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FOOD & BEVERAGE


DRY JANUARY PARTICIPATION DIPS IN 2023

Fewer adults plan to participate in Dry January this year, but among those who
say they will partake, more plan to abstain completely, finds food & beverage
analyst Emily Moquin

Unsplash / Morning Consult artwork by Ashley Berry
By Emily Moquin
January 10, 2023 at 5:00 am GMT
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KEY TAKEAWAYS

 * Dry January participation has dropped 4 percentage points, from 19% in 2022
   to 15% this year. 

 * Health benefits remain the leading reason nearly all participants say they’re
   cutting back on alcohol consumption, but this year, cost savings are a factor
   too, and both will likely propel moderation intentions beyond the month of
   January. 

 * Adult beverage brands need to support consumers in their efforts to define
   “drinking moderately” and assist in overall health and wellness goals.
   Transparency about nutrition and ingredients can empower drinkers to make the
   choices they want to make. 

Dry January participation is down in 2023 after an economically tumultuous 2022
led consumers, especially millennials, to adjust their drinking habits. 

Fewer drinkers overall is likely one of the reasons participation is down this
year. The share of millennials — the generation that drinks the most frequently
— who said they drink alcohol declined from 69% in December 2021 to 62% a year
later, which translates to fewer potential Dry January participants. 

At the same time, a convergence of factors may have made January 2022 a
particularly appealing moment to give Dry January a go, including nearly two
years of pandemic weight gain and a desire to hibernate at home (and more
canceled social events) during the U.S. omicron surge.

Shares of respondents participating in Dry January
Bar chart with 3 data series.
View as data table,
The chart has 1 X axis displaying categories.
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying Values. Data ranges from 0 to 0.


Created with Highcharts 11.2.0Values0
 * 
 * 
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2021
2022
2023
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Morning Consult Logo
Surveys conducted Jan. 4-5, 2021, Jan. 4-5, 2022, and Jan. 5-6, 2023, each among
2,024 to 2,644 adults ages 21 and over, with unweighted margins of error of +/-2
percentage points.


NEARLY 1 IN 4 U.S. ADULTS HAVE HEARD SOMETHING ABOUT DRY JANUARY

The dip in participation is not for lack of awareness. A decade into the Dry
January campaign, which Alcohol Change UK founded in 2013, nearly a quarter of
U.S. adults (24%) say they’ve seen, read or heard at least some about it. That
share has climbed slightly from last year, when 21% said the same. 

What’s more, retention of prior participants is still quite high. Among those
who said they previously participated in Dry January, 72% are participating
again this year. There’s clearly a core group of participants who find perennial
value in the benefits of the monthlong break from drinking alcohol.


MORE DRY JANUARY PARTICIPANTS ARE ALL IN ON ABSTINENCE IN 2023

It’s possible more “sober curious” drinkers experimented with Dry January last
year, boosting both the overall participation rate and the share who said they
would take a more moderate approach to the month as opposed to abstaining
completely. Although participation is down, this year’s participants are more
committed: 7 in 10 plan to take the entire month off from imbibing.

Share of respondents participating in Dry January in the following ways:

Morning Consult Logo
Surveys conducted Jan 4-5, 2022, and Jan. 5-6, 2023, each among roughly 200
adults ages 21 and over who are participating in Dry January and typically drink
alcohol, with unweighted margins of error of +/-7 percentage points. Figures may
not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Participants want to cinch both their waistlines and their wallets. Health
benefits are the most commonly cited reason for participating in Dry January.
Similar to last year, nearly all participants (90%) are interested in trying to
be healthier, whether that is about calorie control and weight management or
just feeling better overall. 

But after the persistent inflation and economic uncertainty of 2022, a new
option added to the survey this year resonated with 73% of participants: trying
to save money. This has been a consistent theme in the adult beverage category
over the past year as consumers wrestled with rising costs.


PRICEY MOCKTAILS AND NONALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES WON’T APPEAL TO COST-CONSCIOUS
PARTICIPANTS 

It stands to reason that the recent explosion of better nonalcoholic beverages
could pave the way for higher Dry January participation rates. People may be
more likely to stick with the challenge if they can turn to a high-quality
substitution. While that may have been true last year, this year cost is likely
a barrier for many: 2023 participants are roughly half as likely to say they
plan to purchase nonalcoholic wine, beer or cocktails.

In many cases, these beverages are now a much closer one-for-one substitute on
taste, but they are also increasingly a one-for-one substitute on cost. As The
Wall Street Journal and The New York Times recently reported, many “mock”
beverages cost the same as their alcoholic counterparts, making them a less
appealing option for the nearly three-quarters of participants who are
abstaining this month to save money.

Share of Dry January participants who plan to purchase the following items in
January:

Chart

Line chart with 3 lines.
View as data table, Chart
The chart has 1 X axis displaying categories.
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying Values. Data ranges from 0 to 0.


Created with Highcharts 11.2.0ValuesNonalcoholic beerNonalcoholic
wineNonalcoholic cocktails0
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 * 
 * 


End of interactive chart.
Morning Consult Logo
Surveys conducted Jan. 4-5, 2022, and Jan. 5-6, 2023, each among roughly 200
adults ages 21 and over who drink alcohol and are currently participating in Dry
January, with unweighted margins of error of +/-7 percentage points.


CONSUMER DRINKING HABITS BEYOND DRY JANUARY WILL INCLUDE MORE MODERATION

Despite lower participation rates in Dry January in 2023, the moderation
movement is still going strong. In fact, moderated drinking is likely one of the
factors dampening participation. The first year of the month is no longer the
only time people are abstaining: 22% of drinkers plan to take a monthlong break
from drinking alcohol at some point in 2023. Even without committing to a full
month, roughly 3 in 10 drinkers say they expect to drink less in 2023 compared
with 2022. 

Heading into a new year, this statistic provides insight about drinkers’
intentions. Moderation is on their minds.


AlcoholBeverage
Emily Moquin


Emily Moquin previously worked at Morning Consult as a lead food & beverage
analyst.

 

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