Technology
Animation: How Tech is Eating the Brand World
How Technology is Eating the Brand World
Building a brand with an imperishable competitive edge can be difficult.
Technology companies however, are redefining what that edge means. By hastily responding to emerging consumer needs and leveraging the power of brand, these companies can continuously create meaningful solutions for real problems with scale.
Today’s animated chart highlights the most valuable brands in 2019 versus 2001, according to the annual “Best Global Brands” ranking by Interbrand. It illustrates the degree to which technology companies have been able to scale into massive brands over a short time frame, supplanting some of the best known companies in the world.
What is Brand Value, and How is it Measured?
Interbrand has created and consistently used a robust formula to measure brand value. Brand value is the Net Present Value (NPV) or the present value of the earnings that a brand is forecasted to generate in the future.
The formula evaluates brands based on their financial forecast, brand role, and brand strength. The full methodology can be found here.
Tech Reigns Supreme
In 2001, the cumulative brand value was $988 billion. Today, that value stands at $2.1 trillion and represents an average CAGR of 4.4%. Over the years, global tech giants have swiftly climbed the ranks, and now represent a significant amount of the total brand value.
In fact, with a combined brand value of almost $700 billion, tech companies account for half of the top 10 most valuable brands in the world. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Apple holds the title for the world’s most valuable brand in 2019—for the seventh year running.
Only 31 brands from the 2001 ranking remain on the Best Global Brands list today, including Disney, Nike, and Gucci. Coca-Cola and Microsoft are the few who have remained in the top 10.
Below is the full list of the world’s most valuable brands:
Rank | Brand | Brand Value ($B) | 1-Yr Value Change | Industry |
---|---|---|---|---|
#1 | Apple | $234B | 9% | Technology |
#2 | $168B | 8% | Technology | |
#3 | Amazon | $125B | 24% | Technology |
#4 | Microsoft | $108B | 17% | Technology |
#5 | Coca-Cola | $63B | -4% | Beverages |
#6 | Samsung | $61B | 2% | Technology |
#7 | Toyota | $56B | 5% | Automotive |
#8 | Mercedes Benz | $51B | 4% | Automotive |
#9 | McDonald’s | $45B | 4% | Restaurants |
#10 | Disney | $44B | 11% | Entertainment |
#11 | BMW | $41B | 1% | Automotive |
#12 | IBM | $40B | -6% | Business Services |
#13 | Intel | 40B | -7% | Technology |
#14 | $40B | -12% | Technology | |
#15 | Cisco | $35B | 3% | Business Services |
#16 | Nike | $32B | 7% | Retail |
#17 | Louis Vuitton | $32B | 14% | Retail |
#18 | Oracle | $26B | 1% | Business Services |
#19 | General Electric | $25B | 22% | Diversified |
#20 | SAP | $25B | 10% | Business Services |
#21 | Honda | $24B | 3% | Automotive |
#22 | Chanel | $22B | 11% | Retail |
#23 | American Express | $22B | 13% | Technology |
#24 | Pepsi | $20B | -1% | Beverages |
#25 | J.P Morgan | $19B | 8% | Finance |
#26 | Ikea | $18B | 5% | Retail |
#27 | UPS | $18B | 7% | Logistics |
#28 | Hermes | $18B | 9% | Retail |
#29 | Zara | $17B | -3% | Retail |
#30 | H&M | $16B | -3% | Retail |
#31 | Accenture | $16B | 14% | Business Services |
#32 | Budweiser | $16B | 3% | Alcohol |
#33 | Gucci | $16B | 23% | Retail |
#34 | Pampers | $16B | -5% | FMCG |
#35 | Ford | $14B | 2% | Automotive |
#36 | Hyundai | $14B | 5% | Automotive |
#37 | Gillette | $14B | -18% | FMCG |
#38 | Nescafe | $14B | 4% | Beverages |
#39 | Adobe | $13B | 20% | Technology |
#40 | Volkswagen | $13B | 6% | Automotive |
