Media Brands Dominate Consumer Loyalty, Netflix Surpasses Apple As No. 1

Media brands were among the strongest - and two of them Netflix and Apple - ranked as No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the 2011 edition of a highly regarded survey of the brand loyalty of American consumers. In fact, Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys said he was surprised to see Internet and DVD video rental service Netflix rank No. 1 among the 530 brands tracked in the latest edition of the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index.

The index, which is generated by consumer's own perceptions of the key drivers influencing their loyalty with brands in each of the categories they compete, carries a lot of weight in marketing circles and on Wall Street as an indicator of a brand's long-term health and performance.

"The truth is, I would've picked Apple again," Passikoff told MediaDailyNews during a briefing of the 2011 findings, which will be published exclusively this week in MediaPost's publications.

Passikoff said the 2011 survey was the first in which Brand Keys included the video rental category, and that Netflix delivered the best overall attributes of any brand, delivering a level of consumer expectation that Passikoff described as "delighting" its consumers.

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Interestingly, Apple may have ranked No. 2 as America's overall consumer brand, but its iTunes service wasn't even a factor in the video category. Passikoff said that might be because iTunes is not seen as a rental service, but a download "ownership" service, or it could just be that consumers don't think of iTunes as being in the category altogether.

He said the other brands in the category - Blockbuster, Redbox and DVDXpress - were distant also-rans to Netflix in consumer loyalty.

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