The Brand Japan 2026 evaluation survey results have revealed that Nintendo is still an extremely-popular name with Japanese teenagers, with both the company brand and the Switch console only being beaten by YouTube.
As reported on (and translated) by Automaton Media, Nikkei BP Consulting’s survey asked a sample size of 37,000 Japanese teenagers what their favourite brands are back in December. The list featured over 1,000 different names from electronics companies to retailers.
YouTube easily took the top-spot, but the Nintendo Switch sits comfortably in second place, ahead of the wider branding of Nintendo itself in third. Perhaps not a surprise when Nintendo’s games dominate the top 100 most-popular titles with Japanese teens (though Minecraft and Fortnite reign supreme).
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Interestingly, both Nintendo and the Switch is also ahead of Pokémon and Disney for the under-20s crowd — two absolutely gigantic brands that you’d assume would be among the top five, but Pikachu and co. were the seventh most-popular, with Disney three places below it in tenth. Well, Kirby is cuter than any Disney character, right?
Looking across all age groups surveyed, and YouTube slips to number 2 behind brewing and distilling company Suntory, while retail chains Daiso and Muji also remain in the top five. Meanwhile, Nintendo is much more-popular within the wider spread, sitting in 12th, with Disney close behind in 14th. The Switch slides all the way down to 59, with Pokémon tumbling to 201st.
Here’s the full top ten from the Under 20s survey, with their placement across all generations listed next to the brand:
- YouTube (2)
- Nintendo Switch (59)
- Nintendo (12)
- Daiso (3)
- Muji (5)
- LINE (31)
- Pokémon (201)
- Saizeriya (13)
- Amazon (18)
- Disney (14)
Of course, when looking at the wider survey, this doesn’t include every single citizen in Japan, and many brands that are considered even bigger such as Disney and Pokémon have a huge international audience. Still, these results paint a pretty interesting picture.
The Switch and Switch 2 continue to dominate sales charts in Japan, with the newest console racking up almost 100k sales last week alone and the Switch 1 still shifting around 20k units.
Are you surprised by the Switch’s popularity among teens/?Were you expecting Disney and Pokémon to be higher? Let us know in the comments.
[source nikkei.com, via automaton-media.com]