Today, we are revealing a set of NFT utility data and insights after comparing trading volumes from OpenSea’s top 100 collections of all-time with those over an analysis period of 30 days, from October 15, 2022 to November 15, 2022. Analyzing each collection to determine how utility types are evolving, these data uncovered a growing interest in NFT utility types beyond PFPs (profile pictures), particularly content, events, and rewards distribution.
What is the fastest-growing utility for NFTs?
Exclusive content is the fastest-growing utility for NFTs. Sixty four percent of NFTs have two or more utilities, making up 73% of all trading volumes. As seen by the growing popularity of utilities beyond PFPs, these data signify that NFT collections with multiple utilities trade at higher values and faster rates than collections with only one utility—which make up just 28% of trading volume. The data suggests that future collections must offer multiple utilities to keep pace with competition.
Other interesting findings include a rising interest in NFTs that have both physical and digital utilities. Over the 30-day analysis period, we found that more than 25% of NFT sales volumes have been for collections with both physical and digital utilities, compared to 14% of all time sales. These insights align with our recent NFT Sentiment Report where we found that 84% of NFT adopters would purchase NFTs if they were redeemable for physical items.
“Many people think of NFTs as a one-hit-wonder, with value only having been present in PFPs or other digital content-related opportunities, but in fact the NFT market is dynamic and fascinating in terms of the utilities that are possible and emerging. It’s more essential than ever to fully understand the key drivers and trends that are having the most impact on NFT sales and trading,” said Ben Plomion, Dibbs' Chief Marketing Officer. “OpenSea’s data support that real-world use cases for NFTs are emerging and that overall sentiment toward the market is improving as consumers see more NFT relevance and utility in both the physical and digital worlds. We’ve also seen similar trends across our platform, and look forward to seeing more utilities unfold alongside the progression of Web3 and the metaverse.”
What are the NFT utility types?
As part of this analysis, we were able to identify ten discrete NFT utilities including: content, event access, merchandise, real estate, custom content, art, PFP, voting, gaming and rewards.
