherently driven by social discovery and social sharing.
• cliff diving
• sky diving
• backpacking
• hiking trails
• rv camping
Off the Beaten Path Travel Activities
• exotic
• views
• private
• remote
• wilderness
• camping
• roadtrip
• off-the-grid
•holes-in-the-wall
•local spots
•hidden gems
10/19
50%
300mm
in monthly video views — 374M in January 2019
let's go...
Here’s how we make sense of it all…
50%
300mm
Here’s how we make sense of it all…
Mobile Layaway for Seeds
Mobile Layaway for Seeds
