Dog treats Global Interest Trends by Country & State – Australia, USA, UK, Worldwide 2021

Dog treats Global trends – Biggest interest online by country and STATE 2020/ 2021

Did you know that Google trends allows you to see the interest that people have in a specific region of the earth in DOG TREATS (number of online searches) over various time periods?

Why this might matter is that it could reflect how much people value their dogs in those countries/ regions or highlight that they might have interest in other dog related things in those areas.

For instance, it shows how interested Australians are compared to all other countries in the world, and who is the most interested in dog treats by state or territory in Australia itself.

We looked at the last twelve months (March 2020 to March 2021)  to see what country in the world has relatively the largest interest in dog treats,  and then what regions within each country have the most interest. And what that might mean for owners, dog organisation or many other applicable doggy related things.

Firstly, we look at How Australia compares with the rest of the world when it comes to interest in searching for “dog treats”.  It turns out that we are the FOURTH highest searchers for ‘Dog treats’ by COUNTRY in the world (adjusted for population etc).

NOTING that Google defines interest as “ Numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular.”

United States has the most ‘interest’ in dog treats of ANY country, and setting their search value at 100 each subsequent country is compared against that rating.  It shows that Canada is second on 85 over the last 12 months, United Kingdom third on 83 and Australia comes in with a rating of 63 (compared to the USA ranking of 100).

WORDWIDE “dog Treats” Interest, last 12 months (3/12/20 – 3/12/21)

One take on this data, is that Australia is well and truly ‘punching above its weight’ on the global scale of Dog Treat interest. That also is likely to equate to there being a relatively good demand for dog treats in Australia, and also people are very engaged and most likely knowledgeable about what they want.

The next article will look at the dog treat terms most associated with dog treats that people looked at in the leading interest countries over the last three months and Twelve months.

The countries listed in this list tend to be affluent ‘first world’ countries with high standards of living. This means that disposable income is available for things beside survival mode searches to do with human food and water or accommodation.

Note, China,  Brazil,  India  and many other massive population countries, do not have “dog Treat” Google ‘related queries’ –  which might be because Google isn’t the major search engine in these locations, technology isn’t readily available or there is a lack of interest in ‘dog treats’ in these locations.

While the USA and Canada are the leading ‘dog treat” search countries, the UK should not be underestimated for their love of dogs. A previous analysis we did on global dog trends showed that our of all countries the UK had one of the highest number of searches per person, for “dogs” and dog related topics. NO other European Country besides UK made the top 10 list, we speculate why in the conclusions section of this report.

The other thing to note about Australia’s searches, is that the next country after Australia is NZ and only has a relative LOW rating of 47 (compared to Australia’s 63), This is a rapid fall off in searches for an equally affluent country.

By the time we get to ninth position of countries, Philippines, this country only has a relative score of 22 out of 100.  In march 2021, there are 195 independent countries in the world, yet by country nine, the citizens of that country have almost lost interest in dog treats  (as compared to America).

AUSTRALIA “Dog Treats” Top States & Metro region interest. (mar 2020 – mar 2021)

The interesting thing about the last 12 months of Google searches for “dog treats” in Australia is that the interest in this product is almost inverse to the number of people in each state.

Queensland is the third largest population state in Australia and has the highest interest in “dog Treats” searches online in Australia, but the second and third states/ territories are MUCH smaller populations, but have almost the same HIGH rating:  Tas (97) and WA  (96).

The two most populous states came in at fourth and fifth most interested in searching for “dog treats: : Vic (85) and NSW (81) are quite a way behind Queensland’s interest in treats.  The speculation as to why is probably the origin of another great research project.

TOP Australia Dog Treat interest METRO areas 2021

The top 4 metro regions who have an interest in “dog treats” over the last 12 months were:

• Brisbane 100
• Melbourne 95
• Perth 85
• Sydney 83

This shows that both Queensland state AND Brisbane METRO rank as the highest interest state and region.

The main difference between the states order and the Metro regions is that while TAS and WA were second and third most interested states, followed by VIC and NSW, when we look at actual Metro regions, Melbourne moves up into second place (95) and NSW’s main metro region remains down the list at fourth place SYDNEY (83).

