Google Generated Most Positive Buzz in India in 2018, Says Research Firm

Google created the most positive buzz in India last year, follewed by Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Google-owned YouTube, international research firm YouGov said on Wednesday.

Google had a Buzz score of 57.2 points, WhatsApp 55.7, and YouTube 52.9 points in the "2018 YouGov BrandIndex Buzz Rankings" in India.

"In the age of digital natives, it is no surprise that the top 10 list has a dominance of technology brands. Noticeably, financial brands have recorded good improvement to their buzz score in the past year," YouGov India General Manager Deepa Bhatia said in a statement.

YouGov "BrandIndex" measures the public's perception of brands on a daily basis across a range of metrics. 

The rankings are compiled using Buzz scores from the entire year's worth of data. Buzz scores measure whether people have heard anything positive or negative about a brand during the previous two weeks.

"According to the rankings, we see a surge in the popularity of digital brands and social networks. While the top 3 is dominated by technology giants, social networks like Facebook and Instagram park themselves at nine and 10, respectively," said the report.

MakeMyTrip was at fourth place, followed by Amazon at the fifth spot. 

Cab hailing services like Ola and Uber managed to stay in the limelight for a large part of the year and grabbed seventh and eighth position, respectively.

Food-delivery platform Swiggy landed at the sixth spot in the top 10 list.

YouGov "BrandIndex" also revealed the brands that noted the greatest improvement to consumer perception in 2018. 

In India, Zomato is the "most improved" brand of the past year, followed by Instagram and Kotak Mahindra Bank.