• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, July 13, 2020

Facebook is the world’s most valuable media brand, according to the Brand Finance’s “Media 25 2020” report.

This marks the first time that the independent brand valuation consultancy has included social media, and Facebook “stormed into the ranking in first place,” with a brand value of $79.8 billion, says the report. “With over 2.5 billion active monthly users, Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the world and the brand continues to post profits above analyst expectations."

The ranking underlines how “disconnected” Facebook’s success has been to its public reputation, at least to date, note the analysts, citing the company’s weathering of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, among others. As to the current criticism from many fronts about its failure to stop hate speech, including the current #StopHateForProfit ad boycott, “It’s too early to tell how [Facebook’s] brand value will emerge from the chaos of 2020.”

Facebook dislodged Disney from its berth as the top-valued media company. However, in addition to ranking #2 on that score (estimated valuation up 23%, to $56.1 billion), Disney tops the firm's 2020 Brand Strength Index, with a score of 93.9 out of 100.

This year’s top 10 most valuable media brands (above) also include YouTube at #3 (also down one place, thanks to Facebook), Tencent (new to the index), Facebook Inc.’s Instagram (new to the index), Netflix, NBC, Universal, NetEase (new to the index) and CBS.

Fox was the fastest falling media brand. With a 47% decrease in brand value, to $8.4 billion, it dropped eight positions, to 12^th place, in the media valuation ranking.

SiriusXM was the fastest growing brand, showing 33% valuation growth, to reach $5 billion.

The report notes YouTube and Netflix as media brands “to watch,” given their accelerated growth as consumer media consumption habits have changed since the pandemic.

It also points out that TenCent and NetEase are not just new to the valuation index as social media, but also represent the first gaming brands to make the ranking.