RunSignup announces a slight increase in race participation in their their Fourth Annual RaceTrends Report exploring the state of the endurance industry. The report was built by mining RunSignup registration and finisher data over a five-year period to generate transparent statistics, identify trends in the industry, and provide recommendations to keep endurance events competitive in a crowded market. More than 50,000 race events and 7 million participants (an estimated 20-30% of the US endurance market) are accounted for in the data set for 2019.
The comprehensive report covers trends in race growth, race promotion, registration, fundraising, and RaceDay technology, with raw data and actionable takeaways. The top line takeaway from the report is that participation increased 1% from 2018 to 2019, an improvement over the 0.1% decrease last year, but still an indication of a relatively flat market. Growth was determined by comparing participation in races that were on the platform in both 2018 and 2019 and does not reflect the 23% growth in registrations on RunSignup overall.
Increase in Race Participation and Other significant takeaways include:
- 6% of 2018 races with over 500 participants did not recur in 2019.
- Prices increased for shorter distances (5K’s and 10K’s), but fell for both half marathons and marathons.
- Referral rewards refund programs pay off as a marketing strategy. Races with referral rewards refunds turned on gave just one refund for every 13 participants referred to the event.
- Mobile devices dominate, with 70.3% of page views and 46.8% of transactions taking place on a mobile phone or tablet.
- Runners respond to urgency. 27% of all registrations take place within the 3-day period before a price increase or registration close date.
- Facebook helps nonprofits raise more. Runners who connected their RunSignup Fundraising efforts to a Facebook Fundraiser via the free API connection raised $490 more than unconnected fundraisers.
- RaceJoy, the GPS runner-tracking app, expanded it’s reach with the new business model of making it available through RaceDay Certified Timers. The app saw a 108% increase in the number of races offering it between 2018 and 2019.
The full report looks at event pricing, the adoption of technology by events and strategies to help nonprofits raise more money. Limited print copies of the reports will be available at the RunSignup booth at upcoming industry conferences including Running USA and Road Runners Club of America. The full report can also be found online and downloaded for free at: https://runsignup.com/trends.
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