GiveSignup | RunSignup's biannual Registration Market Analysis shows growth

GiveSignup | RunSignup released the Spring 2021 Registration Market Analysis, a biannual effort to evaluate the true state of the endurance market in an industry without a comprehensive aggregator for data. The report builds a three-dimensional view of the marketplace, with a snapshot of major news in the industry and an assessment of how the market share is currently divided. Due to the impact of COVID-19, many standard data sources and measurements are less reliable than normal, but website rankings, acquisitions, and public data provides some insight into the market.

Internal data from GiveSignup | RunSignup shows a healthy picture of rebuilding, with YOY transactions exceeding 2019 numbers for the first time since March 2020 and increases in both the number of events renewing for 2021 and the number of new events on the platform. Alexa rankings of web traffic indicate that most registration platforms have also seen a rebound compared to Fall 2020 but all platforms still lag behind their March 2019 rankings.

An look at acquisitions, annual reports, and other public statements helped fill in some details about the shape of the endurance market:

• More Acquisitions and Consolidation: Following on the heels of acquisitions and mergers involving Race Roster, Enmotive, GetMeRegistered RaceWire, ImAthlete and more, BikeReg was acquired by Pocket Outdoor Media in a large merger that included a rebrand as Outdoor. UltraSignup was also acquired by a small company, Atiba.
• Live Events Return: As challenging as the year was, endurance events were able to pivot to virtual and hybrid models far faster and more effectively than many other forms of live events. However, signs of recovery at Eventbrite, including an increase in stock prices from less than $6 a share to approximately $24 per share, suggest optimism around the return of all types of live events.
• Large Events Return: Large events were hit especially hard last year, but many of them are starting to plan a return this year. Accordingly, Haku, which focuses on custom solutions for large customers, saw a bounce in their Alexa ranking since the fall, and there is reason to expect continued improvement.
• Changing Focuses: With both GetMeRegistered and RaceWire (both owned by Stack Sports) falling off the Alexa rankings, it appears that the focus of the company has shifted toward other markets like youth sports. Similarly, Race Roster, recently acquired by ASICS, saw a small rebound in their Alexa rankings compared to other platforms, and appear to have switched their focus from Salesforce integration to promoting ASICS and RunKeeper.

While RunSignup can share detailed numbers relating to their own growth, the industry lacks a central data point to reliably determine the full extent of the endurance market or estimate the market share of each registration provider. Alexa rankings and public reporting offer some insight into activity in the market, but as events begin to return more consistently, event calendars will make it easier to assess the true shifts in the market.

The analysis is open and available to everyone in the industry for further conclusions or updated data: https://runsignup.blog/2021/03/19/race-registration-market-analysis-3/