It’s that time again. We’re looking back at emerging trends in 2024 to help shape future campaign ideas and marketing strategies, and to potentially uncover the next household name in popular culture.
Our focus is on highlighting those consumer interests we saw on a growth trajectory this past year, especially across more than one social platform. There is always value in looking back in order to look ahead. In fact, this time last year we reported on the ‘Fight or flight’ trend - only to fast forward to just a few weeks ago when the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson big event was a top culture moment of the year.
It seems that many of this year’s trends fit nicely into common “adage” themes, so here are our picks for helping you improve your “ad age” game.
YouTube is getting the last laugh as a comedy destination with many of the channel’s rising influencers coming from this genre. The increased interest in its creators is no surprise given YouTube had the highest monthly viewership of any streaming destination in October according to Nielsen. Among the standouts (or should we say standups) are Danny Gonzalez, Drew Gooden, and HaHaDavis who all appeared as interests in over 25% of selected Social Intelligence reports this year.
One comedic creator experiencing substantial growth is Vincent Oshana, part of the Valuetainment group, whose X following grew by more than 500% to over 100k which crossed him into “macro” influencer status. Jabieb (AKA @rezzahabibie), the Indonesian photographer of the popular girl group JKT48, captured many fans across TikTok and other channels for his mustache pranks which resulted in X follower growth of 80%.
Last year we reported on the ‘Educate Me’ trend of knowledge seeking, and society’s quest for answers still continues. This year, various scientific journals and influencers rose in popularity. Among the content outlets seeing an uptick are Science Magazine (growing by 13%), Chemical Science (growing by 11%), and both Popular Science and Science News experiencing small audience increases. Also, World of Engineering grew its base by 9% and appeared as an interest across almost half of all Affinio by Audiense reports.
One rockstar scientist who stood out this year was engineer Massimo (AKA @Rainmaker1973) who is “trying to add context, source and explanation to science”, growing his already mega-sized follower base by an additional 41%. Someone else who is putting “science in context” is Science girl (AKA @gunsnrosesgirl3), whose audience grew by an impressive 92%.
Looking for truth in science was a global phenomenon that spanned social channels. Of the Meta-based mindsets we track, the ‘Scientist’ persona grew worldwide by 24% (including 20% in Japan, and 17% in the US). And interest in the following specific topics on Meta increased substantially over the last year: Molecular biology (by 196%), Biochemistry (by 145%), Biotechnology (by 133%), and Chemistry (by 80%).
As the song goes, music is the universal language uniting us all. The emerging musical artists this year were truly multicultural and multi-genre. According to interests we track on Meta, ‘Music of Africa’ saw a big gain of over 500%. This trend continued from last year when we reported that Nigerian music was in the spotlight. One of last year’s Nigerian stars, TEMS (@temsbaby), is still shining this year with a further 12% growth in her audience.
Here is just a sampling of other global artists gaining ground based on appearances in over 20% of selected Social Intelligence reports:
In terms of the genre spotlight, our Meta persona of ‘Techno & EDM Music Listener’ saw growth of 82%. Some of the artists mentioned above actually fall into this genre. And consistent with last year, we’re still seeing a rise in DJ popularity. The following DJs all earned well over 200% growth as a tracked Meta interest: Paul van Dyk (881%), Steve Angello (439%), and Afrojack (245%).
Having a point of view is always in style, and 2024 has been no exception for hearing activist voices. We saw our Meta-tracked persona of ‘The Conservative Voter’ increase in the last 12 months, as realized in recent election results. One specific conservative voice appearing in more than 20% of our selected reports was Kaitlin Bennett who describes herself as “Catholic, Mother, Wife, and Pro-Life”.
Voices on the other side of the spectrum also stood out. F1NN5TER is an openly genderfluid streamer bringing awareness to gender discussions. ContraPoints (AKA Natalie Wynn) is a YouTuber discussing gender and other social topics, arguably most known for her past reflections on J.K. Rowling’s dividing comments. The popularity of ContraPoints has even spawned a subreddit of its own (r/ContraPoints) which boasts over 90k members who discuss her videos.
