With an impressive tripling in brand value over the past year, TikTok has been named the world’s fastest-growing brand by a new report from Brand Finance.
Charting 215% growth, the wildly-popular app’s brand value has increased from US$18.7 billion in 2021 to US$59.0 billion this year, putting it at the8th spot among the world’s top 500 most valuable brands, making it the highest new entrant to the Brand Finance Global 500 2022 ranking.
In its 16th year, the annual report by Brand Finance puts 5,000 of the biggest brands to the test ranking brands across all sectors and countries. The world’s top 500 most valuable and strongest brands are included in the annual Brand Finance Global 500 ranking.
Highlights
- New entrant TikTok named the world’s fastest-growing brand, up 215%, leading a global revolution in media consumption
- Apple holds on to the world’s most valuable brand title with a record valuation at more than US$355 billion, followed by Amazon and Google
- Tech remains the most valuable industry, while second-ranked retail crosses US$1 trillion mark following 46% brand value growth during COVID-19 pandemic
- Development of COVID-19 vaccines sees pharma named fastest-growing industry, while tourism sector remains below pre-pandemic valuation
- US and China continue to dominate claiming 2/3 of brand value in ranking, while India sees fastest growth over course of pandemic among top nations, up 42%
- WeChat was named the world’s strongest brand for a second consecutive year with a top score of 93.3 out of 100 and a AAA+ rating
- Microsoft’s Satya Nadella comes out top in Brand Finance Brand Guardianship Index 2022 of world’s top 250 CEOs
The Covid effect
According to Brand Finance, with COVID-19 restrictions still in effect across the globe throughout 2021, digital entertainment, social media, and streaming services saw continued growth, and the rise of TikTok, with its offering of easily digestible and entertaining content, is a testament to how media consumption is changing.
At the same time, strategic partnerships, such as its sponsorship of the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament, exposed TikTok to demographics outside of its original Gen Z base. It crossed the one billion user mark in 2021 and became the most downloaded app across Android’s Google Play store and Apple’s App Store.
“Media consumption has increased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, but – what is more – the way we consume it has irrevocably changed,” said David Haigh, Chairman & CEO of Brand Finance.
Over two-thirds of the total brand value in the ranking is attributable to the two countries, with the US accounting for 49% (US$3.9 trillion) and China for 19% (US$1.6 trillion).
“In order to compete in this evolving marketplace, media organizations have invested heavily in their brands – from content acquisition through to user experience. TikTok’s meteoric growth is the proof in the pudding – the brand has gone from relative obscurity to internationally renowned in just a few years and shows no signs of slowing down.”
Overall, media brands account for the top 3 fastest-growing brands in the ranking – with another social media app Snapchat (brand value up 184% to US$6.6 billion) and South Korean internet brand Kakao (up 161% to US$4.7 billion) following closely behind TikTok.
Other notable performers from the media sector include those that offer streaming services, with Disney (brand value up 11% to US$57.0 billion), Netflix (brand value up 18% US$29.4 billion), YouTube (brand value up 38% to US$23.9 billion), and Spotify (brand value up 13% to US$6.3 billion) all seeing increases.
The continuing decline of traditional media
In stark contrast, traditional media brands have seen a continued decline, says the report, with Warner Bros among the fastest-falling brands in the ranking this year (brand value down 33% to US$6.8 billion), and this trend is even more apparent when comparing this year with pre-pandemic valuations.
Looking at brand value change over the last two years of COVID-19, three media brands feature among the five fastest-falling brands said Brand Finance, with Warner Bros seeing the biggest brand value loss at 40%, with NBC (brand value US$9.4 billion)and CBS (brand value US$7.4 billion) incurring losses of 38% and 36% respectively.
Tourism brands showing signs of recovery
The brand value of the tourism industry overall is still down when compared to pre-pandemic valuations, said the report with the number of brands featured in the Brand Finance Global 500 falling from 15 to 9.
“However, in a promising sign of recovery, all of the brands from the industry that do appear in this year’s ranking have seen positive brand value growth,” the report said, noting that t hotel sector recorded the fastest level of growth, with the two brands in the ranking.
Hilton (up 58% to US$12.0 billion) and Hyatt (up 26% to US$5.9 billion), are now more valuable than they were pre-pandemic. Airline brands all saw an uptick in brand value as international and domestic travel increased, though none recovered to their pre-pandemic level yet.
The story is similar for online booking platform booking.com (US$8.7 billion) and car rental firm Enterprise (US$7.1 billion).
“It is a promising sign to see recovery in the tourism sector despite intermittent restrictions still in place across the world,” said Haigh.
“The bounce-back was no doubt hindered by variant outbreaks, however, as the world adjusts to living with COVID-19, there is no reason the tourism industry cannot take flight once again.”
US and China still dominate
When breaking down the results down by country, the United States and China continue to dominate
Over two-thirds of the total brand value in the ranking is attributable to the two countries, with the US accounting for 49% (US$3.9 trillion) and China for 19% (US$1.6 trillion).
WeChat retains the world’s strongest brand title
Apart from calculating brand value, Brand Finance additionally determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance. Certified by ISO 20671,
Brand Finance’s assessment of stakeholder equity incorporates original market research data from over 100,000 respondents in more than 35 countries and across nearly 30 sectors.
According to these criteria, WeChat remains the world’s strongest brand, retaining the title for the second consecutive year, with a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 93.3 out of 100 and a corresponding AAA+ rating.
Joining WeChat at the top of the ranking is Google, climbing from 39th to 3rd with an impressive BSI score of 93.3, followed closely by its Alphabet stablemate YouTube, which rose from 27th to 4th with a BSI score of 93.2. South Korean brand Naver rounds off the media brands in the top 5, jumping a remarkable 99 places to 5th with a BSI score of 92.5.
