Consumers renewed their faith in discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl by placing them at the top of YouGov's BrandIndex rankings for the fourth year in a row.

A strong Christmas allowed the German retailers to surpass Marks & Spencer, which came in at eighth place with a buzz score of 10.2, compared with Aldi's 18.1 and Lidl's 14.5.

BrandIndex measures public perception of brands using buzz scores, which track whether people have heard anything good or bad about the brand during the previous two weeks.

YouGov's Amelia Brophy said: “Both Aldi and Lidl continue to adapt their offering evolving from being seen the ‘cheap’ option to projecting themselves as offering both value and, increasingly, quality.”

Another battle that played out in the YouGov rankings was that between Netflix and BBC iPlayer. Netflix's effective “quality original content” strategy propelled it into third place and pushed the catchup services to fourth place. The last time BBC iPlayer did not make the top three was 2014.

Price comparison website MoneySavingExpert.com rounded off the top five with a score of 12.6.

The bottom five brands were Yorkshire Tea, IKEA, Marks & Spencer, PayPal and Premier Inn, which entered into the 10th spot for the first time with its score of 9.4. Brophy said the chain may have benefited from improved brand perception by moving away from adverts featuring Lenny Henry.

YouGov BrandIndex also released the ten “most improved” brands of the past year, with BHS topping the list with a significant rise of 13.8 points to its buzz score. The department store has endured a turbulent two years followings its collapse in April 2016.