IVE Ranks First in September’s Idol Group Brand Reputation Rankings, Surpassing BLACKPINK and BTS

IVE secured the top position in the September 2025 idol group brand reputation survey. The Korea Enterprise Reputation Research Institute released its findings after analyzing over 75.96 million pieces of big data related to idol group brands from August 18 to September 18. Although this figure represented a 6.26% decrease compared to the 81.03 million pieces of data recorded in August, IVE still rose to the top with a brand reputation index of 5,494,386, an increase of 5.79% from the previous month. IVE’s detailed scores consisted of a participation index of 329,672, a media index of 1,275,740, a communication index of 2,364,380, and a community index of 1,533,702. In the brand reputation link analysis, terms such as “elegant,” “highly polished,” and “stable” received high ratings, while keyword analysis highlighted tracks like “XOXZ” from their recently released mini-album “IVE SECRET.” Notably, IVE achieved a positive-to-negative ratio of 93.197% in this analysis. The group released their fourth mini-album, “IVE SECRET,” on August 25, dominating domestic music charts — a factor that directly contributed to the rise in their brand reputation. Ku Chang-hwan, director of the Korea Enterprise Reputation Research Institute, explained, “The IVE brand has received evaluations of being ‘elegant,’ ‘highly polished,’ and ‘stable’ from consumers online, indicating simultaneous increases in brand trust and consumer interest.” BLACKPINK came in second with a brand reputation index of 4,813,295. Although they held the first place continuously from July to August, they dropped two spots in September. BTS finished in third place with 4,275,545 points. Following them, SEVENTEEN ranked fourth, Stray Kids fifth, Red Velvet sixth, TWICE seventh, BIGBANG eighth, ZEROBASEONE ninth, and RIIZE tenth, forming the top 10. This survey analyzed big data from 50 groups, including IVE, BLACKPINK, BTS, aespa, EXO, SHINee, ILLIT, MONSTA X, and ENHYPEN. The brand reputation index developed by the Korea Enterprise Reputation Research Institute is a metric that quantifies the impact of consumers’ online habits on brand consumption, comprehensively measuring positive and negative evaluations, media attention, consumer interest, and communication volume.