THEY BARK, WE BUY: PET INFLUENCERS HAVING BIG IMPACT OF WHAT HUMANS SPEND
Source: NY Daily News (Extract)
Posted: January 5, 2020
Move over Jenners, Kardashians, Jonases and Beckhams – your new competitors have bite.
Pet influencers – animals with social media accounts that persuade humans to buy pet products – are on pace to cash in, according to OnBuy Pets Supplies, which expects 2020 to be the year of the dog and the cat.
“Considering the global pet care market is anticipated to reach an astonishing $202.6 billion by 2025, it’s no surprise that even petfluencers are reaching new heights and directing a new wave of shopping trends going into 2020,” Cas Paton, Managing Director of OnBuy told the Daily News. “E-commerce has undergone a significant shift that no one could have predicted 10 years ago – the age of the influencers – and now it’s all about pets.”
The company said 2019′s holiday sales were impacted by pet influencers more so than any other year and expects that trend to continue.
OnBuy claims 10% of consumers are likely to buy a pet product endorsed by a famous animal. That same research found that only 3% of consumers will follow the lead of a human influencer.
Using an online tool operated by Influencer Marketing Hub, the pet supply company found the top five pet influencers on Instagram make more money for a single posting that the average registered nurse will earn in a month.
They found Jiffpom, a Pomeranian pup with nearly 10 million Instagram followers, fetches $32,045 per endorsement. A street dog from Connecticut named Marnie, who frequently pops up at exclusive events in Manhattan, commands up to $6,345 for a posting.
Nala Cat, the fattest cat on the earning ladder, earns $14,253 for reaching out to her 4.3 Instagram followers. Ads featuring Grumpy Cat, who has been dead since May, are still worth more than $9,000.
A fox named Juniper joined the ranks of his domesticated brethren by collecting almost $9,800 every time his team recommends a product to his 2.9 million fans.
Pet influencers are largely a national phenomenon, with 12 of the 15 highest earners being from the United States. The other three reside in Germany, Japan and the Netherlands.
The most influential pet from abroad, according to OnBuy, is a Japanese cat named Maru, whose YouTube videos have been viewed nearly half a billion times. The 12-year-old Scottish Fold kitty was getting $8,517 per posting going into the holiday season, according to the study.
A German influencer that uses the Instagram moniker @mayapolarbear has just under 2 million followers, but could be accused of false advertising. That “polar bear” is actually a fluffy white Samoyed more likely to dine on Milk Bones than fresh fish.