In a recent blog post, Lianne van den Bos, food analyst, Euromonitor, said consumers continue to be "bombarded" with geographically-inspired variants trying to "piggyback" on the success of high-protein Greek yogurt.
Recently, there has been a "plethora" of new high-protein origin yogurts, including Australia yogurt in the US, Icelandic Skyr in Europe, and Bulgarian yogurt in Asia, "claiming to be better than or different" to Greek yogurt, she said.
Speaking with DairyReporter.com, van den Bos said that despite this bombardment, consumers around the world are still drawn to the "origin, authenticity and high-protein" of these products.
"It's all about Greek and other origin yogurt," she said. "The protein content of these yogurt is on consumers' minds."
"Origin yogurt will continue to sell," she said. "The word protein sells. It's a buzz word."
This fact, van den Bos said, is perfectly epitomized by Arla Protein, a quark product introduced to the UK in January 2015. It isn't labelled quark, instead 200g pots simply feature the word 'protein' in block capital letters.
Greek "opened the door"
The dramatic rise of Greek yogurt "opened the door" for products like Australian yogurt and Icelandic Skyr, said van den Bos.
In 2007, Greek yogurt accounted for just 1% of total US yogurt sales, but now accounts for around half of all the yogurts sold in the US.
"It's a trend we've seen in both Europe and the US," said van den Bos.
"It has grown in Europe, but not as well because yogurt is already an accepted part of the European diet, whereas in the US it has grown from a lower consumption base."
"Greek yogurt is till growing in the US, but the growth is not as high as it was before."
As a result, manufacturers in the US are looking "for the next big thing, the next Greek," she said.
Asked what this could be, van den Bos said Australian yogurt.
"In the US, I think the next big thing will be Australia yogurt. It offers the best of both worlds - it's indulgent but guilt free," she said.