Other notables who are influencing our collective “perspective” include the following: OrdinaryGamers (AKA Mutahar Anas) who creates video commentaries on technology, Imani Barbarin who is a writer and “disabled pride” activist, Dhruv Rathee who is an educational YouTuber with X follower growth of 65%, Michael Shellenberger who advocates for free speech, Jenny Nicholson who claims Disney reviewer fame (and whose audience grew by 13%), as well as Josiah Johnson who critiques basketball.
Beyond these social creators and their channels, we have all witnessed the rise of podcasts as a go-to opinion source. Many of the most frequently observed and/or highest growing podcasters in 2024 were those with a political focus. These influencers included: Astead Herndon, Millie Weaver, and Breanna Morello, Laura Loomer, Benny Johnson, Patrick Bet-David, Charlie Kirk, and Ian Miles Cheong.
People seemed obsessed with investing in 2024. Of the Meta-based mindsets we track, the ‘Trader’ persona was among the top growing. We saw it increase by a whopping 133% worldwide (83% in Japan, and 146% in the US). Accordingly, the specific interest topics of ‘Portfolio’ and ‘Investment management’ grew worldwide on Meta by 54% and 32%, respectively. Destinations like Statmuse, which can be used for stock lookups, rose in popularity with appearances in 25% of our selected reports.
Beyond the general rise in interest for various exchanges, indexes, and banks, there was a spotlight on certain investment gurus. Michael J Burry, famously depicted in ‘The Big Short’ movie of 2015, appeared as an influencer in over a quarter of Social Intelligence reports. Another sought-after expert is the Reddit-famous Keith Gill (AKA TheRoaringKitty), depicted in the ‘Dumb Money’ movie of 2023, whose followers grew by 247% this year. Also, Raghav Wadhwa, an Indian investment advisor, realized follower growth of 218%.
On the less traditional side, getting more crypto expertise is also on consumers’ minds. Fred Krueger, the mathematician and bitcoin expert, saw his following grow by 1500%.
Audiense is known for having its pulse on global pop culture, so of course we have to highlight shifts we're seeing in media and entertainment consumption. The ongoing transition from text to video - whether in short form or long - continues. Even audio podcasts often get published in video format too. And gaming is transforming, as evidenced by a clear rise in Web3 activity.
In terms of gaming specifics, according to our Meta tracking, interest in ‘Age of Empires’ grew by 255% and ‘EVE Online’ grew by 119%. The Japanese game ‘LINE: Disney Tsum Tsum!’ increased its X followers by 40% and the meme/game named ‘FACABY’ grew by 3710%. The latest wave of gaming influencers are actually pioneers on the Web3 game development front and they all saw their X follower bases grow by more than 1000%! These individuals include Michael Tong (AKA @fat_leopard), Arief Widhiyasa (Clawford), John Linden, and Waqas Rana (AKA @GurenMk).
As for film, Japan has seen an increase in the ‘Cinephile’ persona that we track with Meta data. This mindset grew by 90%, and one specific Japanese director named 上田慎一郎 (AKA @shin0407) had his following increase by 107%. Even though movie-goers may not be increasing everywhere, sites like discussingfilm.net remain relevant with X follower growth of 48%. And the Mexican channel discussing superhero films, The Top Comics, saw 45% growth. There are also a few actors who hit our radar this year for appearing in over 20% of our selected reports - whether from the big screen or the small one. These include Sebastian Croft, Temi Otedola, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and O’Shea Jackson Jr (who also grew his X audience by 32%). Additionally, we saw interest in Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan increase by 222% on Meta.
