Health Trend Boosts Flagging Drinking Yogurt Product Launch Activity

12 Jan 2016

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12 Jan 2016 --- Drinking yogurts and fermented beverages accounted for 8.5% of total global dairy launches recorded by Innova Market Insights in the 12 months to the end of October 2015. While tracked launch numbers have increased over the past five years, their share of overall dairy activity has fallen slightly over the same period.

“The drinking yogurt market has enjoyed mixed fortunes in recent years,” reports Lu Ann Williams, Director of Innovation at Innova Market Insights. “A positioning that falls between traditional spoonable yogurts, milk drinks and other soft drinks has proven to be a mixed blessing, with high levels of competition in all these areas.”

After a period of strong growth in the first half of the 2000s, driven by rising interest in healthy and convenient options, the market also found itself split into two separate areas – single-serve dose-delivery active health drinks and traditional drinking yogurts – with the latter increasingly coming under pressure from the former. This position has tended to reverse with the regulatory changes preventing the use of probiotic claims in key markets, perhaps most notably Europe, which accounts for over half of launches in the sub-category.

Williams told FoodIngredientsFirst: “Drinking yogurts have always been more popular in Central & Eastern Europe and Latin America than other parts of the world but we are seeing increasing numbers of launches in China, Brazil and the US. The emergence and growth of this category has been most remarkable in China over the past five years. Fermented milk drinks are very popular.”

“In Asia, just over 13% of dairy launches were drinking yogurt/fermented beverages in 2015,” she said. “This compares to 5% in Western Europe and North America. In Latin America where fermented beverages have long been very popular, it is 11%. We saw the biggest increase in Central and Eastern Europe where drinking yogurt launches represented 15% of total dairy launches in 2015.”

The drinking yogurt market is attempting to move on with new formats and target markets, although the focus on health aspects of yogurt remains strong. Over 80% of global launches recorded in the 12 months to the end of October 2015 featured health claims of some kind, rising to 98% in the US.

Furthermore, despite the use of the term “probiotic” being disallowed in the EU, the association of yogurt with digestive/gut health has clearly been made. It is the most popular claim globally, used on over half of drinking yogurt launches. Other popular claims relate to low and light, with nearly 45% of launches featuring low fat, low sugar and/or low calorie claims. Interest in clean label is also evident, with over one-fifth of launches using natural or no additive/preservative claims, rising to nearly 27% if organic claims are also included.

Williams said: “You see differences in claims per region. In Europe where probiotic claims are limited, there are more passive health claims relating to all things communicating naturalness like no additives/preservatives or no artificial colors. In Asia, the majority of claims are related digestive health and probiotics.”

She continued: “Many products are targeted towards a healthy indulgent moment. There are many products from smaller companies that are combining yogurt with ingredients like oats and blueberry to offer an indulgent texture with the extra health benefits of oats and blueberry. Protein is another big trend driving interest in dairy in general and we’ve seen an increase in RTD products offering protein.”

Marketers are making drinks more appealing to consumers by tapping into the trend for healthy indulgence; where there is a positive health appeal, such as the ever-popular protein claim, the product has instant appeal. “There is still a lot of opportunity for on-the-go healthy indulgence. 10% of total global products tracked in this category had a protein claim in 2015. There is more room for more fruit and vegetables, new cultures like kefir or fil and also more fiber,” says Williams.

There are now indications that the market is moving forward, with a particular focus on yogurt and fruit blends in a smoothie format, while there has also been the rising interest in yogurt-style fermented drinks that has brought products such as kefir, lassi and ayran into mainstream markets in non-traditional regions.

One of the most high-profile recent arrivals has been the Icelandic yogurt-style fermented dairy product Skyr in countries such as the US, the UK and mainland Europe, in drinkable and smoothie formats. It is offered in a range of fruit flavors, as well as trendy options such as coffee and vanilla.

There has also been a focus on offering liquid yogurt products for the breakfast market, both in-home in cartons and for on-the-go replacements in resealable plastic bottles.

“After a few difficult years, it may be that the drinking yogurt market is once again on the up,” concludes Williams. “The renewed focus on convenience and indulgence, combined with its healthy image has resulted in a drink or snack offering suitable for both in-home and on-the-go consumption.”

By Kelly Worgan