The MSW TBSM tracking service measures Brand Preference as one component of the survey. Wireless Phone Service category, changes in Brand Preference levels between March 2023 and March 2024 were computed for individual brands.  Our Chart of the Week displays these results for the three top players in the U.S. Wireless Phone Service market: AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.

In addition to Brand Preference data, this week’s chart includes the absolute number of subscribers gained or lost in Q1 of 2024 for each of the top competitors as reported by each company.

• Brand Preference was read among Wireless Phone Service Users in both March of 2023 (N=492) and March of 2024 (N=494).
• Based on this sample of category users, Brand Preference surged higher for T-Mobile (+4.0%), was moderately higher for AT&T (+1.6%) and declined slightly for Verizon (-0.4%).
• These changes in Brand Preference levels are consistent with recent subscriber growth (or loss) levels.
• Bloomberg has reported that “In recent years, Verizon has lost ground in subscriber growth to wireless rivals”.
• This trend continued in Q1 of 2024, as it has been reported that T-Mobile added over half a million subscribers; AT&T added nearly 350 thousand subscribers; and Verizon lost close to 70 thousand subscribers.
• One potential reason for the strengthening of Brand Preference for T-Mobile comes from the fact that the brand draws substantially more of its preference (compared to AT&T and Verizon) from those who cite “has a low monthly bill” as the most important category characteristic. This characteristic is not only cited most often among category users in the TBSM survey as being most important, but also gained the most support over the past year versus all other category characteristics included in the survey.

The MSW TBSM tracking service measures brand preference as one component of the survey.  Using TBSM Auto Insurance category data, changes in brand preference results between 2021 and 2023 were computed for individual brands.  Our Chart of the Week displays these results for the three top players in the US Auto Insurance market: State Farm, Geico and Progressive.

In addition to this brand preference data, this week’s chart includes the change in market share (between 2021 and 2023) for each of the top competitors as computed from annual published data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

• Between 2021 and 2023, State Farm realized gains in both brand preference and market share of over two percentage points.
• Similarly, Progressive also achieved increases in both brand preference and market share of around one and a half percentage points.
• For Geico, brand preference was flat while market share decreased close to two percentage points.
• Brand preference for State Farm and Progressive tracked market share very closely. This is expected given previous studies which demonstrate the close relationship between preference and market share. In fact, independent studies conducted by the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) have found that preference proved to be a better fit to sales and market share than any other standard research question examined.
• Geico experienced less favorable market share results than might be expected from the unchanged level of brand preference. There are two reasons for this: price and level of advertising spend.
• The MASB research also demonstrated that including price along with brand preference provides an even better prediction of market share. These studies demonstrated that an increase in brand preference can translate into either a gain in market share or the ability to charge a price premium at the same market share level.
• According to data from S&P Global, over the time period from 2018 through 2023, Geico’s rates increased substantially more than their competitors. And in 2022, the year where all insurers started making large increases in rates due to increased losses due to inflation and other post-pandemic factors, Geico increased rates much more than State Farm or Progressive:

• Due to the same profitability issues, automobile insurance companies also cut back on advertising spend starting in 2022. While 2023 figures are not yet available, a report from AM best showed that Geico cut back on advertising spend much more than did either State Farm or Geico:

• The combination of a much larger increase in rates and much larger cut back in advertising spend explain why Geico experienced a drop in market share between 2021 and 2023 despite an unchanged level of brand preference.

The MSW TBSM tracking service measures brand preference as one component of the survey.  Brand preference was collected quarterly for eleven major Online Pet Store brands during 2023 (among 500 respondents each quarter).  This week’s chart examines the changes in brand preference from the first half to the second half of 2023 for the three largest online pet store brands.

• For the entirety of 2023 two-thirds of the TBSM sample were pet owners.
• Over half of these pet owners indicated they buy pet supplies online at least some of the time; 38% buy both online and in-store, while 14% purchase exclusively online.
• The three largest online specialty pet stores, including Chewy.com and the online operations of PetSmart and Petco, realized at least marginal gains in brand preference over the course of 2023.
• Petsmart.com experienced by far the strongest gain in brand preference during 2023, with the 5.9% gain being statistically significant.
  • This is consistent with reporting from Grips Intelligence which shows Petsmart.com with a 6.8% increase in revenue in Q4 2023 alone.
  • The increase in preference for Petsmart.com was fairly consistent across age groups and genders.
  • However, the increased preference was largely driven by those with above median incomes and those with children under age 18 in the household.
• While the overall preference gain for Chewy.com was not statistically significant, the brand did realize significant increases in brand preference among those with above median income and those with a college education.
• Brand preference for Petco.com also did not see a statistically significant gain overall but did see preference among women increase significantly.
• All other brands experienced an aggregate decline in brand preference of -7.9%.
  • These options included both Amazon Pets and an array of other online specialty pet stores.