PPMA’s AI Research Reveals Consumer Conversations About Bed Bugs Up 272% in April

Engagement around rodent sightings in the bathroom up 1,114%

To keep a pulse on consumer pest concerns, the Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA), and the consumer marketing arm of NPMA, uses Artificial Intelligence to accurately assess public opinion on a given topic by generating randomized, controlled samples of the population through online media and using text analytics.

In its most recent PPMA Update, a monthly newsletter shared with investors, they reported their April results. According to PPMA’s AI research, bed bugs saw the highest increase in engagement out of any other core pest in April at 272%. There was also a stark increase in rodent sightings in the bathroom and kitchen at 1,114% and 318%, respectively. With these figures, it is no surprise that in the context of health and home concerns, the U.S. population saw a strong increase in engagement on bed bugs (664.8%), mice (95.5%), and rats (89.7%) from the previous month. Notably, Pennsylvania showed a staggering increase in engagement on the topics of mosquitoes (2,350%) and spiders (2,275%).

To learn more about PPMA and its consumer programming, contact cmannes@pestworld.org.