Taking into account recent changes necessitated by COVID-19, we have previously stated, that we are cooking even more than during Ramadan 2019. However, baking is also on the rise in homes in the Middle East. Where did the audience turn to in their time of need and what were the changes in creator behaviour? 

Forming part of a wider COVID-19 study within our constant market analysis across; Food, Travel, and Finance in the Middle East. We took into account millions of posts, engagements, and relevant Google search data. We then picked up particularly useful insights within the baking sub-category.

Sila, Digital Ape’s in-house insights service, boiled down the data to 2,000 posts from around 600 key creators (influencers), which led us to discover that the quantity of baking creators has increased somewhat, yet posts about quadrupled since Jan 2019 to meet increasing demand. 

When discounting oven cooking (red meat, chicken etc) we can do also look to sub-categories of baking, which have driven content across time.

We can then do a deeper dive within the sub-categories to notice trends in content, which can better advise brands on what styles of recipes are making the audiences’ mouths water.

Unlike the seemingly endless quantity of fitness influencers, baking is a specific skill, which could have been handed down from generation to generation and adapted to suit the modern palate. The audience is aware of these creators and are actively seeking out their expertise. Brands can leverage this knowledge, whilst not losing authenticity, to help home bakers rise to the occasion by providing relevant solutions.

About the data

DA has built a custom data warehouse service called Sila, powered by data science we turn that raw social data into actionable insights.

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This article first appeared on a LinkedIn post by Digital Ape’s James Revely.