#41 | Citi | $13B | 10% | Financial Services |
#42 | Audi | $13B | 4% | Automotive |
#43 | Allianz | $12B | 12% | Insurance |
#44 | ebay | $12B | -8% | |
#45 | Adidas | $12B | 11% | Fashion |
#46 | Axa | $12B | 6% | Insurance |
#47 | HSBC | $12B | 5% | Finance |
#48 | Starbucks | $12B | 23% | Restaurants |
#49 | Philips | $12B | -4% | Electronics |
#50 | Porsche | $12B | 9% | Automotive |
#51 | L’oreal | $11B | 4% | FMCG |
#52 | Nissan | $11B | -6% | Automotive |
#53 | Goldman Sachs | $11B | -4% | Finance |
#54 | Hewlett Packard | $11B | 4% | Technology |
#55 | Visa | $11B | 19% | Technology |
#56 | Sony | $10B | 13% | Technology |
#57 | Kelloggs | $10B | -2% | FMCG |
#58 | Siemens | $10B | 1% | Technology |
#59 | Danone | $10B | 4% | FMCG |
#60 | Nestle | $9B | 7% | Beverages |
#61 | Canon | $9B | -9% | Technology |
#62 | Mastercard | $9B | 25% | Technology |
#63 | Dell Technologies | $9B | New | Technology |
#64 | 3M | $9B | -1% | Technology |
#65 | Netflix | $9B | 10% | Entertainment |
#66 | Colgate | $9B | 2% | FMCG |
#67 | Santander | $8B | 13% | Finance |
#68 | Cartier | $8B | 7% | Luxury |
#69 | Morgan Stanley | $8B | -7% | Finance |
#70 | Salesforce | $8B | 24% | Technology |
#71 | Hewlett Packard Enterprise | $8B | -3% | Technology |
#72 | PayPal | $8B | 15% | Technology |
#73 | FedEx | $7B | 2% | Logistics |
#74 | Huawei | $7B | -9% | Technology |
#75 | Lego | $7B | 5% | FMCG |
#76 | Caterpillar | $7B | 19% | Diversified |
#77 | Ferrari | $6B | 12% | Automotive |
#78 | Kia | $6B | -7% | Automotive |
#79 | Corona | $6B | 15% | Alcohol |
#80 | Jack Daniels | $6B | 13% | Alcohol |
#81 | Panasonic | $6B | -2% | Technology |
#82 | Dior | $6B | 16% | Fashion |
#83 | DHL | $6B | 2% | Logistics |
#84 | John Deere | $6B | 9% | Diversified |
#85 | Land Rover | $6B | -6% | Automotive |
#86 | Johnson & Johnson | $6B | -8% | Retail |
#87 | Uber | $6B | New | Technology |
#88 | Heineken | $5,626 | 4% | Alcohol |
#89 | Nintendo | $6B | 18% | Entertainment |
#90 | MINI | $5B | 5% | Automotive |
#91 | Discovery | $5B | -4% | Entertainment |
#92 | Spotify | $5B | 7% | Technology |
#93 | KFC | $5B | 1% | Restaurants |
#94 | Tiffany & Co | $5B | -5% | Fashion |
#95 | Hennessy | $5B | 12% | Alcohol |
#96 | Burberry | $5B | 4% | Fashion |
#97 | Shell | $5B | -3% | Energy |
#98 | $5B | New | Technology | |
#99 | Harley Davidson | $5B | -7% | Automotive |
#100 | Prada | $5B | -1% | Fashion |
Since 2001—the first year the report featured 100 brands—several tech companies have joined and climbed their way to the top of the list, while 137 notable brands dropped off entirely, including Nokia and MTV.
In an interesting turn of events, Facebook dropped out of the top 10, and into 14th place after a volatile year. The move however, is not surprising. The tech giant has been mired in controversies, ranging from data privacy issues to prioritizing political influence.
Which Brands Are Growing the Fastest?
2019’s fastest growing brands also signals tech domination, with Mastercard, Salesforce and Amazon leading the charge.
The companies in this ranking experienced a significant increase in their brand value year-over-year (YoY).
Rank | Brand | Brand Value ($B) | YoY Growth |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | Mastercard | $9B | 25% |
#2 | Salesforce | $8B | 24% |
#3 | Amazon | $125B | 24% |
#4 | Gucci | $16B | 23% |
#5 | Starbucks | $12B | 23% |
#6 | Adobe | $13B | 20% |
#7 | Visa | $11B | 19% |
#8 | Caterpillar | $7B | 19% |
#9 | Nintendo | $5B | 18% |
#10 | Microsoft | $109B | 17% |
According to Interbrand, the success of these brands may be attributed to their ability to anticipate rapidly changing customer expectations.
