Red Bull GmbH and Monster Energy Market Share Comparison

Industry Overview

The energy drink industry is a multi-billion dollar business that has rapidly grown year over year and, as of 2023, amounts to $ 187 billion (Statista, 2023). An energy drink is classified as any beverage that contains high levels of a stimulant ingredient, usually caffeine, as well as sugar and often supplements, such as vitamins or carnitine, and that is promoted as a
product capable of enhancing mental alertness and physical performance (Rogers, 2017). Many brands have been around for the last 30 years, but the two key players are Red Bull GmbH and Monster Energy. The current projected CAGR growth rate for the energy drink industry is 8.4%.

Market Share Information

Red Bull is a very well-known brand of energy drinks created by the Austrian company, Red Bull GmbH. This brand has always had quite a significant presence in media, even during the initial inception of the internet. As of December 2022, Redbull maintains most of the
market share of 43% (cite). A total of 11 billion cans of Red Bull were sold worldwide in 2022, representing an increase of 18% against an already very successful 2021 (Red Bull, 2023).

The Monster Energy brand was announced in 2002, nearly 21 years ago. Monster Energy does very well and has a wide range of products. Variety and options bring consumers to the
brand, where Monster Energy has 35% of the energy drink market share. In North America alone, Monster Energy has more than 34 varieties with color differentiation to indicate assorted flavoring.

Social Media Presence: Red Bull vs. Monster Energy

Red Bull and Monster have a similar strategy that has been ongoing over the years and subsequently included many marketing strategies involving extreme sports, celebrity endorsements, and even music collaborations. More notably, Red Bulls famous slogan included the renowned catchphrase, “Red Bull Gives You Wings,” while Monster is most known for
“Unleash the beast!”. The Social Blade is an analytics platform that can only estimate earnings and is only partially accurate in the financial landscape. Still, ultimately, it indicates a much more significant social media presence than competitors. Red Bull has a substantial presence on YouTube. Red
Bull ranks at a total grade of A with a very high ranking in the sports category in twelfth place overall. Red Bull’s estimated monthly earnings on YouTube range from $32,000– $520,000 to $6 million per year (Social Blade, 2023). Of all the channels, Red Bull ranks 287th in the subscriber category, with only 1,100 other channels ranking higher subscription rates.

Social Selling

Monster is quite a big sponsor in mixed martial arts, an extreme sport that is also very notable to the public. Monster maintains a particular relationship with the UFC and, more personally, a partnership with champions and notable sports figures. As seen in Figure 2, this post received almost 33,000 views. Thanks to popular UFC hashtags and a prominent athlete — this is an example of how brands like Monster establish social selling through relevant conversations.

According to IBM, a lead developed via social media is 7x more likely to close (Moth, 2017). Monster’s social media strategy is quite different than Red Bull’s in this way. Red Bull tends to post about less popular sports in media, and subsequently, the athletes are world-class but have yet to be brought up as much in the mainstream sports conversation. The post in
figure two is from Twitter, where this platform has an analytic tool that “allows the user to review total impressions, which is essential when analyzing reach. The Twitter Analytics report highlights the account’s top tweet and top mention at a glance”. Monster’s intention to stay in relevant spaces online contributes to the brand’s high market share in the energy drink industry. The Monster can monitor the brand’s Twitter posts and examine how well audiences engage with content. Reviewing the individual posts on Twitter is the best metric to review because reshared posts tell a story of how influential the content is. According to this week’s lesson, “If someone with 100,000 followers posts something about your brand, that message is significantly more valuable than if someone with 1,000 followers posts about your brand. However, it is not just about the number of friends or followers but about their ability to encourage followers to complete an action. To measure influence, a marketer
must make assumptions about how influential someone might be in the future based on past actions”.

Share of Voice

The Share of Voice that Red Bull maintains compared to competitors is outstanding. Due to the subscriber rate, video views, and frequent uploads, Red Bull’s voice is much more relevant on YouTube and, as a result, dominates engagement, too. The information on the Social
Blade may not be entirely accurate, but it aligns well with the reality that Red Bull holds first place for being the most popular energy drink in the world. This metric is essential for the energy drink market share because it is evident that Red Bull has a prominent Share of Voice on the YouTube platform, which is something that competitors like Monster should work on.

Engagement, Volume, and Reach

Red Bull’s undeniable presence in extreme sports has led to a huge
following. Red Bull’s YouTube channel consistently posts unique content for people to observe. People only see these types of sports a few times a week, anywhere from cliff diving, surfing, ice skating, and slopestyle BMX racing. These videos grab viewers’ attention, creating conversations and fantastic metrics for a YouTube channel. The more subscribers
or reach a channel has , the more popular the channel becomes, which creates volume, and the more likely people will watch the ads to go along with the content and monetize. Considering that Red Bull has over 11 million subscribers, the volume and popularity of the brand certainly bring
in significant revenue for the company. Monster has about 3 million subscribers on YouTube, which is worth looking into and addressing. Monster also sponsors a podcast called Unleashed, which recently aired on YouTube and may popularize more soon. With the help of improving standard metrics and identifying the proper reach, Monster can compete
with Red Bull on YouTube if the strategy is authentic and monitored. Alternatively, Monster should utilize Twitter and Instagram to promote the podcasts consciously to gain more volume.

Industry Analysis

Red Bull dominates the energy drink market share and succeeds in the social media competition. Red Bull has more of a following, activity, and engagement on every platform. Monster’s primary strategy is to partner with prominent athletes, a sensible notion that helps the brand maintain a solid presence. However, Monster should consider being more active on social media. Monster should also consider implementing a fresh, groundbreaking campaign to appease new customers and younger cohorts. Monster has been around for more than 20 years and may need a refresher to stay relevant, especially for the health-conscious
consumer.

References

Moth, D. (2017, June 06). Measuring social media ROI: Case studies & stats that prove it’s possible. Retrieved from https://www.econsultancy.com/blog/69144-measuring-social-media-roi-case-studies-stats-that-prove-it-s-possible

Red Bull Energy Drink — Official Website. (2023). https://www.redbull.com/us-en/energydrink/company-profile

Rogers, K. (2017, August 17). Energy drink | Definition, Ingredients, & Health Concerns. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/energy-drink

Statista. Energy & Sports Drinks — Worldwide. (2023). Statista. https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/non-alcoholic-drinks/soft-drinks/energy-sports-drinks/worldwide