Earlier post than usual because I’m headed off to see my parents for the weekend!
Before we kick off today’s post, I want to add a couple of notes for yesterday’s post on Real Estate NFTs and Blockchain Home Registry.
Zach (co-founder) shared with me more details on the NFTs and the address being shown on the NFT.
BHR will offer both custodial and noncustodial (DeFi) holding solutions soon
BHR is also building a new feature that allows a user to select "hide details" on their NFT. The NFT will then update with no home details listed.
So homeowners - if that helps, go mint your BHR NFT for free with the code FREE50.
When I was catching up on my blog feeds yesterday evening, I came across a Techcrunch article with the following headline:
I was less interested about the Netflix part, but rather the ‘owning digital assets’ part of the headline. Time to dig in 🕵️♂️ But before I share some of the highlights...
Whenever I look at survey stats, I like to look at the sample size and audience surveyed. Stats can easily be skewed, so understanding the context of the sample set is important. Note that I'm not a UX Researcher, but I care about context 😉
This was their survey/sample methodology (commentary in italics):
2 surveys conducted between 5/13 - 5/17 earlier this year. Recent but not too recent. I wonder if this survey was taken today in a full-on bear market if sentiment would be the same.
4,000 total respondents (2k in US, 2k in UK). Nice sample size, results are less likely to be manipulated. Also English-speaking country focus.
14% aged 16-24, 18% 25-34, 16% 35-44, 15% 45-54, 37% 55. Skewed to an older audience, so I would expect results on affinity towards digital/metaverse to be lower.
22% of those surveyed were Gen Z. 71% of Gen Z surveyed were female. Not sure why the skew here, maybe due to sampling and screening methodology. Good to take note of this though.
Have you participated in a survey before? If so, subscribe!
Great, now onto the highlights!
77% of Americans Would Rather Own Digital Items Than Stream Them
More than half (52%) of Americans said they buy, sell, or trade digital items
Among those who purchase digital items, nearly three in ten (28%) spend over $49 a month on them
And most (61%) prefer to receive them as gifts vs physical ones, while more than three quarters (78%) are emotionally attached to them
70% say they connect better with others through their digital items than physical ones, while a further nine in ten (89%) agreed that losing their digital items would be upsetting.
American respondents also stated that some of the reasons they like to own digital items include that they remind them of important moments in their lives (87%), and help create the perception of who they want to be (73%).
However, when it comes to trading and selling digital items, Gen-Z (aged 16 – 23) are the most active, with 30% selling digital items and 20% trading them. That said, more than half (52%) of all Americans said they buy, sell, or trade digital items.
I found it interesting that the stats that were highlighted kept mentioned American preferences, which were 2k of the 4k surveyed total. Digging into it the report, it seems that the affinity for digital ownership from Americans is higher than UK. So focusing on the American cohort made for better headlines 😉
Also, my friend Joe (I met him at Consensus and he’s a fellow JUMP member!) asked a great question on my Twitter thread on the same topic.
Great question…Let’s find out.
Broader definition than the Web3 context I’ve been spending a lot of time in. Thanks for the reality check Joe! This does temper some of the high numbers from the report.
THAT SAID, this is a big report for a number of reasons.
This is a relatively large sample size. There’s still caveats that I mentioned above, but the numbers are directionally relevant IMO.
The behavioral loops are built in. For example, if 78% of the surveyed Americans are already emotionally attached to their digital items, that statistic will be similar to Web3/NFT digital items as well. Maybe even higher.
This survey ask about specific situations and emotions. Another example, 89% agreed that losing their digital items would be upsetting. That’s a big number, even with a broad definition of what ‘digital item’ is.
The survey was only for those in the US and UK. Although this Ipsos x World Economic Forum survey is related to the metaverse, I wonder what would happen if the Virtua survey was expanded globally.
Here’s a visual excerpt of on of the questions from that Metaverse survey:
What do you think? Lighter color = lower or higher %?
Huh…interesting…
Ya…pretty sure if the same Virtua survey was conducted in China or India (they’re at 75%), we’d have higher stats.
Want to dig in more? Check out the Virtua blog post here and the full survey and report here!
Oh ya, about BAYC…
The BAYC marketing machine of holder commercial rights continues.
The first major retailer to sell BAYC merch publicly was Zumiez back in April.
Well we’re seeing BAYC at some other retailers…
The Bored Ape Gazette🍌 @BoredApeGazette
The Bored Ape Gazette🍌 @BoredApeGazette
Just walking through @OldNavy, probably nothing… @BoredApeYC 🍌 🦍
The supposed owner of these Apes doesn’t seem to be big on Twitter, but I guess that doesn’t really matter if you’re able to make deals with those retailers. Maybe we’ll find out more soon, maybe they prefer to remain anon 🤷♂️
Have a great weekend everyone!
