SPATE Data FAQ

DATA

How is Spate data different from Google (the company) data?

1. How is Spate data different from Google's Traffic Estimator?

The traffic estimator looks at the average. 12-month search volume, while Spate can infer the exact month-by-month search volume by ingesting Google Trends data. This permits you to track in "real-time" the brand health and the impact of consumer demand, product launch, and marketing initiatives...

1. How is Spate building its Keyword list?

For each brand that we are tracking, we scrape the brand's website to generate a list of Keywords → then, an algorithm determines if the Keywords are branded Keywords (e.g. Glossier) or product Keywords (e.g. Boy Brow). Our team manually checks all classified keywords to exclude irrelevant ones (e.g., Matrix the Movie vs. Matrix Shampoo).

1. How do make sure that the Keyword list is up to date?

Every month, Spate scrapes the internet for new keywords relevant to the beauty category to ensure we capture the latest trends or product launches. A new product launch will be added to an existing Brand.

1. Is Spate's list 100% accurate?

We aim to achieve 100% accuracy, but there can sometimes be little glitches. We are super transparent and share our keyword list with our users as we want to get feedback (e.g., in the dashboard, users can see the keyword lists and flag miss-categorization). We take feedback super seriously, and our team will process any input + re-pull all the data as quickly as we can (currently est. 1 week turnaround)

PREDICTION

How do we calculate prediction?

Spate uses state-of-the-art prediction algorithms to offer predictions in 12 months. We run the model based on the millions of historical data points we collect and have an accuracy of 72% for the next 12 months.

All predictions are not equal; for each prediction that we make, we will provide a confidence score; some projections will have a very high level of confidence (90% confidence), while certain predictions are labeled as uncertain (50% confidence → that’s a flip of a coin). We aim to be transparent and will tell you when we aren’t sure about the future, as our goal is to provide a quantitative tool so you can make better decisions.

What about brands?

We have applied the same model to brands - but I would take it with a pinch of salt. Brands are unpredictable, as future searches can easily vary due to a product launch, a marketing campaign, or another event. In general, I would take this as directional data.

The sharp decline at the end of the prediction is due to a statistical effect that tends to "exaggerate" the volatility with time. As we look more into the future, the model becomes more uncertain. I wouldn't focus on the month-to-month data point but rather the overall 12-month number.

MISC

How we determine Price points (High, Medium, Low)

We scraped retailers' & DTC websites to collect around 600,000 products + their price points. For each brand, we determine the average. price point per category (skincare, hair, makeup…) - we then dynamically score each brand based on its peer set for each category.

Today those ranges are dynamic, so it's quite hard to give a fixed threshold, but here are some estimations →

Low :

Fragrance  < $30
Makeup < $30
Skincare < 30

High :

Fragrance > $66
Makeup > $66
Skincare > $66

Medium -> Between low & High.

Again, we adjust the methodology a lot with the data we collect throughout the time. So this is just an estimation of price point thresholds.

How do we calculate How Competitive the space is? Who owns the market?

How Competitive is the space?

This metric assesses how much organic searches are brand-related. It represents the top-of-mind brands that consumers search for alongside a trend.

We are looking at Branded search volume eg. 100K branded searches vs. 1K branded to determine the score. The thresholds (Very High, High, … Low) are relative & calculated for each category (Beauty, Personal Care, Wellness…); therefore, they can vary from one month to another.

Who owns the market share?

This metric assesses the presence or lack thereof of a market leader. We are looking here at the concentration of brands owning the market share (Gini index.)

How is localized TikTok data determined (for example, in the US)?

For localized hashtag data, we estimate how many people have seen a hashtag in the US based on the overall popularity of that hashtag worldwide and the percentage of views it gets in the US. This is determined based on the last time US-specific information was available for views on a particular hashtag, so timing may vary. As for post-level metrics, these are determined based on the post author’s country. Therefore, a US-based creator's content will be categorized within the local US TikTok data.

TikTok data is by default "Global" and US data is determined by inferring views based on creator country category by category. To calculate the share of US volume per category, a Spate user would need to divide US/Global result on a by category or trend basis. As a result, the percentage of Global data that can be attributed to the US specifically will vary from category to category.

Do you have an API access?

Yes, we can provide API access. Please connect with your account manager, or you can reach out to support@spate.nyc for more information

Can you filter to specific date ranges?

At the moment, filtering by a specific date range isn't available on the dashboard. However, if you'd like to calculate your own metrics, you can export the data in CSV or XLS format and perform your calculations in a spreadsheet.

DATA COLLECTION

[PRIVACY] How do we collect data? Does Spate store personal information?

Spate is a machine intelligence platform that spot consumer trends in the world of Beauty & Personal Care. We do this by collecting data on Google Search and TikTok.

Google Search is publicly available information & anonymized; there isn't any personal identifiable information attached to it.

For TikTok, Spate scrapes publicly available information and doesn’t store any personal data. We don’t store any name, email, image, DOB, address… The data shown is aggregated & anonymized views for Hashtags. For each hashtag, Spate will also show the top videos driving views. It’s an embedding through URL to the TikTok platform; Spate will only store a URL to the video. Additionally, social handle isn't being collected as part of the social listening exercises.

Data collection policy

Here is a link to Spate’s data collection policy