Over time an increasing number of brands, small and large, have cannily noticed the rising interest in zero alcohol drinks and introduced new products into the market. Based on our research, it looks like these decisions will continue to pay off.

Using Consumer Research, we tracked mentions of a range of non-alcoholic drink types on Twitter, Reddit, and online forums to see how many people were talking about them, and how this number has changed over time.

This is no fad. The increase in interest, while gradual, is clear and consistent. We can see that things began to take off in 2019 after a few years of stability.

The first big spike is in July 2019. While it was Dry July, when people give up booze for the month, this wasn’t the main cause. Instead the main driver was Heineken launching an alcohol-free beer in Malaysia. This caused some heavily-discussed controversy in the country and online, around whether the company was targeting Muslims. The brewer later clarified this wasn’t the case.

The next big spike is for January 2020, with Dry January participants on the lookout for options being a major driver. It’s also the month for resolutions, and our previous research found cutting down or giving up alcohol was the most popular one to make that year.

But it’s not so much the spike that’s important, it’s the size of it. It’s 50% bigger than 2019’s, while the January spike grew again in 2021 and then even more in 2022. This shows that while the general conversation is growing, the important seasonal spikes are up too.

Now let’s break the conversation down into drink types.

Aside from cider, which has remained stable since 2020, all drink types have seen an increase over time.

For spirits, we can clearly see an increase in interest during the Q1 2022 period when compared to 2020’s. The same can be said for wine for the Q4 periods, although it’s also seen a more general rise as well.

General interest in beer has also grown over the period we’ve tracked, but the most evident changes are in the Q1 periods as people look to replace their go-to drink. For this period in 2022, interest was up by 18% compared to 2020.

It’s cocktails that have seen the most marked increase, particularly in Q1 and Q2 2022. By some distance this makes them the most talked about non-alcoholic drink. Considering their diversity, level of complexity, and longer history (mocktails and virgin cocktails are not exactly new) we shouldn’t be surprised. These tried and tested concepts are in prime position to capture the interest of new non-drinkers.

What this suggests is that when consumers are cutting down on alcohol, they don’t want to miss out entirely. They want interesting cocktails, fancy spirits, and fine wines. In the beer conversation we can see that interest in IPAs has grown, while lager levels haven’t changed. People are becoming more discerning, their expectations growing along with demand.

The data makes this all clear, but it doesn’t answer why this is happening. What’s causing more people to seek non-alcohol drinks, particularly outside of month-long sobriety challenges?

In next week’s edition we’ll try to answer this by looking at how brands are marketing their booze-free products and, maybe more importantly, the impact of sober influencers on the choices we make. Read it now.

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The Brandwatch Bulletin team