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2021 Sports, Fitness, & Outdoor trends

May 2021

  • Article
  • Retail
  • Seasonal trend

COVID-19 had a big impact on many industries, but Sports, Fitness, and the Outdoors were greatly affected, especially in states with strict lockdown restrictions. Microsoft Advertising Insights examined these changes to help advertisers predict how the market will respond. In our forecasting, we discovered that most categories will revert to 2019 seasonality, with some shifts due to changing habits.

Not all sports were affected equally during COVID-19. For instance, sports that are played outside tended to grow while inside sports declined. Some of the most popular sports in 2020 included: tennis, golf, and bicycling. This trend hasn’t slowed down either, we examined a +125% click growth for cycling queries from 2019 to 2021 and a 40% increase in golf equipment sales.

Camping and Outdoor Recreation searches joined outdoor sports in their growth spurts. The Outdoor Industry Association reported 7.9M new camping participants and 8.1M new hiking participants in 2020. Most likely as a result to this upswing, Microsoft Advertising saw a 22% click growth YoY for outdoor recreation and camping clicks.

While these markets are continuing to grow, cost per click (CPCs) have generally dropped, so now is a great time to take advantage of the cheaper clicks. Download the insights today for more information.

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