While the relationship between business performance and brand equity has been a widely debated topic for decades, it is clear that customer satisfaction bolsters brand equity, and encourages impressive financial results.
Disrupt, or Be Disrupted
Beyond anticipating changing needs, some of the most successful brands also cater to a younger customer base. This is the most evident in luxury and retail—the two fastest growing sectors for the second consecutive year.
This audience is tech-first in their buying habits and increasingly demand more elevated and shareable experiences. As a result, traditional brands across all sectors are innovating to keep up with this audience, and some are essentially becoming tech companies in the process.
For example, Gucci attributes their success to finding the perfect blend between creativity and technology. The company that once relied on its heritage, now focuses heavily on ecommerce and social media to engage with their Gen Z customers.
Similarly, Walmart recently announced that they are employing virtual reality headsets and machine-learning-powered robots in an attempt to compete with Amazon.
Will traditional companies ultimately become tech companies, or simply get eaten alive?
Technology
Ranked: The Top 50 Most Visited Websites in the World
In this visualization, we rank the top 50 websites that receive the most internet traffic, from Google to CNN.

Ranked: The Top 50 Most Visited Websites in the World
Estimates vary, but there are upwards of two billion websites in existence in 2023.
If we were to rank all of these websites according to their traffic numbers, we would see a classic power law distribution. At the low end, the vast majority of these websites would be inactive, receiving little to no traffic. On the upper end of the ranking though, a handful of websites receive the lion’s share of internet traffic.
This visualization, using data from SimilarWeb, takes a look at the 50 websites that currently sit at the top of the ranking.
Which Websites Get the Most Traffic?
Topping the list of most-visited websites in the world is, of course, Google. With over 3.5 billion searches per day, Google has cemented its position as the go-to source for information on the internet. But Google’s dominance doesn’t stop there. The company also owns YouTube, the second-most popular website in the world. Together, Google and YouTube have more traffic than the next 48 websites combined.
The power of YouTube, in particular, is sometimes not fully understood. The video platform is the second largest search engine in the world after Google. As well, YouTube has the second highest duration-of-visit numbers in this top 50 ranking. (First place goes to the Chinese video sharing website, Bilibili.)
But Google and YouTube aren’t the only big players on the internet. Other websites in the top 50 ranking include social media giants Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. In particular, TikTok has seen a surge in popularity in recent years and is now one of the most popular social media platforms in the world.
Here’s the full top 50 ranking table form:
Rank | Website | Monthly Traffic | Category | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
#1 | google.com | 85.1B | Search Engines | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#2 | youtube.com | 33.0B | Streaming & Online TV | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#3 | facebook.com | 17.8B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#4 | twitter.com | 6.8B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#5 | instagram.com | 6.1B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#6 | baidu.com | 5.0B | Search Engines | 🇨🇳 China |
#7 | wikipedia.org | 4.8B | Dictionaries & Encyclopedias | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#8 | yandex.ru | 3.4B | Search Engines | 🇷🇺 Russia |
#9 | yahoo.com | 3.3B | News & Media Publishers | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#10 | whatsapp.com | 2.9B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#11 | xvideo.com | 2.8B | Adult | 🇨🇿 Czechia |
#12 | amazon.com | 2.6B | Marketplace | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#13 | pornhub.com | 2.5B | Adult | 🇨🇦 Canada |
#14 | xnxx.com | 2.3B | Adult | 🇫🇷 France |
#15 | live.com | 2.1B | 🇺🇸 U.S. | |
#16 | yahoo.co.jp | 2.1B | News & Media Publishers | 🇯🇵 Japan |
#17 | netflix.com | 2.0B | Streaming & Online TV | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#18 | tiktok.com | 1.8B | Social Media Networks | 🇨🇳 China |
#19 | docomo.ne.jp | 1.8B | Telecommunications | 🇯🇵 Japan |
#20 | reddit.com | 1.7B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#21 | office.com | 1.6B | Prog. & Developer Software | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#22 | linkedin.com | 1.6B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#23 | dzen.ru | 1.4B | Faith & Beliefs | 🇷🇺 Russia |
