NFTs and Marketing: Stats and Trends for 2022

NFTs. NFTs. NFTs. All anyone talks about these days is NFTs. And the Metaverse. And the Super Bowl.

I love it. 

Crypto Nft GIF by South Park

Let's have a quick definition for anyone who's literally been hiding under a rock this past year. I get it, rent prices are through the roof:

NFTs are Cryptographic assets on blockchain, with unique ids and metadata. How do they differ from Crypto, you ask? Well, for one, they're non-fungible. Woah, I know.

Once you own it, that digital asset is yours, big spender. The token is tied to the artwork, and acts as the original piece. For example, you might be able to Google a picture of Van Gogh's Sunflowers, or even hang it on your wall, but (surprise surprise) you don't actually own it. NFTs work the same way. Only when you own the token, do you own the artwork. 

So, let's check out some of the top stats and trends in the space.

NFTs and the Current Landscape

  • NFT transactions have risen from $40.96 million in 2018 to $338.04 million in 2020. That’s an increase of over 8x in two years.
  • The third quarter of 2021 was a massive quarter for NFT trading. According to DappRadar, an analytics platform, the trading volume for this period reached $10.67 billion
  • The market cap for NFT multiverse Decentraland was worth between 800 million and 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in September 2021 alone.
  • Being one of the oldest NFTs, the sales development of CryptoKitties – a project that involves randomly generated pictures of cats - can be retraced back to 2017.
  • At its peak in September 2021, the floor price of any type of NFT trading was around 10 times higher than it was in early June 2021. This indicates that NFT trading became increasingly popular during that time.
  • As of January 15, 2022, the aggregated number of sales recorded on the Ethereum blockchain over 30 days reached approximately 44.6 thousand. As of that period, around 26 thousand sales came from the secondary market.

CHART OF THE DAY: The NFT Market Is Growing Rapidly

  • During August alone, the trading volume surged over $5 billion making it a record-breaking month. While September didn’t reach the same volume, it still managed to account for $4+ billion
  • According to research completed about primary sales by an artist, Kimberly Parker, and an anonymous data scientist, 53.6% of NFTs that were sold on OpenSea in March 2021 were for less than $200.
  • According to data collected by NonFungible.com, NFT sales can currently range anywhere from 15,000 to 50,000 per week. 
  • According to data collected by NonFungible.com, NFT sales can currently range anywhere from 15,000 to 50,000 per week. 
  • Data gathered by Statista shows that the market cap of non-fungible tokens enjoyed almost a tenfold increase between 2018 and 2020.


NFTS and Top Sales

  • NFTs grabbed headlines in March 2021 when Beeple's crypto art "First 5000 Days" became the world's most expensive NFT at 69 million U.S. dollars.
  • The Most Expensive NFT Video Sold for Almost $7 million. This short 10-second video sold on Nifty Gateway for $6.6 million in February 2021. It depicts former US president Donald Trump flat on his stomach while passers-by casually continue with the rest of their day.

Dapp-Radar-Top-NFT-Sales-Chart-13-19September-2021-1024x569

  • The Most Expensive NFT Meme Sold for $4 Million. Doge, an image of a breed of hunting dog from Japan is one of the most famous memes. It’s also the most expensive NFT meme after it sold for about $4 million on Zora in June 2021.
  • Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, sold his very first tweet by means of Valuables, an NFT marketplace. Fifteen years after he tweeted, “just setting up my twttr”, this very tweet was sold for more than $2.9 million. 
  • The top sale for NBA's Top Shot to date is a highlight of LeBron James which sold for $230,000 at the end of August 2021. In fact, all top three sales to date feature LeBron James.
  • In late March 2021, a song was sold for $1.33 million, named by its purchaser as Gunky’s Uprising

NFTs and Consumer Demographics 

  • By August 2021, there were roughly 280,000 unique buyers or sellers - the source does not distinguish between the two - after a growth of 185,000 unique wallets.
  • Based on Google searches, consumers from Asia and Oceania were relatively more interested in NFTs than their counterparts from Europe, Latin America or MENA. This according to information that was compiled from Google Trends, looking at how often people from around the world were searching for the keyword "NFT".
  • Relatively few Americans - roughly one out of 10 - invested in NFTs in early 2021, although most investors were found among millennial men.
  • Indeed, around 22% of millennials indicated in an online survey held in March 2021 they were currently invested in NFTs.
  • There were different reasons as to why U.S. people would invest in NFTs, although return on investment was often mentioned across both genders and all ages.
  • From the big name brands in the United States that announced NFT plans, the ones that attracted the most interest in early 2021 were related to fashion. When asked during an online survey in March 2021, female respondents from different age groups revealed an interest in a potential NFT from Nike, for instance.
  • 15% of male respondents indicated that they collected NFTs. On the other hand, only 4% of the female respondents stated that they collected NFTs. 
  • 3.3% of the UK population plan to own an NFT in the future.
  • 78.8% of the UK population does not know what an NFT is.

NFTs and the Art World 

  • As of April 12, 2021, roughly 23.7 thousand NFTs were sold in the art segment during the previous 30 days
  • Sales of digital assets through blockchain grew to a size of tens of millions of U.S. dollars in early 2021, as several artists got involved in NFTs. One notable example from March 2021 is the NFT album release from Kings of Leon - the first of its kind from a signed artist - that led to around two million U.S. dollars worth of sales.
  • The sales value of NFT art surpassed $150,000 between March and July 2021
  • NFT art sales peaked at almost 1.5 million sales per month in 2021
  • Online sales of art more than doubled in 2020
  • NFT art sales on Nifty Gateway have surpassed $250 million 
  • Almost 2000 NFTs were launched on Nifty Gateway in the first four months of 2021

nft ecosystem

NFTs and Sports 

  • Both total transactions as well as unique buyers of NFT collectible NBA Top Shot were significantly higher in 2021 than in 2020
  • In 2019, basketball trading cards took on a different form when the NBA partnered with Dapper Labs to create NBA’s Top Shots, a blockchain-based trading card system.
  • According to the website of Dapper Labs, NBA’s Top Shots has already generated more than $700 million in total sales. 
  • In the middle of March 2021, 2,200 respondents were surveyed about their interest in collecting NFTs either as a hobby or an investment. The results revealed that e-sports fans were the most interested in collecting NFTs. Slightly over 20% stated that they were very interested, while 35% indicated that they were somewhat interested. 

NFTs and Video Games

  • Transactions in NFTs increased significantly during the summer of 2021, as several tokens gained popularity. Most of these transactions were likely related to play-to-earn Vietnamese video game Axie Infinity, which became the world's most valuable NFT collection in August 2021
  • The player count of NFT metaverse Alien Worlds was as high as that of blockchain games Splinterlands and Galaxy Blocks combined.
  • This works out to an increase of more than 700% from the previous quarter. According to Statista, much of this success can likely be linked to Axie Infinity, a play-to-earn Vietnamese video game that became the most valuable NFT collection across the globe in August 2021. 
  • While the overall NFTs sales in 2021 enjoyed a significant spike, the value of NFTs for gaming decreased. On the other hand, the value of NFTs for arts increased. 

Kyros Report: NFT Market in 2021 - Kyros Ventures


This post is part of our Martech stats series, which compiles key data and trends. Others include: