It’s no secret that consumers have a preferred beverage brand and tend to stick to it. In fact, a Freakonomics podcast titled “How to Change Your Mind” stated that if a person doesn’t try a new food by 35 years old, they are unlikely to try or enjoy that food going forward.

Given the myriad choices of brands, it’s interesting to see which brands consumers prefer.

Global data, insights and consulting company Kantar Group recently released the 2019 edition of its Brand Footprint report, which measures which brands are being bought by the most consumers the most often. According to the 2019 edition, there are 17 global fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) brands, including beverage brands, that are chosen by consumers more than 1 billion times a year, the company says.

To measure brands, Kantar uses consumer touch points (CTP), which is a combination of market penetration, popularity and consumer choice, it adds.

For the seventh consecutive year, Coca-Cola is the most-chosen FMCG brand in the world, picked from the shelves 5.9 billion times in the year, the report states. Kantar called 2018 a “significant improvement” for the brand compared with the previous year, despite the fact that the company is experiencing slumping overall sales.

The Top 7 brands, which includes Pepsi and Nescafé, remained unchanged from last year, where Pepsi ranked No. 6 and Nescafé No. 7. Sprite also maintained its position at No. 17, while Fanta dropped one spot to No. 33, according to the report. Lipton saw slightly better performance this year, rising two spots to No. 48.

The consulting firm attributes much of the beverage brands’ performances to out-of-home purchases, which is especially significant for the success of major carbonated soft drink brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Consumers more likely are making impulse purchases on-the-go without considering healthier options, it says.