The consumption of dry breakfast cereal has dropped while porridge has seen an increase, according to recent findings by Roy Morgan Research.
While porridge is eaten by substantially fewer Australians than biscuit-style breakfast cereals like Weetbix and other cereals such as muesli and cornflakes, survey data taken from the last five years reveals a spike in porridge as a breakfast choice.
In an average seven days, 4.1 million Aussies aged 14 and over (or 21 per cent of the population) eat porridge, 4.9 million (or 25 per cent) eat biscuit cereal, and 6.3 million (or 32 per cent) eat other cereals.
However, porridge is the only one of these three types of breakfast cereal to have gained popularity in recent years, eaten by 500,000 more Australians in any seven-day period now than in March 2011. In contrast, 400,000 fewer people are eating biscuit cereal than they were in 2011. Over the same period, the number of people eating other cereals has plummeted by 800,000.
Breakfast cereals eaten by Australians in an average seven days: 2011 vs 2015:
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), April 2010–March 2011 (n=18,263) and April 2014–March 2015 (n=15,913).
According to Roy Morgan, women comprise 60 per cent of porridge eaters, and older consumers are far more likely than younger Australians to eat it. For example, 29 per cent of Australians aged over 65 eat porridge, well over double the proportion of 14-17 year-olds (12 per cent) who eat it.
The results revealed that people who eat porridge appear to have a special interest in their health and diet.
Roy Morgan's Andrew Price said the growing number of drinking beverages such as Up & Go indicated that cereal brands increasingly needed to stand out in a crowded market.
“Just as the health benefits of oats have attracted a lot of positive press, the high sugar content in many cereals has also been widely covered – which may well be one of the drivers behind the declining popularity of biscuit and other cereals,” he said.
“Of course, more than half the people who eat porridge in an average seven days eat other kinds of breakfast cereal too, just as many people who eat other kinds of cereal also eat porridge. This poses another yet challenge for cereal marketers: how do they strengthen brand loyalty among their consumers?”
