Pokemon is the worlds biggest Media Franchise; Mario is 5th biggest
- Thread starter Ninjadom
- Start date
Hmm, it's tough. Like Pokémon was a phenomenon when it first arrived with the cards, games TV show etc. but that was also a time before social media and heavy internet use. So it's kinds unfair to compare it to now. Pokémon Go was also huge, but the information and hype about it spread faster due to Social media
I never see an add for it and I know only one person who is interested in Hello Kity and that's my niece who is 10 years old. I'm from The Netherlands.
It's a Wiki! Of course, you can view history.
The issue is that the OP has a mobile link. If you go to the full page you can find the history: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_highest-grossing_media_franchises&action=history
List seems to have some really large gaps. Particurally with Batman whose missing several categories other properties get.
I've seen this one before on reddit. The list isn't anywhere close to accurate.
Marvel was bringing in at least 6 billion a year in *licensed* revenue alone since 2009...and that was before "avengers" blew up in 2012.
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Yeah but it's not about if it was bigger because of the times, it just has the fanbase grown. I would argue kids today also love love love pokemon and now also adults love pokemon, something that was not true prior. I think Pokémon Go proved this.
The only thing I don't get about the list is the world fascination with Star Wars.
It is. The numbers for licensed merchandise are WAY off, as demonstrated by the Marvel number.
Star Wars was the world's biggest licensed property for a VERY long time, not to mention it's been around since 77. Pokemon should be nowhere close to it.
Mickey is absolutely everywhere in the kids merchandising world, from newborn to basically pre-teen. You buy diapers, they have Mickey on them. You pick a random shirt off the rack, it has Mickey on it. Grab a Duplo set, it's Mickey and friends. Need a backpack for your kindergartener? It has Mickey on it. I need a new book for my toddler. Pull a random one out, its Mickey. On and on.
If you go to Disneyland, they basically had to build an entire experience to house the line to take your picture with Mickey. And believe me, it isn't the parents who are demanding that Mickey be the one the kids go see.
I was in the same boat as you guys before I had my kid, I didn't see Mickey anywhere except at Disneyland. Now that I have a toddler, though, I look at a list like the one in the OP and wonder why Mickey isn't higher.
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Marvel stuff was known worldwide long before the films.
But these days they don't have "one big property" they have a lot of big properties. Avengers, Deadpool, the GotG stuff, Black Panther, the Netflix shows, the X-men universe, Spider-Man, etc.
Deadpool moves a shockingly high amount of print titles and merchandise outside of his two blockbusters, the "Avengers" as a franchise moves WAY more than Spiderman does alone, and no one is really sure what the audience for the Netflix franchises are, but it's significant.
Marvel could lose Spider-man tomorrow and while obviously they would prefer not to, they'd still be rolling in more money than they knew what to do with.
Sure can. I'm at work on mobile so it's inconvenient but you'll have it in an hour.
fist of the north star 11th???
because of 16.8bn from pachinko???
what the shit?!
(yes i know pachinko is popular... but still)
because of 16.8bn from pachinko???
what the shit?!
(yes i know pachinko is popular... but still)
Revenue != Cultural Awareness.
Idk why people are using this as a popularity metric. I am pretty fkin sure more people know The Simpsons than Fist of the north star.
Also this list is very incomplete , it is just using certain publicly available data. Theres tons of shit unaccounted for. Some of these things are probably correct but many franchises don't have all the revenue sources. And some are just estimates.
Idk why people are using this as a popularity metric. I am pretty fkin sure more people know The Simpsons than Fist of the north star.
Also this list is very incomplete , it is just using certain publicly available data. Theres tons of shit unaccounted for. Some of these things are probably correct but many franchises don't have all the revenue sources. And some are just estimates.
As promised, here is the data I used to prove the numbers (for Marvel's revenue) in the article are nowhere close to accurate.
http://adage.com/article/media/avengers-bulking-6-billion-marvel-licensing-machine/234572/
This 2012 article from Ad Age notes The Marvel division generated $6 Billion in retail sales for FY 2011 alone, quoting Licensing Global Magazine's 2011 list for that number. Note that Avengers didn't release in theatres until 2012...so for all intents and purposes that is a "pre MCU" number, outside of Iron Man. That number is much, MUCH higher now.
the 2010 version of the list
https://www.licenseglobal.com/top-125
notes that Marvel Entertainment (at that time a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney but reporting separately) had licensed revenues of 5.6 billion in 2010 and 4.9 Billion in 2009. They've since begun reporting their revenue as part of Disney as a whole.
That number does not include any licensing that might have come from the X-men franchise, because Disney/Marvel weren't selling anything at the time related to those properties due to the Fox dispute.
