Decoding the metaverse - A multi-market exploration of knowledge and excitement
The metaverse continues to catch the fancy of brands, tech enthusiasts and the media alike. As it continues to evolve, we look at YouGov data to see how aware of and further, excited consumers are about the metaverse.
How well understood is the metaverse?
Data from a recent YouGov Surveys: Serviced poll that engaged consumers across 17 international markets reveals that having heard of the metaverse doesn’t necessarily translate into knowing what it really is.
Over a third (36%), a majority in this case, say they’ve heard of the metaverse but know nothing about it and a smaller proportion report knowing a little about it (32%). Two in ten respondents (20%) say they’ve never heard of the metaverse.
Those who say they know a lot about the metaverse are a small minority at 6% - similar to 5% of those polled who have no opinion on the matter.
Data from individual markets reveals that Indians are the most likely across markets (21%) to say they know a lot about the metaverse, followed by respondents in the UAE (12%) at a distant second.
As for those who know a little about the metaverse, Italians lead (45%), followed by equal proportions of Indonesians (42%) and Hong Kongers (42%). In the US, while the larger proportion of consumers know a little about the metaverse (42%), nearly two in five (39%) have heard of it but know nothing about the technology.
Its Spaniards (56%) who lead across markets in saying they have heard of the metaverse but know nothing about it, followed by Brits (46%) and French (45%).
Now for those who’ve never heard of the metaverse - Danes lead (51%), followed by Poles (48%) and Singaporeans lead (16%) among the Asian respondents surveyed.
The metaverse, in some form or the other, has been in the works for decades now. But with all the buzz around the metaverse in recent times, how excited are people about it this year, compared to 2023?
How excited are people about the metaverse?
More than a third of all respondents across markets (34%) have never been excited about it, YouGov survey data shows.
A quarter of them (25%) are as excited about the metaverse this year as they were the previous year and more than one in ten (13%) are comparatively more excited. Excitement has waned for 11% of respondents, while 17% simply don’t know.
Data from individual markets:
Earlier we saw how Indians lead across markets in saying they know a lot about the metaverse. Here, we see they are also the most excited (42%) about the technology, followed by consumers in the UAE (37%). Spaniards (12%) lead in Europe.
Hong Kongers (46%) lead in saying their excitement levels about the metaverse has stayed the same since last year, followed by Spaniards (36%).
Indonesians (16%) and Spaniards (15%) are the most likely across all markets surveyed to report a drop in metaverse excitement levels this year, compared to 2023.
Finally, Brits (57%) and Poles (56%) account for the largest proportion of those across markets to say they have never been excited about the metaverse, followed by Americans (50%). In Asia, Singaporeans (31%) lead.
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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 511 and 2051 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in June 2024. 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.