https://thetrek.co/appalachian-trail...-hiker-survey/

There's a lot of information to unpack (ha!) in this survey, including the percentage of hikers surveyed who used hammocks and what those hammocks were. There's also information on tarps and tarp sizes if you follow the links, and there are a lot of links to follow (and I highly recommend doing so). The author on the site has some decent credentials academically, including a minor in statistics, but the sample sizes for hammockers seem really low to me, so I'm not sure how truly representative the survey is.

Anecdotally however, my limited observations while on the AT several times in Georgia this past year would support the results on pack brands, so perhaps the data really is an accurate reflection of who's on the AT. If it's true, the vendors here have both some news to dismay them and news to cheer them. The good news is that based on this sample of hikers on the AT, there is a LOT of room for growth in hammock camping.

The bad news is that only a narrow subset of hammock brands were represented in the survey. By saying that, I definitely do not mean any disrespect to those who were mentioned by name. My opinion is that a healthy and growing industry would be reflected in a range of brands being mentioned in such a survey. The more brands that show up in a survey, the more depth and breadth of hammock penetration I would assume. Since that's not the case, at least in this survey, if I were a vendor here I would choose to look on it as an opportunity for growth. There's a lot of tents mentioned that could be replaced by hammocks.