Boating Brands Struggling with Social Media Engagement, New Study Reveals
March 31, 2026
Reprinted with Permission from Marine Industry News UK
March 17 2026
By Anna Cummins
A study examining social media activity across the boating sector has shown relatively low levels of audience interaction compared with other luxury industries.
The analysis, Social Media Insights – Boating Industry 2026, was prepared by Austrian market research firm Interconnection Consulting and reviews the social media performance of a number of boat and yacht brands.
Interconnection Consulting hosted a free webinar on 26 March 2026, to provide a comprehensive overview of the report.
Companies referenced in the study include Azimut, Bavaria, Beneteau, Brunswick, Ferretti Group, Hanse Yachts, Princess Yachts, Sanlorenzo, Sunseeker and Yamaha Boating. These companies represent a substantial portion of the global boating market.
“We developed a proprietary index where we assigned a score to three key performance metrics across each platform (Instagram and YouTube),” study author Rubén Rodríguez tells MIN. “Based on this framework, we benchmark all brands by evaluating their engagement levels and the interactions they generate (comments, likes, shares, saves, etc.), which ultimately allowed us to establish a comparative performance ranking.”
Instagram remains the primary social media platform used by boating brands, with almost all companies maintaining active accounts. The brands included in the analysis have an average of 174,500 Instagram followers. By comparison, luxury brand accounts in other sectors typically average around 956,900 followers.
Researchers attribute part of the difference to the similarity of content published across the sector. The study states that many brands rely on ‘similar, highly polished images’, which can make it difficult for individual accounts to differentiate themselves.
Use of other platforms is less widespread. Approximately 30 per cent of the analysed brands maintain an active presence on TikTok. YouTube is more commonly used to host product presentations and boat tour videos. The platform nonetheless shows potential for audience retention, the report says, with viewing rates reported between 60 per cent and 75 per cent for boating-related content.
