Disney has recently presented at the Upfront event in New York City to try and win over advertising dollars for their channels and streaming platforms. During the event, the Disney CEO said that the company had 100 years of brand trust, but it seems that trust is actually sinking fast.
In the past six years, Disney’s brand ranking has gone from 5th place to 76th place. Ranking “Excellent” in 2019 to only “Fair” in 2025. A lot of issues seem to center around the public perception that Disney only cares about money, raises prices, and isn’t the value they once were.
Where does this ranking come from?
The rankings come from Axios. Each year, 100 companies are ranked at #1-#100 via a Harris Poll to determine company reputation among consumers.
In 2019, the Walt Disney Company was “excellent” at #5 out of 100.
By 2025, it dropped to #76. 76 out of 100. For reference, it is below Dollar Tree for reputation. But it’s above Temu (90) and Shein (96).
2020 – #23
2021 – #37
2022 – #65
2023 – #77
2024 – #67
2025 – #76
Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN have seen numerous price hikes. The Disney theme parks have gotten more and more expensive, especially after the pandemic and the introduction of the paid Lighting Lane program. Even their films aren’t performing as well as they did in 2019.
People feel that Disney only cares about the bottom line and how to squeeze more money out of customers. Just recently, D’Amaro indicated that while attendance is down, the revenue per user/guest at the theme parks is up. Fewer customers means charging them more.
When the Walt Disney Company is plummeting in reputation ratings, now might not be the time for Josh D’Amaro to be saying that the Disney brand is unmatched and other companies only care about the “balance sheet”.
“The thing is, you cannot acquire a hundred years of trust. You can’t put generations of belonging on a balance sheet,”
That “100 years of trust” has seemingly dropped from 5 – 76 in only a few years. One year even hit 77!
Disney needs to start making some changes before it goes even lower.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
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