What most companies are interested in, is selling to the biggest metro regions in a country (assuming they also have the highest demand). Melbourne and Sydney are the largest Metro regions in Australia, but Google ranks metro regions on interest per searcher not absolute population numbers. So for both Queensland AND Brisbane to have the highest interest in ‘dog treats’ in Australia is actually quite remarkable, considering the relatively dispersed nature of Queensland’s population (there are actually quite a few mid sized population centers in QLD that you might think might dilute Queensland’s interest value. Or perhaps its BECAUSE of the decent family incomes generated in these larger regional centers that is the cause of the higher disposable income and interest in dog treats?

This might assume that Australian Metro regions have higher disposable income and allow higher interest in dog treats (as per the research on American interest values in dog treats BELOW in this article). As it is seen to not necessarily be the driver behind Queensland’s disperse population having a very high interest in dog treats, it means that on average many of the regional metro regions as well as the states largest metro area, Brisbane, are ALL the most interested across Australia – quite an accolade.

The fact that TAS is the second highest state/ territory in Australia interested in dog treats over the last twelve months but NONE of their Metro regions make it into the top four list of Metro regions in Australia, tells us that there is a very high interest in general across Tasmania but not specifically concentrated in ANY of their metro areas like Hobart or Launceston. Quite unlike the QLD/ Brisbane model.

Closer to home for us (Melbourne based company), is the fact that Victoria came in at a distant fourth in states interest, with 85% the interest of Queensland (100), BUT our major metro region, Melbourne, came in SECOND at 95% interest of the highest interest state capital (Brisbane 100). This suggests that compared to the equally highest state Capital in Australia (SYDNEY), Melbourne is significantly higher interest in dog treats than both its VIC regional areas and its big sister city Sydney.  WE Love our dogs and we supplement them with the best in Melbourne ! I dare more Sydney dog owners to step up and buy from us more to prove me wrong !

It is of course noted that these Google interest values can change wildly over the months and quarters. For instance. due to a relatively low search volume for dog treats Google only shows FOUR Metro regions in Australia with interest over the last twelve months. It would be good to see how or if the level of interest in these metro regions changes at all over the years (a longitudinal study), going forward.

“Dog Treats” Top States interest. United States of America

A theory about disposable income being related to interest in dog treats can better be tested with the highest interest country since it has many more states than Australia. So below we compare the highest dog treat interest states with their Median Income levels per family.

The highest “dog treats” online Google search region in America for the last twelve months was ‘District of Columbia’ While not a state, it is often treated as one in census data.  Again, like Australia, it seems that random smaller regions within America rated the highest, when compared to the biggest states by area and population.

Income levels do seem to be somewhat related to interest in dog treats in America, at least in this table for the top interest states.

A chamberofcommerce article on the relative family income of states notes that “ one US region stands out among the others due to its affluence: the Northeast. Half of the top 10 richest states belong to this region, along with 9 of the top 15.  Investopedia (Median Income by State – Ward Williams Dec 2020) adds that The richest region in the USA is District of Columbia.

The District of Columbia ALSO happens to be the location where there is MOST interest in ‘dog treats’ searches on Google over the last twelve months in America.

The next three richest states in America don’t appear on the above dog treat interest table: Maryland ($86,700), Massachusetts ($85,800), New Jersey ($85,700), However out of the “dog treat” loving states, you can see that except for Rhode Island (very small population), the top dog treat interest states in the table TEND to have a larger Median family income ($70K plus) of the pack.

For a visual comparison, we provide two maps of America shaded by darker regions for the top ‘dog treat interest’ states Versus the ‘Top Family Income’ states in America (above).

CANADA “dog Treats” Top States interest   (3/12/20 – 3/12/21)

Canada with lower population and far less provinces (or states equivalents) than America, tends to have a broader range in the ‘Dog treats’ interest percentages on Google.  Knowing little about the employment types in each state makes any summation difficult.  Clearly Alberta is an income anomaly being by far the richest Median income.

I doubt that there is much coincidence in the fact that Newfoundland / Labrador and Nova Scotia are located close together on the East coast of Canada, are the 100%  “dog treat” interest on google searches for Canada and that the Labrador retriever originated in Newfoundland.

