What are the most powerful franchises in TV, film and games? Fandom, which touts itself as the world’s biggest wiki platform for entertainment and gaming fans, has cooked up a proprietary metric that it claims answers the question.
The company, as part of its fifth annual “Inside Fandom” study, announced the new metric — the Franchise Factor Score, which it calls “a single, definitive metric that looks beyond the financials to define the driving forces behind entertainment and gaming franchise success.”
Star Wars, with a score of 100, is No. 1 on the list, buoyed by Disney+ hit series “Ahsoka.” That’s followed by Marvel (87), with movie releases this year including “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”; and “One Piece” (72), the popular manga that has been adapted as a live-action series for Netflix and recently renewed for season 2. (See Fandom’s top 25 franchise rankings below.)
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How exactly Fandom crunched various data sets into a single composite score is a bit murky. The company said the Franchise Factor Score is based on a survey of about 5,000 gaming and entertainment fans in the U.S. and U.K., coupled with first-party data from Fandom’s platform (which attracts 350 million monthly unique visitors and features 40 million pages of content).
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According to Fandom, the Franchise Factor Score is “a weighted calculation” against five criteria based on its proprietary data. Those are: worldbuilding (populating a fictional universe with “captivating characters, settings and lore to forge deep connections with audiences”); high ratings (from both critics and fans); fanbase engagement; cultural relevance; and consistency (regularly providing new or enhanced content).
“Franchises made up 95% of the top blockbusters and games in 2023, yet there has been no single unified view on what’s capturing fan attention and why,” Fandom CEO Perkins Miller says. “The Franchise Factor framework gives creators, producers and marketers actionable insights and tools to strengthen their franchises in an increasingly competitive landscape.”
The company’s 2023 “Inside Fandom” report also analyzes which trends drive the most fan engagement and momentum; explores fan preferences across spinoffs, adaptations, sequels and prequels; and examines how to sustain fan engagement through branded tie-ins and licensing deals. Other findings from the study include:
- 64% of gamers and 69% of entertainment fans would rather play/watch a new installment in a franchise than something new; 57% of fans are interested in prequels and sequels
- 68% of fans say their perception of one installment in a franchise influences their opinion of the franchise as a whole
- Leading deterrents for fans are: misrepresentation of the source material (40%); lack of innovation with the characters and storylines (36%); poor ratings or reviews (32%)
- 44% of fans claim they are more likely to buy products with IP-branded tie-ins
Here are the top 25 entertainment and gaming franchises for 2023 to date as ranked by Fandom’s proprietary metric, along with their weighted score:
- Star Wars: 100
- Marvel: 87
- One Piece: 72
- Elder Scrolls: 71
- Harry Potter: 69
- Barbie: 66
- Yellowstone: 64
- The Last of Us: 63
- Fallout: 62
- Disney: 62
- Elden Ring: 60
- John Wick: 59
- Grand Theft Auto: 56
- Final Fantasy: 54
- Naruto: 53
- Zelda: 53
- DC: 52
- League of Legends: 52
- Star Trek: 52
- Shadow & Bone: 51
- Pokémon: 51
- SpongeBob SquarePants: 50
- Resident Evil: 50
- The Witcher: 48
- The Walking Dead: 48