YouGov ranks Samsung Elec. as world's top brand, ahead of Google

Samsung Electronics Co. is the world’s top brand with a score of 127, according to research firm YouGov’s Global Best Brand Rankings for this year.

The score is based on the average of the data compiled for a year from last September.

The South Korean tech juggernaut was ranked fourth in 2017 and climbed to third place the year after. It slid back to fourth place for the next two years after that.

But Samsung jumped to second place last year and outpaced Google LLC to rank first place this year. 

Alphabet Inc.’s Google garnered 106 points to slide to second place. 

YouTube, a product of Google, received 85 points to rank third place and Netflix trailed behind with 59 points.

Singapore-based Shopee Pte., a multinational e-commerce giant, had 51 points to rank fifth place. 

Also on the top 10 positions are Meta Platforms, Inc.-owned Whatsapp, US household name brand Colgate and German automaker Mercedes-Benz.

YouGov has an internal evaluation index, which encompasses the brand’s image, corporate value, customer satisfaction, and recommendation rate, among other factors.

The research firm categorizes the brands into 38 sectors and selects the top 10 brands from each industry, which amounts to 380 brands in total. 

By country, Samsung Electronics ranked first in Korea, the Netherlands, Vietnam and Ireland. It ranked second place in the United Kingdom and fifth in France. In the United States, the company ranked sixth. 

Also worth noting is the rise in the popularity of automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Mercedes. 

But activewear and sneakers makers did not fare well, with Adidas AG and Nike Inc. pushed out of the top 10.

Write to Ji-Eun Jeong at jeong@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.