Study discovers which dog breed most likely to become famous on social media platforms

A study has discovered which breed is the most likely to become famous on TikTok as dog ownership and social media use both increase in Australia.

The Golden Retriever has been dubbed the most popular breed to appear on the social media platform TikTok.

German shepherds came second, rottweilers third and pugs fourth, according to a study commissioned by puppyhero.com.

The study analysed 218 out of 222 officially recognised pedigree dog breeds to find out which types generated the most views on TikTok, a short form video hosting service owned by the Chinese ByteDance Ltd.

Using the number of hashtags, the puppyhero.com study aimed to discover which dog breeds were most likely to become “TikTok famous.”

The golden retriever remains a popular breed. Picture: Supplied

Only breeds officially recognised by the UK Kennel Club were considered for the study, with the number of hashtags found, counted and ranked according to popularity on the social media platform.

The data, collected on April 28, found the hashtag #golden retriever amassed 21.2 billion views, placing it at the top of most popular breeds for this research.

More than 9.1 billion views were found alongside the german shepherd hashtag, with rottweilers gaining eight billion views on TikTok, and pugs 6.7 billion according to the study.

Border collies, a popular herding breed, rounded out tenth place with 2.9 billion views.

The data was similar to results of research analysed by Hills Pet Nutrition Australia that found Golden Retrievers, German shepherds and rottweilers came in at first, third and fourth most popular breed in Australia in 2021 respectively.

Pugs came in at the fourth most popular dog breed found on TikTok. Picture: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

Border collies took the second most popular spot in the Australian study, with greyhounds rounding out number 10.

The Hill’s Pet Nutrition Australia research rounded up the nation’s top 10 “trending” dog breeds after analysing more than 368 million Google searches to identify the most popular pedigrees.

Pet ownership was at record levels following the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a 2021 Pets and the Pandemic report by Animal Medicines Australia.

That report found there were now about 30.4 million pets in Australian households, with the proportion of pet-owning households having increased from 61 per cent to 69 per cent in a little more than two years, with one in four cats and one in five dogs becoming part of the family during the pandemic.

Rottweilers, like 5-year-old Copper, also remain a popular breed, both in Australia and on social media platform TikTok, according to several different studies. Picture: Supplied

In February, an annual Digital 2022 report released by social media management company Hootsuite and creative agency We are Social, stated TikTok continued to grow in popularity in Australia, finding it was the third most downloaded mobile app over the past year behind Service Victoria and Service NSW.

Although Facebook continued to be the most popular app in Australia according to the digital report, users were spending an average of 23.4 hours per person, per month on TikTok, compared to 17.6 hours on Facebook and 8.3 hours monthly on Instagram.