Deep Dive

Zika virus and the disease-spreading potential of mosquitoes have heightened public awareness of the importance of mosquito control. Specialty Consultants estimates that governmental agencies treated nearly 80 million acres in the U.S. to control mosquitoes in 2016, primarily those spreading diseases such as West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis, as well as nuisance mosquitoes. More than 90 percent of the treated acres were sprayed with adulticides. Additionally, mosquito larvicides were applied to an estimated five million acres in 2016.

There are about 2,100 city, county and state government agencies, including 950 Mosquito Abatement Districts (MADs), providing mosquito abatement services in the U.S. according to the latest report, A Strategic Analysis of the U.S. Mosquito Control Industry, from Specialty Consultants, LLC. Many mosquito control programs were started with seed money from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the 1990s, when West Nile virus began to spread in the U.S.

More than one-third of the professional pest control industry, or an estimated 7,000 companies, offered mosquito control services. In the Southeast and South Central regions, about half of all companies offered a mosquito control service to their residential and commercial customers. Nationwide, pest control companies generated an estimated $157.7 million in service revenue, primarily (93.3%) from residential accounts.

More than 800 mosquito control franchise locations (e.g., Mosquito Authority, Mosquito Squad, etc.) were operating in the U.S. this past year. On average, they reported servicing more than 250 accounts per branch. About five percent of the lawn care companies (LCOs) surveyed provided mosquito control as part of their service. Respondents reported that on average, just over one percent of their total 2016 service revenue was from mosquito control services. “More than 4.6 million mosquito barrier treatments were performed by PCOs, LCOs and mosquito franchise operations this past year,” said Gary Curl, Specialty Consultants founder and president.

The study identified 17 manufacturers of 58 brands of mosquito control products. The leading suppliers, in terms of revenue, were Clarke, Valent and Zoëcon/Central Life Sciences.

There has been extraordinary attention paid to the emergence and spread of the Zika Virus by Aedes spp. mosquitoes. The news media and the government have raised questions about the characterization and capacity of the mosquito control industry.

The comprehensive market study also delves into critical details about the government agencies, pest control and lawn care firms offering control services, and the emerging mosquito control franchise chains. Specialty Consultants conducted in-depth interviews with more than 75 representatives of mosquito abatement districts, key state and county mosquito control agencies, contractors who provide control service to municipalities, departments of agriculture, the CDC, public health agencies, five state epidemiologists and more than 50 representatives of leading mosquito franchises, to assess the overall size and scope of these segments of the mosquito control market in the United States.

The interviews were supplemented by interviews with distributor management, university researchers, government officials and other industry experts to properly characterize the U.S. mosquito control market.

For the study, Specialty Consultants also conducted 1,675 structured surveys of professional pest control operators, lawn care professionals, golf course superintendents and sports turf facility managers. The surveys were conducted from late October 2016 through early February 2017.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the survey, contact Gary Curl, Specialty Consultants, at gcurl@spcresearch.com.