The Nielsen Company has just released a report showing the impact of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series on the entertainment industry. While we all know the books and movies have had quite an impact, seeing actual numbers makes the whole endeavor stand out in a completely new light.
[SFScope editor’s note: in this article, we’ve dropped the “Harry Potter and the…” from each title for ease of reading.]
The report breaks the data down by classes:
Books:
Nielsen began measuring book sales (with their Nielsen BookScan system) in 2001 in the US, and in 1998 elsehwere. In those 10 years, the Harry Potter books have sold more than 22.5 million copies in the UK. In the past six and a half years, they’ve sold 27.7 million copies in the US. They’ve also sold 4.6 million copies in Australia, and more than 2 million copies in China.
Comparing them individually to other top-selling books in the US (since 2001), we see that Order of the Phoenix (published 1 June 2003) is in second place with 8.4 million copies sold; Half Blood Prince (1 July 2005) is in third (7.2 million), and Prisoner of Azkaban (1 September 2001) is in eighth place (3.4 million). Topping the list is Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (1 March 2003) with sales of more than 8.5 million. The list of UK top-selling books (provided since 1998) looks similar at the top: #1, The Da Vinci Code (published 1 March 2004, 4.5 million copies); #2, Order of the Phoenix (21 June 2003, 3.0 million copies); #3, Half-Blood Prince (16 July 2005, 2.9 million); #4 Philosopher’s Stone (26 June 1997, 2.8 million); #5, Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons (1 July 2003, 2.7 million [it’s #7 on the US list]); #6, Chamber of Secrets (28 May 1999, 2.7 million); #7, Prisoner of Azkaban (1 April 2000, 2.5 million); #8, Goblet of Fire (6 July 2001, 2.0 million).
Movies:
The four movies released thus far (the report was produced before the release of Order of the Phoenix) have grossed more than $3.5 billion. Sorcerer’s Stone‘s worldwide box office take of $974.7 million ranks it #4 on the worldwide, all-time highest grossing films list.
The Nielsen chart of the top 20 worldwide highest-grossing films has 19 science fiction, fantasy, or horror movies on it (all except #1, Titanic, which grossed $1.85 billion). The other Potter films show up at #9 (Goblet of Fire, $892 million), #10 (Chamber of Secrets, $878 million), and #19 (Prisoner of Azkaban, $793 million). Other film franchises on the list include the first, second, and third Lord of the Rings movies (at #12, #5, and #2, respectively), the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean movies (at #3 and #15, respectively), and Star Wars episodes 1, 3, and 4 (#6, #14, and #18).
Advertising:
One might wonder if advertising the Harry Potter franchise is even necessary, but apparently those promoting it certainly think it is. US advertising spending on all aspects of Harry Potter (books, films, and other promotional products) tops $269 million since 1998. Outside the US, the number is more than $119 million total in 8 countries (Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, and the UK).
The study breaks down the “outside the US” number: since 2000, $659 thousand has been spent on the books, $57.3 million on the theatrical releases; $31.9 million on the DVD/video releases of the moves; $11.8 million on video games; $11.6 million on toys and games; and $3.8 million on Harry Potter magazines.
In the US, the ad dollars went to: book advertising ($2.7 million); theatrical releases of the motion pictures ($142.6 million); DVD/video releases of the movies ($68.5 million); and “cross promotion” ($68.5 million, which excludes advertising on the books and movies, but includes everything else).
An interesting comparison is the US advertising dollars spent on the books versus the movies. For Sorcerer’s Stone, advertising for the DVD/video release was $22.5 million, while advertising for the theatrical release was nearly $37 million, but advertising for the book was less than 1% of that: $345 thousand. The ratios are similar for the next three titles: Chamber of Secrets: DVD, $15.9 million; theatrical release, $40 million; book, $160,000. Prisoner of Azkaban: DVD, $15.4 million; theatrical release, $33.7 million; book, $187,000. Goblet of Fire: DVD, $14.6 million; theatrical release, $32.0 million; book, $504,000.
Internet Traffic:
The official Warner Brothers Order of the Phoenix web site had nearly 447,000 unique visitors in May 2007, while unofficial sites saw more than 705,000 unique visitors.
Music Sales:
The four soundtracks, coinciding with the four movies, have sold more than 1.1 million copies in the US, and nearly 100,000 copies in Canada. The best seller of the bunch was for Sorcerer’s Stone, which was released in October 2001 and has sold nearly 620,000 copies in the US (sales of the later films’ soundtracks show a steady decline).
Nielsen SoundScan started measuring digital music sales in 2003, and since that time, there have been 180,000 downloads of individual songs from the four soundtracks. The first is the most popular, with 65,000 digital track sales.
Television Ratings:
Since 2002, the movies have aired on US television more than 350 times on four cable networks (Disney, ABC Family, Cinemax, and HBO) and one broadcast network (ABC). The peak viewerships were for Sorcerer’s Stone on 9 May 2004 (11.1 million viewers), Chamber of Secrets on 19 November 2005 (7.8 million), Chamber of Secrets on 7 May 2005 (7.5 million), and Sorcerer’s Stone on 15 May 2004 (6.9 million), all of which aired on ABC.
Reader and Moviegoer Profile:
Nielsen Cinema profiled the people in the US seeing the films in theaters and reading the books, and found that 51% of all people aged 12 or older are aware that the new book is coming out this month. They further find that 28% of people aged 12 or older have read at least one of the first six books. 53% of the people who have read at least one of the books plan to read Deathly Hallows, with nearly 40% planning to read it as soon as it’s released.
More than 25% of Americans aged 12 or over claim to have seen all four of the movies. More than 40% of the box office audience for the last two was aged 2-17.
Consumer Package Goods:
ACNielsen data shows that US consumer have spent more than $11.75 million on Harry Potter-licensed trademark cookies, candy, and gum products since June 2002. Those purchases peak during the week a book or movie launches (for instance, there was nearly $900 thousand dollars in sales the week Chamber of Secrets premiered in theaters).
The full report is available as an 11-page pdf file at this link.