December 5th, 2023, Lesley Simeon
What a ride it has been for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). From getting off to a slow start back in 2014, piquing public interest a couple of years ago, having a moment on the pop culture scene (NFTs featured on The Simpsons for instance and many celebrities bought a version of the tokens) to finally plunging down the merciless peak of public fancy last year, NFTs have certainly demanded consumers’ attention. In this piece, we tap into YouGov data to gauge current levels of awareness and understanding among audiences across 17 international markets.
Polling data from a recent YouGov survey reveals that nearly half of all consumers (47%) say they have never heard of NFTs - similar to the figure we reported in a YouGov article published early 2022. A quarter of consumers have heard of them but don’t really know what they are (25%) while two in ten consumers (20%) have some understanding of what they are.
In comparison, only 7% say they know exactly what NFTs are and just one in a hundred say they own an NFT.
YouGov’s demographic data shows that women are more likely than men (54% vs. 40%) to say they have never heard of NFTs. Similar proportions of both men and women (26% vs. 24%) have heard of the tokens but don’t really know what they are.
Nearly a quarter of men (23%) have some understanding of NFTs and less than one in ten of them (9%) know exactly what they are.
Let’s now look at the level of understanding about NFTs among audiences by market.
“I have never heard of them”
Europeans are more likely than Asians to have never heard of NFTs. Germans account for the largest share of consumers across all our markets to say so (68%), followed by the French (62%) and the Danes (62%). Within Europe, the Polish are least likely to say they have never heard of NFTs (41%).
More than half of Britons have never heard of NFTs (53%) while in the USA, 46% of consumers haven’t ever heard of them either. In Asia, 44% of Indians have never heard of tokens- the most likely in this region to say. Those in Hong Kong are least likely to say they have never heard of non-fungible tokens (9%).
“I have heard of them but don’t really know what they are”
More than two in five consumers in Hong Kong and Indonesia (43% each) say they have heard of NFTs but are not sure what they really are. Over a third of Singaporeans (35%) say the same. Consumers in these three countries are the most likely to hold this opinion.
In Europe, consumers in Poland (31%) are most likely to say they have heard of them but don’t know what they are. In the Nordics, the Swedes (21%) are more likely than the Danes (15%) to say the same.
“I have some understanding of what they are” and “I know exactly what they are”
Hong Kong leads with the largest share of consumers across all markets who say they have some understanding of non-fungible tokens (38%). Singapore (24%), Mexico (24%), Indonesia (23%) and Italy (23%) follow Hong Kong.
Americans are more likely than Brits (21% vs. 18%) to have some understanding of NFTs. In Asia, Indians are the least likely to say they somewhat understand NFTs and in Europe (as well as across all our markets), the French are the least likely to say so (11%).
But at 10%, consumers in France are also the most likely across all markets to say they know exactly what NFTs are, closely followed by those in Hong Kong (9%). On the other hand, Indonesia accounts for the lowest share of consumers (4%) who claim to have an exact understanding of the tokens.
“I own one”
Figures reported across markets for consumers who say they own an NFT are lower than 2%. Consumers in the US, Mexico, UAE, Indonesia and Italy (2% each) are the most likely across all our surveyed markets to say they own NFTs.
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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 508 and 2001 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in September 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.
Photo by Andrey Metelev on Unsplash