In terms of social media, it sure felt like we all landed inside Reddit more this year. Whether that’s due to AI’s impact on search results or another force, this channel was anecdotally the comeback kid of the year. Even the X handle called @goodreddit, which features a collection of amusing posts found across various subreddits, appeared as an interest in 37% of our selected reports. In terms of social influencers, Austin Show of dating show fame appeared 20% of the time. We are also starting to see @fansly give OnlyFans some competition with 20% growth in its X handle over the past year. And of course we can’t forget the virtual influencers on YouTube (i.e. the “vtubers”); Ironmouse can boast audience growth of 14% on X.
Last but not least is sports. As previously mentioned, Statmuse is a site for searching stocks but is more commonly referenced for sourcing sports statistics in visual format, and its X follower base grew by 15% this year. The audience for Peşindeyiz Galatasaray grew by 111% for Turkish club updates. Unibet, the sports betting platform, experienced a 75% increase per Meta interest tracking. Two athletes who expanded their fandom significantly include soccer player Victor Osimhen (by 38%) and, unsurprisingly, football player Travis Kelce (by 37%). We also saw increased appearances from soccer player Erling Haaland (across 40% of selected reports) and basketball player Josh Hart (across 23% of selected reports).
We can naturally expect to see ongoing lifestyle shifts for what’s trending in travel, cuisine, shopping, and general behavior. Here’s how things are looking on the horizon.
The ‘Epicurean’ persona is rising by 21% worldwide, suggesting that the finer things in life including travel continue to be valued. Likely related to travel is a rising interest in Turkish baths (i.e. the steam ritual) which has gone up by 197% since last year. And interest in Mediterranean cuisine in general has grown by 27%.
Love of buttery food seems to be expanding worldwide with the ‘Pastry Chef’ persona increasing by 7%. This should come as no surprise if you’ve ever witnessed a long lineup outside of a Crumbl cookie chain location, whose X audience grew by 32%. Or maybe we were simply inspired by the Paris Olympics to indulge in more croissants. Interest in candy also bulged by 93% on Meta. Beyond our collective sweet tooth, affinity for other foods like pasta and trout is growing, as is the appeal of celebrity chefs like Britain’s Jamie Oliver and Japan’s けんた (AKA @yes_oi) - whose base boiled over by 1626%.
On the shopping front, growing recognition for these retailers will help keep them in the black: home store Lapeyre (822% increase on Meta), European fashion chain Zalando (290% increase on Meta), Indian ecommerce site Flipkart (284% increase on Meta), and Japanese discount chain Donki (53% increase in X followers). Beyond fashion, fragrance is in. Parfums Christian Dior stole the show with increased brand interest of 177% on Meta.
In terms of values, it seems health (i.e. well-being and healthcare) is getting prioritized over the environment with almost 20% increases in both our ‘Health conscious’ and ‘Environmentally indifferent’ personas. Seeking expertise beyond investment advice is also top-of-mind given that performance coach Ben Newman’s follower base grew 142% in the past year.
At Audiense, we have access to loads of social data ripe for exploration. The basis for our analysis this year was using X and Meta data. We focused on areas where we saw significant (i.e. typically 20% or higher) change in any of: X followership growth, X-based report result frequency, Meta interest growth, or Meta-based persona growth. Obviously not all items can be called out in this short article, so we chose examples that were representative of observed themes.
More on X: We measured follower growth from November 2023 to November 2024 focusing on the big guns (i.e. accounts with “mega” followings of 1m+) and up-and-comers (i.e. accounts crossing the line into “macro” influencer status with 90k-110k followers). We also looked at the most frequently-seen uncategorized handles appearing across a selection of Social Intelligence report results (i.e. those run on our Affinio by Audiense platform) from January-October 2024, regardless of follower size, as a proxy for emerging interests.
More on Meta: Data is a combination of Facebook & Instagram and spans the period from October 2023 to October 2024. We calculated growth by comparing the most recent month of October 2024 against the average standard deviation of the full period to remove any seasonality. Where we reference “Worldwide” it includes all the countries in the world (with the exceptions of Russia, Cuba and North Korea).
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