* Canadian income level stats from: Statista  “Median annual family income in Canada in 2018, by province”

UK “dog Treats” Top States interest (3/12/20 – 3/12/21)

The above table perfectly explains how madly in love with the domestic dog the UK people are. Many breeds were developed in the UK and they typically search for “dogs” many-fold more for each individual person, than any other country on earth.

Even though the regions in the UK are extremely differently in social development, languages and customs, the Interest level in dog treats, is seen to be quite uniform on the mainland.  A little surprising that Northern Ireland has such a lower interest in dogs than the mainland of UK.

CONCLUSIONS

Globally Median income levels of countries in predominately English-speaking countries seems to be the more correlated factor in high levels of interest in Google searches for the term “dog treats” on Google over the last twelve months march 2020 – march 2021.

For Australia two of the least populous states and relatively lower average incomes came in at second and third highest in interests. It appears that the homogeneity of our states in Australia (language, income, social interests) seem to average out the interests in dog treats as seen on Google.

The diversity of people and cultures in our states, even from metro areas to regional mean that there are many other reasons for any state being of high interest in searching for dog treats that overall median incomes have little direct influence on those interest levels. (ie the interest values are approximately the same)

The American states analysis provides a little more in clarity over what might be behind their drives   to search for treats. Previous analysis by Healthy Dog Treats suggests that Democratic Party states tended to search more for dog treats than Republican states (regardless of income levels).  This currently analysis on interest of dog treats in 2021 showed that many of the states in the NE of America still tended to have a high interest in ‘dog treats”, and that these areas also happens to have relatively high income.

In USA, except for the highest median family income state District of Columbia also being the highest interest state for “dog treats”, the next few highest median family income states in America did not show in the top ten dog treat interest states in the table.  However, of those states that did show up on the dog treat interest table, the next four highest interest states also had the highest median incomes of the table (except for  Rhode Island that had very high income but came in tenth highest interest).

CANADA –  the three highest ‘dog treats’ interest regions at 100% were all on the East coast of Canada and around the birthplace of the Labrador breed dog.   The other states in the top ten all had incomes fluctuating between $77k – $89 K  except the anomaly Alberta (highest median income in Canada coming in at fourth place).

UK states showed that all of the regions (except Ireland) had exceptionally similar and very high interest in dog treats – but then again, the UK has one of the highest dog ownerships in the world.

What might this mean for Dog treat interest in Australia?

Only moderately wealthy countries in the world showed any interest or propensity to buy dog treats. Those regions in those wealthier countries that had higher median incomes also tended to have a higher interest in purchasing dog treats.

The assumption might be made that those regions might also have an above average dog ownership. However, in America there are quite a few Southern state like Texas that have high dog ownership, but lower median Family incomes.  If they don’t have the money, they can still own dogs, but they mightn’t buy that many dog treats. DIY dog treats might be a bigger thing down there. Or it might not be socially acceptable by their peers to buy treats?

The fact the ‘rich’ European countries did not make the top 10 countries in ‘dog treat’ interest list, but the Philippines did at number 10 (at 22% relative interest), suggests that Google mightn’t be the main search engine in these countries or there is another over arching reason that they don’t ‘believe’ in dog treats.

Anecdotally we (Healthy Dog Treats) notice that most of our customers are not super rich, or necessarily live in high wealth suburbs. However Australians in general have a relatively healthy middle class with a decent measure of disposable income. You don’t have to be ‘rich’ to afford dog treats in Australia, we are lucky that our cost of production is still relatively affordable. But there clearly is a strong desire for people to supplement dog food nutrition, which at its best, can still be found very wanting in quality meat ingredients. And of course keeping dogs ‘occupied’ while we are away is also very important to people.

To make the high interests in ‘dog treats’ country table, It would appear that a country or state needs to have people who love dogs, AND have enough disposable income to afford treats, to search on Google for treats and buy treats. But it must also be socially acceptable or desirable. NOTING that NONE of the southern states in America made it into the top ten states interested in Dog treats, nor any European country besides the UK.

The higher income a state has the more likely the more disposable income that they have, so on average, they might direct some towards treats, social norms permitting.