That is quite interesting

My interpretation of this

My interpretation of this trend is that comes from India and Indonesia. Another user on Facebook also mentions this thought so I shouldn't lay claim to this idea. 

I suspect proof of my theory would be these added searches are being produced by mobiles. I haven't dug down into that, as it doesn't apply to me, really.

Not sruprised by the Antipodies

I'm not surprised by the searches from the Antipodies. I am constantly amazed by the number of model railways there are hidden away in New Zealand. Note the use of railways not railroad; it's our English ancestry coming out. The NZGR was the New Zealand Government Railways and as kids we grew up with English Tri-ang and Hornby railways almost exclusively of British prototypes, not to mention being OO designed to run on HO track. Lionel and American Flyer were never seen here.

American Railroads are now quite big with some very large and very impressive layouts around the country.

What about all searches?

Interesting data. Is there a reasonable way to look at data around the same time for "all" subjects? Perhaps a segment of the world that was previously "dark" is now able to join in and thus statistically the model railroad searches are a reflection of an uptick across the board?

Hard to see a scenario where this is bad news in any regard!  ☺

A growing middle class in the

A growing middle class in the East?

Look closely

I  hate to burst the bubble here, but if you look at the lower right of the graph there is a thing that says "Note." If you hover your mouse over it it says "An improvement to our data collection system was applied from 08/05/17." That note is exactly where the latest jump occurs (where both numbers more than double the previous month). That means the jump in August probably isn't real, but an artifact of the upgrade.

Thank you, Ron, for doing these studies. They are interesting. Keep it up.

Maybe they were just looking

up to find when "big bang" was coming on?  

  I don't think searches mean much, more important to me would be product sales,magazine subscribers,club membership,etc. The concrete stuff is not open to questions :> ) .....DaveB

That's probably it

That's probably the explanation. If you notice, these stats are for YouTube searches. That says to me the upgrade was on YouTube search stats.

That's likely it -- a YouTube search stat upgrade. I tried a lot of other search terms (apple pie, motorcyles, toys, tomatoes) and they're ALL sharply up as of the August timeframe.

I didn't notice that.

I didn't notice that.

Ok, ok, this morning I took

Ok, ok, this morning I took another stab at finding something useful to share in trends.

In this comparison, we have all "topics" instead of search terms. Search terms only look at visitor traffic I believe, whereas the topic would also consist of content created.

We see that scale modeling took a dive during the recession. Rail Transport Modeling (the suggested term by Google, instead of Model Railroading, railway etc.) has been gradually decreasing. I see this as a sign that while the paper publishing industry has been falling. Maybe it is also not promoting the hobby across the continent in general stores. Is it possible we are not selling the hobby outwards enough? 

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F01rh7y,%2Fm%2F054zr,%2Fm%2F027xj4,%2Fm%2F026q79,%2Fm%2F0247b8#cmpt=q

Another way to look at this chart is to consider what scales are most popular.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F027xj4,%2Fm%2F026q79,%2Fm%2F0247b8,%2Fm%2F03bw_ps,%2Fm%2F02tjwr#cmpt=q

Do we sell the hobby?

Most folks get into the hobby because of a train set. A train set bought at a non-hobby store... maybe by a parent, or a relative... The local K-Mart, WalMart, and target had them... Toys R Us had a whole section on model trains...

They don't so much any more... and when you go into a hobby forum, and talk about how you loved train sets as a kid, what happens?

We, as modelers are very quick to "poo-poo" the whole idea of a train set.

But let's face it... a train set is the gateway drug. Bachmann understands that, and still makes full sets. I'm told Lionel does too.

Well, I say we do something about it. The holidays are coming! My roommate has a four year old, and that kid LOVES trains... so guess what he's getting for Chanukah?

(no... not some army men... a train set... try to follow along here!)

ACTUALLY, you just reminded

ACTUALLY, you just reminded me of my first experience with model trains. it was in the 80's, I was at ToysRus to see Michael Knight and the Kit car. The display at ToysRus was epic to say the least, AND we bought a trainset. Somehow I forgot that. Funny how all these years in the hobby I still have a foggy memory of how I got interested in it.

I have a child in mind to send a set too.

Train sets

I think it's more likely that  since real trains are not seen in our neighborhoods kids don't get interested in modeling as much as we kids did. I could see the SP running every day and go play in their local yard when I got a bit older so it was easy to become a modeler....DaveB

No trains...

I grew up on a farm... no trains even close to me, and I still loved trains.

My brother had never seen a car race, and loved slot cars as well.

Don't EVEN get me started on the distinct lack of aliens in my childhood, which makes me wonder why ANYONE liked Star Wars...

Seriously though... I hear this a lot... a connection between real trains, and modeling them, but I have found, in the hobby world, more often than not, the interest in modeling the things we didn't know, seem higher than the things we did, so I put little stock in the notion that interest waned due to a lack of prototype.

In fact, looking at the hobby today, and the people I run across who I never knew were interested in it, I'm having trouble believing the notion that interest in the hobby has waned at all.

I am trying my best not to

I am trying my best not to share an opinion. Hm... Gotta be positive these days no matter what.

We have shows

We have magazines

We have a shrinking scene of LHS's

As said already Train sets are the gateway drug for the hobby. Maybe we can suggest those companies start making an effort on our behalf again.

Did ToysRus close the train section? Why if so... I suspect Goodyear, oh yeah I am crazy like a fox. But seriously who would be responsible for this kind of thing. Sure would be nice if there was an organization that could perform this activity for us. Maybe not,...

Ok, I am starting to geek out

Ok, I am starting to geek out here. Bare with me. 

This is a screenshot from my Youtube Analytics, the timeframe the last 28 days (the Christmas crowd). I noticed something interesting in this graph along with the expected info. 72% of my audience is over the age of 45 and Male.

However, if you glean the section, of what I would consider young parents 18-24. We find that 41% are Women.

Now if we extend the time frame to when the lifetime of my JaSM account we find that these ladies are just shy of 30% of my 18-34 age range.

I would consider this age range as mothers (would this metric show a sign of the professional Woman> ?). This is the demographic that we want to target in terms of getting children a train set. Maybe, I am being a dolt and not considering that the ladies are interested in the hobby instead of being an advocate for their children.

Anyways it is quite distinct in my numbers that Women are in the statistics in this hobby and they are watching content during an important time in their life (child rearing). If the goal is to grow the hobby, maybe a certain few should take notice and advise the industry of it.

After a bit of modeling I

After a bit of modeling I deciding to look at this again. In the long term graph, we see 25-34 range is 6.2% more than 18-24.

If you are advertising may be the wrong crowd is being targeted. 25-34 yr old Women are, as I have said, in the numbers. I recognize I am discussing 30% of 10.8% of our hobby. But the point must be made, right now the demographic is the current purchaser. I wonder if the paid talent doing this kind of thing out there has noticed this yet.

TRU...

Back in the late 90s, TRU decided to revamp all of their stores... they felt the bigger money maker was electronics (video games and the like) and much to the upset of many action figure collectors, plastic modelers and model rail enthusiasts, they rebuilt their stores to highlight the electronics sections to the detriment of the rest.

The first departments to be sacrificed was plastic models, slot cars, and trains. Around the holidays they get a few "sets" but they are few and far between, and usually just something a bit generic for the grandparents to get for "Little Johnny".

I personally think it was a bad decision on their part, but... I will say it helped one of the local comic shops in town, as they became one of the few places that were still selling Gundams, and other plastic model kits, and according to them, their sells went up a bit after TRU quit the plastic model business.