#24 | samsung.com | 1.4B | Consumer Electronics | 🇰🇷 S. Korea |
#25 | vk.com | 1.4B | Social Media Networks | 🇷🇺 Russia |
#26 | xhamster.com | 1.3B | Adult | 🇨🇾 Cyprus |
#27 | turbopages.org | 1.3B | News & Media Publishers | 🇷🇺 Russia |
#28 | mail.ru | 1.2B | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
#29 | naver.com | 1.2B | News & Media Publishers | 🇰🇷 S. Korea |
#30 | bing.com | 1.2B | Search Engines | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#31 | microsoftonline.com | 1.1B | Prog. & Developer Software | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#32 | discord.com | 1.1B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#33 | twitch.tv | 1.1B | Gaming & Accessories | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#34 | bilibili.com | 1.0B | Animations & Comics | 🇨🇳 China |
#35 | pinterest.com | 1.0B | Social Media Networks | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#36 | zoom.us | 985.9M | Computers Electronics & Tech | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#37 | weather.com | 985.7M | Weather | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#38 | qq.com | 907.1M | News & Media Publishers | 🇨🇳 China |
#39 | microsoft.com | 902.3M | Prog. & Developer Software | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#40 | msn.com | 870.8M | News & Media Publishers | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#41 | globo.com | 840.1M | News & Media Publishers | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
#42 | duckduckgo.com | 839.0M | Search Engines | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#43 | roblox.com | 795.7M | Gaming & Accessories | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#44 | quora.com | 775.9M | Dictionaries & Encyclopedias | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#45 | news.yahoo.co.jp | 749.1M | News & Media Publishers | 🇯🇵 Japan |
#46 | ebay.com | 728.0M | Marketplace | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#47 | aajtak.in | 724.1M | News & Media Publishers | 🇮🇳 India |
#48 | nytimes.com | 702.2M | News & Media Publishers | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#49 | realsrv.com | 688.0M | Adult | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
#50 | cnn.com | 684.9M | News & Media Publishers | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
Notable companies that have fallen out of the top 50 since our last version of this visualization are Walmart and PayPal. Notable entrants into the top 50 are Samsung and the New York Times.
The Geography of the 50 Most-Visited Websites
The United States is still home base for many of the world’s biggest websites, taking up 30 spots on this ranking. Of these 30 websites, half are operated by Big Tech companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Netflix.
Russia, China, Japan, and South Korea round out the top five.
Things get interesting in the “other” category, which includes six websites. Two spots are taken up by Aaj Tak and Globo, which are large media publications in India and Brazil, respectively.
The remaining four websites—XVideos, PornHub, XHamster, and XNXX—specialize in adult content, and are located in a variety of countries. These are often referred to as “tube sites” since they are built on the YouTube model.
Realsrv, the only adult-oriented site in the top 50 located in the U.S., is interesting to delve into as well, since it’s far from a household name. The website essentially supports advertising efforts by redirecting users away from the content they were viewing over to another page (generally premium adult content). This is one of the key ways that adult websites earn revenue.
Where does this data come from?
Source: SimilarWeb
Notes: Websites listed include “all meaningful subdomains”, and categories in the graphic follow SimilarWeb’s categorization system. This is the third version of this graphic. As with previous versions, we aim to use data from November for the sake of consistency and to avoid seasonal fluctuations in traffic. One important detail to point out is that website traffic does not include app traffic, which is why popular platforms like WeChat don’t appear in this ranking.
-
Markets2 weeks ago
The Biggest Global Risks of 2023
-
Markets4 weeks ago
Top Heavy: Countries by Share of the Global Economy
-
Politics1 week ago
Visualizing the World’s Top 25 Fleets of Combat Tanks
-
Money4 weeks ago
U.S. Inflation: How Much Have Prices Increased?
-
Energy1 week ago
The Periodic Table of Commodity Returns (2013-2022)
-
Misc3 weeks ago
Infographic: The Longest Lasting Cars, in Miles
-
Politics1 week ago
Which Countries are the Most Polarized?
-
Markets3 weeks ago
The U.S. Stock Market: Best and Worst Performing Sectors in 2022