Entertainment

Harry Potter Officially Loses Spot as One of the Most Profitable Fandoms of All Time

Nairavoice · Nov 4, 2026 · 5 min read

Hannah covers horror, sci-fi, and games at Collider, where she writes news and features, reviews new releases, and interviews the people who make them. She’s helping build out Collider‘s gaming coverage, with Pokémon as one of her specialties. If she isn’t writing about a monster, she’s probably watching one on a tape from her VHS collection.

Buying something from Harry Potter can be an exercise in finding out how many ordinary household objects can have a Hogwarts crest attached. There are the expected robes and wands, followed by enough mugs, blankets, and accessories to make declaring your house allegiance a decorating commitment. The franchise gives its audience plenty of opportunities to spend beyond the books and movies.

That makes it a useful contender in a study examining which fandoms generate the most purchasing interest online. Recognition alone does not settle that contest. A community buying sports jerseys, another chasing trading cards, and another picking up the latest video game can produce very different results once product prices enter the equation.

Harry Potter places tenth in Zero1 Gaming’s new fandom spending ranking, with an estimated $502.52 million in expenditure. Pokémon leads at $1.71 billion, followed by the NFL and Disney. Published coverage of the report puts the wizarding franchise immediately behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which accounts for approximately $552.89 million in the model.

You speak up in the room where it costs you something.
You would rather be wrong and brave than right and silent.
People come to you when something needs facing.

Dominic McLaughlin takes over as Harry in HBO’s series, which arrives in 2027 after
filming through 2025 and 2026.
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson were all cast in 2000, aged eleven, ten and
ten.
The Sorting Hat on screen was a practical puppet before any digital work went near it.

You think three moves ahead and say one of them out loud.
You are loyal to a small circle and ruthless about the rest.
Being underestimated has always suited you.

Alan Rickman knew Snape’s ending from Rowling years before the films got there, and
played it accordingly.
Tom Felton read for Harry and for Ron before landing Draco.
Paapa Essiedu takes the role of Snape in HBO’s series.

You are the one who remembers, and who follows through.
You do the unglamorous part nobody volunteers for.
Your word has never needed a backup.

Robert Pattinson played Cedric Diggory in Goblet of Fire a year before he was cast in
Twilight.
Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander put a Hufflepuff at the center of five Fantastic Beasts
films.
The common room sits beside the kitchens, which is the most Hufflepuff detail in the books.

You would rather be corrected than comfortable.
You notice the thing nobody else in the room noticed.
You have never been able to leave a question alone.

Evanna Lynch was cast as Luna from an open call of roughly fifteen thousand girls, having
written to Rowling as a fan.
The tower door asks a riddle rather than a password, so a Ravenclaw can be locked out by
thinking too slowly.
Luna, Flitwick and Rowena Ravenclaw are all originals, which is rather the point of the
house.

Why Does Pokémon Rank Above ‘Harry Potter’?

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    Image via The Pokémon Company</figure>

Pokémon has the advantage of being something fans can grow up with and then share with their own kids. Someone who started with Pokémon Red or Blue can now help a younger Trainer choose their first partner, teach them the card game, or join them for a walk in Pokémon GO. There are few franchises where digging out your childhood collection and getting excited about a new release feel so closely connected. Pikachu might get people through the door, but finding a favorite Pokémon makes that attachment personal.

That gives its merchandise an appeal that reaches well beyond whatever game happens to be newest. A longtime fan might want a plush of the starter they chose decades ago, while a younger collector is searching for their first favorite card. The study from Zero1 Gaming records approximately 40.2 million purchase-related searches and estimates $985 million in spending on signature products such as games, plus another $301 million on apparel. Those are modeled estimates, but they reflect how many ways fans have to keep Pokémon in their lives.

The franchise also gives different generations something to enjoy together without requiring them to love exactly the same thing. Someone can follow the games obsessively, collect cards for the artwork, or simply want every vaguely affordable Gengar they encounter. There is a whole world of creatures to get attached to, and a new generation of fans gets to discover its own favorites while older Trainers remain fiercely loyal to theirs. That is a powerful reason for Pokémon to keep showing up in shopping baskets long after a first adventure ends.

Figures are modeled spending estimates reported in coverage of Zero1 Gaming’s study.

Harry Potter still commands an estimated half-billion-dollar market, but Pokémon’s total is more than three times larger. This study alone cannot establish just how far the Wizarding World has fallen because there is no comparison provided, but what it does show is how decisively Pokémon leads this particular contest: Hogwarts barely makes the top 10, while Pikachu takes first place ahead of Disney, Marvel, and the NFL.