BrandGraph® Reveals 34% Rebound in Influencer Marketing Industry Travel & Tourism Content

Rhea-AI Summary

IZEA Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: IZEA) released an industry brief analyzing influencer marketing in travel and tourism during COVID-19. The report reveals a 66% decline in sponsored content from February to April 2020, with hotels down 80% and airlines 77%. July showed a 34% recovery, yet content remains under half of last year's levels. While some categories like media improved, travel is particularly affected. IZEA emphasizes influencers' role in reassuring consumers and driving safe travel narratives as brands reopen post-lockdown.

Positive

• Relative content volume of sponsored influencer content increased by 34% in July from April.
• Growing consumer interest in visiting hotels, with 30% planning road trips this fall.

Negative

• Travel and tourism influencers faced a 66% decline in content volume from February to April.
• Airlines experienced only a 25% recovery year-over-year.

Orlando, Florida, Aug. 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IZEA Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: IZEA), the premier provider of influencer marketing technology, data, and services for the world’s leading brands, published a brief today which provides its first public analysis of the influencer marketing industry within the travel and tourism industry since the outbreak of COVID-19. The industry brief is based on data surfaced by BrandGraph, IZEA’s proprietary social intelligence platform focused on the influencer marketing space. The platform is used to identify, compare, and contrast momentum across brands, topics, and concepts in social media. BrandGraph leverages IZEA’s proprietary content classification engine and datasets to classify content across more than 4 million influencers and 600 million pieces of social content. For this study IZEA analyzed 520 million pieces of content from August 2019 to July 2020.

Download the BrandGraph COVID-19 Travel Brief here : izea.com/covid-19/bg-travel

Influencer Sponsorship Hit its Lowest Point in April
Both the absolute count and relative content volume of sponsored influencer content among travel and tourism brands dropped significantly from the beginning of February to the end of April, 2020. In that three-month period, the industry saw a 66% decrease in relative content volume, with hotel brands seeing an 80% drop and airline brands seeing a 77% drop during that time period. April marked the low point for the overall travel and tourism industry as well as each sub-category measured within the industry.

A Three-Month High in July
July marked a three-month high for sponsored influencer content in the travel and tourism space, with relative content volume bouncing back 34% from the lowest point in April. However, the relative content is still less than half of what it was at this time last year, as illustrated in BrandGraph. Hotels have seen the largest increase in sponsored content volume since hitting bottom. Airlines have seen little recovery and remain down 75% year over year.

“While larger influencer marketing categories such as media and technology have seen meaningful increases in sponsored content since the onset of COVID-19, the travel and tourism vertical is among those sectors hit the hardest,” said Ted Murphy, Founder and CEO of IZEA. “Influencer marketing for travel and tourism largely relies on an influencer visiting a location and sharing that experience with others. That was extremely difficult if not impossible when much of the country was on lock-down in March and April, but as restrictions started to loosen, we began to see more and more brands reengaging influencers.”

IZEA recently released a Coronavirus study that indicated a growing interest among consumers to visit a hotel within the next 4 weeks. While air travel remains a strong concern for most, 30% of all respondents indicated that they plan to take a road trip this fall. The same study revealed that 94% of all respondents surveyed indicated that they would be willing to wear a mask, if required, to visit their favorite retailer or restaurant. A consumer’s willingness to wear a mask opens the door for many travel and tourism destinations to require social distancing and masks for customers.

“Travel and tourism brands are turning to influencers as they navigate reopening to the public,” continued Murphy. “Negative consumer sentiment for the travel and tourism industry is a significant challenge right now, particularly for airlines. Marketers are turning to influencers to educate consumers on what to expect from their company and what they have done to keep their customers safe. It is a definitively different narrative for travel and tourism brands, but one that is incredibly important to share as they seek to keep people safe and make customers comfortable with the idea of travel again. We believe that the bounce in travel influencer sponsorships since the bottom indicator in April is reflective of the opportunity that brands see in working with influencers to regain business. This is a natural marketing channel for them to both educate consumers and create desire for them to travel safely again.”

About IZEA Worldwide, Inc.
IZEA Worldwide, Inc. (“IZEA”) operates IZEAx, the premier online marketplace that connects marketers with content creators. IZEAx automates influencer marketing and custom content development, allowing brands and agencies to scale their marketing programs. IZEA creators include celebrities and accredited journalists. Creators are compensated for producing unique content such as long and short form text, videos, photos, status updates, and illustrations for marketers or distributing such content on behalf of marketers through their personal websites, blogs, and social media channels. Marketers receive influential content and engaging, shareable stories that drive awareness. For more information about IZEA, visit https://izea.com/.

Safe Harbor Statement
All statements in this release that are not based on historical fact are “forward-looking statements” intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as “may,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “believe,” “intend,” "likely," "projects," “plans,” "pursue," "strategy" or "future," or the negative of these words or other words or expressions of similar meaning.  Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding expectations concerning IZEA’s ability to increase revenue and bookings, growth or maintenance of customer relationships, and expectations concerning IZEA’s business strategy. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, as a result of various factors including, among others, the following: competitive conditions in the content and social sponsorship segment in which IZEA operates; failure to popularize one or more of the marketplace platforms of IZEA; uncertainty relating to the effects of COVID-19, our ability to establish effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting; our ability to satisfy the requirements for continued listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market; changing economic conditions that are less favorable than expected; and other risks and uncertainties described in IZEA’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements made in this release speak only as of the date of this release, and IZEA assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or changes in expectations, except as otherwise required by law.

Attachments

• A shift from a lockdown mindset to a safety mindset
• The beginning of a travel and tourism influencer marketing recovery
• An increase in negative travel and tourism sentiment

Martin Smith
IZEA Worldwide, Inc.
Phone: 407-674-6911
Email: ir@izea.com

FAQ

What were the influencer marketing trends in travel during COVID-19?

IZEA's report showed a 66% decrease in sponsored content from February to April, with a modest recovery of 34% in July.

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect IZEA's influencer marketing services?

The pandemic caused significant drops in sponsored influencer content, especially in travel and tourism, but there are signs of recovery.

What does the July 2020 recovery indicate for the travel industry?

The 34% increase in sponsored content volume reflects brands' renewed engagement with influencers as they strive to rebuild consumer confidence.