Culture
The World’s Top Media Franchises by All-Time Revenue
See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.
Global Media Franchises by All-Time Revenue
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
From Pikachu to Hello Kitty, some media franchises become so big that their iconic characters are recognizable to nearly everyone in the world. But how exactly do these mega media franchises make their money, and how do they compare in terms of all-time revenue?
This graphic visualizes and ranks the world’s largest media franchises by their all-time revenue, showing the main revenue sources for each media franchise using data from Fandom.
Japan’s Media Franchises Reign
With more than half of the media franchises in this graphic originating from Japan, the Asian country dominates when it comes to modern popular media franchises.
The country has produced some of the biggest media franchises which span across mediums, whether it’s video games with Pokémon and Mario, or comics, animated series, and toys with franchises like Dragon Ball and Transformers.
| Media Franchise | Total Estimated Revenue | Merchandise Revenue | Video Games Revenue | Trading Cards Revenue | Box Office Revenue | Manga/Comics Revenue | Book Sales Revenue | Home Video Revenue | Other Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pokémon | $147.0B | $102.9B | $27.6B | $12.1B | $1.8B | $1.5B | - | $0.9B | - |
| Hello Kitty | $89.0B | $88.5B | - | - | - | $0.02B | - | - | - |
| Winnie the Pooh | $76.0B | $76.2B | - | - | $0.5B | - | - | - | - |
| Mickey Mouse & Friends | $74.0B | $73.4B | - | - | $0.5B | $0.0005B | - | - | - |
| Star Wars | $70.0B | $42.2B | $6.0B | - | $10.3B | - | $1.8B | $9.1B | $0.3B |
| Anpanman | $56.0B | $56.4B | - | - | $0.1B | - | - | - | $0.03B |
| Disney Princess | $46.0B | $46.3B | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Jump Comics (Shōnen Jump) | $40.0B | - | $0.2B | - | - | $39.8B | - | - | - |
| Mario | $38.0B | $4.3B | $32.4B | - | $0.0B | $1.6B | - | - | - |
| Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) | $35.0B | $12.5B | - | - | $22.6B | $0.001B | - | - | - |
| Harry Potter | $32.0B | $12.3B | $1.6B | - | $9.9B | - | $7.7B | - | $1.1B |
| Transformers | $30.0B | $12.2B | - | - | $4.9B | - | - | - | $0.9B |
| Spider-Man | $29.0B | $15.9B | $1.7B | - | $7.2B | $1.1B | - | $2.2B | $1.4B |
| Batman | $28.0B | $21.3B | - | - | $6.1B | - | - | $1.2B | $0.3B |
| Dragon Ball | $27.0B | $7.7B | $6.2B | $1.0B | $0.8B | $9.2B | - | $2.1B | $0.05B |
| Gundam | $26.9B | $26.4B | - | - | - | $0.2B | - | - | $0.3B |
| Barbie* | $24.7B | $22.7B | - | - | $0.01B | - | - | $2.0B | - |
*Barbie’s revenue does not include revenue from the 2023 movie Barbie.
Even Japanese media franchises which have had less international exposure and revenue, like Anpanman and Jump Comics, have netted tens of billions in revenue mostly from their domestic popularity.
Besides Japan, Disney is the other dominant force when it comes to global media franchises, with all of the 10 largest franchises either hailing from Japan or owned by Disney.
Disney’s Major Media Acquisitions
Over the past two decades, Disney has built up a significant catalog of major media franchises through two key multi-billion dollar acquisitions.
Disney’s acquisitions of Marvel Entertainment for $4.4 billion in 2009 and Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in 2012 added massive media franchises to their portfolio like Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Spider-Man.
While Sony bought the movie rights to Spider-Man for just $7 million from Marvel in 1999, Disney owns the rights to Spider-Man in all other forms, including merchandising, television, and comics.
Movies Make their Comeback for Media Franchises
This past decade has seen various popular media franchises take another stab at expanding into the medium of movies and TV shows, this time finding significant success.
Whether it’s animated movies like The Super Mario Bros. Movie or live-action adaptations like Barbie or Netflix’s series of Jump Comics properties like One Piece, these film forays have been successful in revenue terms and in expanding their franchise fanbases.
On top of this, companies like Nintendo are tapping into their franchises to expand beyond movies, with Mario now also the leading mascot for the Super Nintendo World theme park area which has locations at both Universal Studios Japan and Hollywood.