The 2018 version of that list can be found here
https://www.licenseglobal.com/sites/default/files/Top150_2018_0.pdf
Disney is #1 on the list, with 53 billion in licensed retail revenue for the year. It's not broken out by IP, but past years have indicated that Marvel and Star Wars drive a very large chunk of that (Disney was only at 28 Billion in revenue in 2010, before both of those IPs were folded into Disney and blew up).
The Pokemon Company as a whole is listed at #18 on that list with 3.5 Billion in licensed revenue. And this includes Pokemon GO. Sanrio (who makes Hello Kitty) is #11 with 4.6B.
If we assume that Marvel Entertainment's roughly $6 billion in licensed revenue stayed steady since 2010 and didn't go up at all (which would be insane, as Avengers didn't release until 2012) Marvel would have drastically outgrossed Pokemon's revenue from 1996 to present in 10 years, with 53 billion in licensing from 2008-present and 29.9 billion in total box office dollars. And that doesn't include television revenue. Nobody knows what they're making off of those Netflix deals.
Again...that's if we arbitrarily start the revenue clock in 2008. "Marvel" as an entity has been around since the 1960s. Who knows what their lifetime grosses are.
Pokemon is nowhere in the same league as the Marvel IP. Insane to even make the claim. Star Wars for a VERY long time was the most profitable franchise in the world- I can't be bothered to dig up numbers for it but it's was well above where Marvel was for years. Pokemon wouldn't be near THAT either.
IN ADDITION:
I had to do a deep dive into where that bizarre figure for Marvel came from, since I couldn't figure it out. It defies common sense that anyone would think their merchandising off of that franchise was negligible.
The wikipedia here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_highest-grossing_media_franchises#cite_note-57
only uses the Marvel Cinematic Universe, despite listing "Marvel Entertainment" as the owner.
In breaking down that 21 Billion number, it uses 17.4 billion for the global box office, using an article from Box Office Mojo from August 12, 2018. This is an admirable effort, but a GLARING error is that Marvel still makes money from the Fox Film Properties Just as they do for the Sony films (The Sony arrangement has been redone a few times, however). They just don't make as much as they do from their in-house films. (edit: but this is probably a moot point anyway since the point is how much revenue the IP has generated, not how much profit marvel takes in from each deal)
The Box office Mojo list fails to list Amazing Spider-Man or Amazing Spider-Man 2 which were out at the same time as the MCU films but not part of it. There's also a dozen or so X-men and Fantastic Four Revenues that need to be included, in addition to the totals for PRE MCU films like Ang Lee's Hulk, Sony's Ghost Rider film, the Sam Raimi Spider Man films, the Blade Films..etc.
edit: There's actually a link for this, the wiki article writer was either lazy or willfully using the wrong one. The unadjusted total for ALL Marvel films since Blade in 1998 (plus howard the duck in 87) is 29.9 billion, not 21.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=marvelcomics.htm
There is also a 1.7 billion DVD and Blu-Ray figure from "The Numbers" from 2018 which uses only DOMESTIC DVD/BRD numbers, and not international and has no digital download figure at all. Again, this one ignores Marvel's NON-MCU movies completely which is significant, because DVD sales were WAY higher before Netflix and other video on demand services took off. The peak era for most DVD and Blu Ray discs predates the MCU films because of this.
You'll notice that TV revenue for the MCU is completely absent- not just the Netflix stuff, but also Agents of SHIELD, Cloak and Dagger on Freeform, etc.
THAT'S also way off.
but the WORST is the 4.324 Billion merchandise figure- the source for that are 3 or 4 different articles which source different licensing for individual properties for different years and attempts to total them. It's nowhere close to being accurate and one of those links is blocked behind a paywall.
It's a garbage list, if the rest of the entries are that badly sourced it's worthless.
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The amount of bullshit hello Kitty is slapped on makes that not surprising lmaooooo I really love that hello Kitty is bigger than star wars though
Your post is what this thread needed. Will it be properly appreciated? I dunno man...
Mario has outsold Pokemon in retail.
That was from Dec 2016 so it's missing MK8 Deluxe, Super Mario Maker for Wii U / 3DS, Super Mario Odyssey, Pokemon Sun/Moon / Ultra Sun and Moon.
That was from Dec 2016 so it's missing MK8 Deluxe, Super Mario Maker for Wii U / 3DS, Super Mario Odyssey, Pokemon Sun/Moon / Ultra Sun and Moon.
Have y'all ever been to a mall? Hell Kitty merch is a crazy business.
Can't remember the last time I bought a drink from a licensed Star Wars vending machine*. I just got a tea from a Pikachu one.
*I don't remember because they don't exist.
This surprises me. I expected it to be up there, but not number one. Even more shocked that Mario is number 5! Not shocked about Star Wars or Hello Kitty, I remember reading years ago about how huge Hello Kitty is so it doesn't surprise me it is still going strong.
Since we're talking about media franchises, the MCU as a whole would certainly count. That's a media franchise. Probably difficult to quantify though, since so much of the merchandise sales may or may not be related to the success of the films.
