Top Entertainment Franchises on YouTube: A Special Report

Long before the internet existed, fanzines ruled. Fans’ original user-generated content (UGC), hot takes appeared in homemade magazines, often photocopied and stapled together.

Today, there’s YouTube, where fans can post their passion for all things media in millions of videos that range from full-fledged DIY movies to clips under 30 seconds off video games based on films or TV shows.

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Think fan expression, ardor and marketing all rolled into one. Yes, the franchise owners and corporations may release content as trailers, interviews or more, but across the board those official contributions are dwarfed by the conversations devotees are having with one another.

So which movie and TV franchises dominate the UGC landscape, and which deliver the most bang for the buck — as in, “engagements,” an overarching term for likes and comments? Using data from content analytics and tech firm Vobile, official presenter of the “Fandomination” special report, VIP+ dug into the most popular franchises on YouTube by tracking the output of fans turned creators.

Spoiler alert: Tops among all franchises is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with 6.2 million videos and 7.7 billion engagements. Videos involving the MCU — across categories such as fan skits, listicles, vlogs and spoofs — trounce even No. 2 on the list, the DC Extended Universe.

Fan culture has long been a powerful tool for understanding what keeps a particular franchise, or individual project, a valuable source of ongoing revenue and IP. Parsing exactly what draws followers can be a much bigger, more esoteric challenge.

Regardless, there’s no question: Fans will always want to fan together. In a fractured niche entertainment universe, it is the collective watercooler around which stories continue to be told.

Just some of the media insights within:

• Detailed marketing strategies for capitalizing on fan culture

• A data dive into what gives film and TV franchises staying power

• Exhaustive metrics for YouTube videos posted over a three-year period

Click here to get the full report

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