Dive Brief:

• YouGov BrandIndex released the results of a study comparing millennial consumer data from the first half of 2016 to the same period this year and found that ride-hailing app Uber made the biggest gains, while Lyft and Airbnb were also big gainers, per an organization post.
• In addition to sharing economy companies, the brands experiencing the biggest jumps in millennial customers from a year ago includes travel, banking and sportswear names like Delta, Adidas, Visa, Chase, Calvin Klein and Puma. 
• YouTube, Facebook and Google top the overall list of brands with the most millennial customers. Rounding out the top ten of biggest millennial brands are Amazon, Walmart, Netflix, Instagram, Apple, Wikipedia and Visa.

Dive Insight:

For marketers, the YouGov BrandIndex report provides insights into what brands millennials are interested in as well as a way to track what is trending with the demographic. There also may be lessons to be learned from what some brands are doing to connect with a highly coveted demographic. 

The report points to Delta clearly understanding how big a role millennials will have in its customer base and workforce going forward and crafting marketing strategies designed to resonate with them. For example, Delta recently partnered with Tinder on the side of a building featuring popular destinations that could be used for talking selfies. It also put up an illustrated wall across from Smorgasburg, the country's largest open-air food market in Brooklyn. 

Adidas has gained cachet with millennials by capitalizing on the popular of its affordable Superstar sneaker while dropping TV advertising for an all digital and mobile push. 

YouGov said its research showing big gains in millennial customers for Uber — coming at a time when the company has been facing a lot of turmoil — Lyft and Airbnb point to the sharing economy’s potential to disrupt the automotive and hotel industries. In fact, no automotive brands made the top 20 gainers with Audi coming closest at 36. The report defines a customer as someone who recently purchased from the brand with the timeframe determined by category, or visited the brand’s website in the last 30 days.

The fifth biggest gain was for cable network TLC, home of “Long Island Medium,” “Little People Big World,” “Long Lost Family,” and “Outdaughtered.” Technology companies included in the top 20 millennial customer gainers are Twitter, WhatsApp and Spotify.