Which Industry has the Most Brand NFTs?

Especially with the NFT boom in 2021, an increasing number of brands have been jumping on the NFT bandwagon. Major brands are creating their own NFT collections and some are even entering into the Metaverse.

In this research study, we examine 'traditional' brands that have launched tradeable NFT collections since 2020, either independently or with a partner, and are headquartered in the United States or Europe with an international presence. ‘Traditional’ brands are defined as companies with core businesses selling products or services without relation to cryptocurrency or the NFT industry. These brands are subsequently categorized according to MSCI’s widely-recognized Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS)®, to identify the industry with the most number of brands launching NFT collections.

Apparel and Luxury Goods outpace all other industries, with the 19 out of 51 brands (37%) launching NFTs, since 2020

Out of 51 brands in the list, 19 brands (37%) are from the Apparel and Luxury Goods industry. Adidas fronts this sector with its ‘Adidas Originals into the Metaverse’ NFT collection, having a total trading volume of 47,000 ETH to date, since its launch in December 2021. Nike, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci come after Adidas, with higher trading volumes amongst other brands in this sector. Puma’s Nitro Token and Nitropass, and Tiffany & Co’s NFTiff collection are the latest launches by brands in the Apparel and Luxury Goods industry, in August 2022.

The Media industry takes second place, with 17% of brands falling into this category

Time USA’s TIMEPieces NFT collection has the highest trading volume of 10,648 ETH amid brands in this sector. Other notable media companies with their own brand NFTs are Fortune, Reddit, Rolling Stone and Fox Corp.

Beverages, Food and Staples Retailing, Entertainment, Automobiles and Personal Products are industries with only four to five brands with their own NFT collection. Rounding out the list are Leisure Products, Household Products, Household Durables and Airlines – industries with only one brand with their own NFT collection.

Out of 24 industries in MSCI's Global Industry Classification Standard, only 11 were found to have experimented with launching NFTs

Some of the industries that have not explored nor dabbled with NFTs are Health Care, Construction, Utilities and Real Estate.

Methodology

The study examined ‘traditional’ brands that have launched tradeable NFT collections since 2020, either independently or with a partner, and thereafter are categorized according to MSCI’s Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS)®, to identify the industry with the most number of brands launching NFT collections. The MSCI’s GICS® was selected as it provides a comprehensive industry classification across all businesses.

‘Traditional’ brands are defined as companies with core businesses selling products or services without relation to cryptocurrency or the NFT industry. The brands reviewed in this study are headquartered in the United States or Europe, with a presence in at least one other geographical market.

This data set excludes:

• Brands that indirectly ride on or passively endorse other NFT collections
• Brands that launch a 1/1 NFT
• NFTs that are non-tradeable, have never been traded or have no trading volume
• Utility NFTs launched by brands, such as event tickets

When considering brands with multiple NFT collections, the total trading volume across all collections are taken into account.

In this study, the ‘Textiles, Apparel and Luxury Goods’ industry classification has been shortened to ‘Apparel and Luxury Goods’ for clarity of communication.

The 51 brands that meet the above criteria and considered in this study, are as follows:

*Update as of Oct 11, 2022: While originally considered in this study, CNN has been omitted in light of the announcement that they will be shuttering its NFT project, Vault by CNN, as of Oct 11, 2022.

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Curious to find out more about our previous research studies? Check out this one we did on Why People Buy or Trade NFTs.

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Julia Ng

Julia leads Growth at CoinGecko and is passionate about onboarding more women onto Web3. That said, she is generally poor at timing the market, so she DCAs for safety. Follow the author on Twitter @ngxinyajulia