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A new survey from GameSpot parent company Fandom has arrived, shedding light on a range of topics pertaining to media and entertainment. One of the key findings is a list of what fans perceive as the top 25 franchises in media in 2023 so far, and the list is made up of all the usual suspects like Star Wars, Disney, DC, Zelda, and more.
This year’s survey makes use of Fandom’s Franchise Factor Score, which uses first-party data from Fandom’s network of 350 million monthly unique users, along with a global study called Inside Fandom.
“Franchises made up 95% of the top blockbusters and games in 2023,” Fandom CEO Perkins Miller said. As you can see in the chart below, Star Wars ranks as the No. 1 overall franchise–based on Fandom’s measurements (see below for more details)–with Marvel, One Piece, Elder Scrolls, and Harry Potter rounding out the top five. Other heavyweights like Barbie, Yellowstone, The Last of Us, Fallout, Disney, DC, Star Trek, Pokemon, The Witcher, and The Walking Dead make up some of the other spots.
The study also found that 64% of gamers and 69% of general entertainment fans would prefer to play or watch content from an established series as opposed to trying something new. It also found that 57% of fans enjoy prequels and sequels, while 53% enjoy spin-offs. 36% of respondents said they are interested in remakes and remasters for video games. This might sound surprisingly low given how prominent remakes and remasters have been of late.
Another trend analyzed in the survey is the prominence of cross-media adaptations, which are becoming more and more popular in recent years. According to the survey, 72% of respondents said they were more likely to be interested in a cross-media adaptation of something they know as opposed to a brand-new IP. HBO’s The Last of Us series and Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie proved to be massively popular, which tracks with the survey.
In terms of what people want out of cross-media adaptations, 40% said they want a “strong connection” to the source material and 34% said they wanted to have the original creators involved. For The Last of Us, Neil Druckmann–who wrote and directed the games–is actively involved in the show. And for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Shigeru Miyamoto was an executive producer, while Universal’s Chris Meledandri was invited to join Nintendo’s board of directors as an outside director to help shepard the company’s ambitions in the film space.
What Fandom is calling the Franchise Factor covers five criteria to determine the overall power of a given franchise. These pillars include Worldbuilding, High Ratings, Fierce Fanbase, Culture Relevance, and Consistency.
Worldbuilding: Populating a fictional universe with captivating characters, settings, and lore to forge deep connections with audiencesHigh Ratings: Ratings from both critics and fans play a pivotal role in capturing audience attentionFierce Fanbase: Cultivating a community that passionately advocates for a franchiseCultural Relevance: The ability of a franchise to capture the spirit of the times and resonate with wider audiences; a franchise that bridges between the core fanbase and the broader public and leaves a lasting mark on pop cultureConsistency: A franchise that remains top-of-mind and sustains interest over time by regularly providing top-tier, fresh or enhanced content for fans to enjoy
In terms of methodology, the survey is based on responses from 5,000 gaming and entertainment fans in the US and UK. For more, check out the full survey results.