Demographics
Ranked: Countries Where Youth are the Most Unhappy, Relative to Older Generations
Conventional wisdom says that young adults (those below 30) tend to be the happiest demographic—but this is not true for these countries.
Countries with the Biggest Happiness Gaps Between Generations
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” — Tom Bodett
Measuring happiness is tricky business, more so when taking into account how different regions, cultures, and faiths define it. Nevertheless, the World Happiness Report attempts to distill being happy into a single score out of 10, and then ranks countries by their average score.
We’ve visualized the high-level findings from the latest happiness report in this series of maps. However, the report also dives deeper into other significant trends in the data, such as a growing disparity in happiness between age groups within countries themselves.
In the chart above, we list countries by the biggest gaps in happiness ranks between young adults (<30) and older adults (60+). A higher number indicates a larger gap, and that the youth are far unhappier than their older counterparts.
Where are Youth Unhappier than Older Adults?
Mauritius ranks first on this list, with a massive 57 place gap between older adult and youth happiness. The 1.26 million-inhabited island nation briefly reached high income status in 2020, but the pandemic hit hard, hurting its key tourism sector, and affecting jobs.
The country’s youth unemployment rate spiked to close to 25% that year, but has since been on the decline. Like residents on many similarly-populated islands, the younger demographic often moves abroad in search of more opportunities.
| Rank | Country | Youth Happiness Rank | Older Adult Happiness Rank | Happiness Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇲🇺 Mauritius | 85 | 28 | 57 |
| 2 | 🇺🇸 U.S. | 62 | 10 | 52 |
| 3 | 🇨🇦 Canada | 58 | 8 | 50 |
| 4 | 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan | 71 | 22 | 49 |
| 5 | 🇨🇳 China | 79 | 30 | 49 |
| 6 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 73 | 36 | 37 |
| 7 | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | 86 | 53 | 33 |
| 8 | 🇩🇿 Algeria | 93 | 62 | 31 |
| 9 | 🇱🇾 Libya | 80 | 50 | 30 |
| 10 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | 54 | 26 | 28 |
| 11 | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan | 69 | 42 | 27 |
| 12 | 🇵🇭 Philippines | 70 | 43 | 27 |
| 13 | 🇱🇦 Laos | 104 | 77 | 27 |
| 14 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 47 | 21 | 26 |
| 15 | 🇪🇸 Spain | 55 | 29 | 26 |
| 16 | 🇲🇹 Malta | 57 | 31 | 26 |
| 17 | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | 77 | 51 | 26 |
| 18 | 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan | 81 | 55 | 26 |
| 19 | 🇲🇷 Mauritania | 119 | 93 | 26 |
| 20 | 🇹🇩 Chad | 120 | 94 | 26 |
Conventional wisdom says, and data somewhat correlates, that young adults (those below 30) tend to be the happiest demographic. Happiness then decreases through middle age and starts increasing around 60. However, the above countries are digressing from the pattern, with older generations being much happier than young adults.
That older generations are happier, by itself, is not a bad thing. However, that younger adults are so much unhappier in the same country can point to several unique stresses that those aged below 30 are facing.
For example, in the U.S. and Canada—both near the top of this list—many young adults feel like they have been priced out of owning a home: a once key metric of success.
Climate anxieties are also high, with worries about the future of the world they’ll inhabit. Finally, persistent economic inequities are also weighing on the younger generation, with many in that cohort feeling like they will never be able to afford to retire.
All of this comes alongside a rising loneliness epidemic, where those aged 18–25 report much higher rates of loneliness than the general population.
Source: The World Happiness Report which leverages data from the Gallup World Poll.
Methodology: A nationally representative group of approximately 1,000 people per country are asked to evaluate their life on a scale of 0–10. Scores are averaged across generations per country over three years. Countries are ranked by their scores out of 10.
-
Mining7 days agoVisualizing Cobalt Production by Country in 2023
-
Energy2 weeks agoRanked: The World’s Largest Lithium Producers in 2023
-
Maps2 weeks agoMapped: The World’s Wettest and Driest Countries
-
Healthcare2 weeks agoVisualizing Daily Protein Sources by Region
-
Maps2 weeks agoMap: Where Are America’s Largest Landfills?
-
AI2 weeks agoNvidia is Worth More Than All of These Companies Combined
-
Stocks2 weeks agoVisualizing Berkshire Hathaway’s Stock Portfolio (Q1 2024)
-
Markets1 week agoThe Top Retailers in the World, by Store Count