Media franchise
A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related
Transmedia franchise
A media franchise often consists of cross-marketing across more than one medium. For the owners, the goal of increasing profit through diversity can extend the commercial profitability of the franchise and create strong feelings of identity and ownership in its consumers.[2] Those large groups of dedicated consumers create the franchise's fandom, which is the community of fans that indulge in many of its mediums and are committed to interacting with and keeping up with other consumers.[3] Large franchise-based fandoms have grown to be even more popular in recent years with the rise of social media platforms, as many fans seek to interact with one another for discussion, debate and even to create their own fan-made pieces of media revolving around the franchise, on websites like tumblr, Reddit and Fandom.[4] In the case of successful transmedia franchises, each different medium should expand the target demographic and fandom, build the interest of the consumers and add to the overarching story and narrative of the franchise itself.[5] A connection between the characters, settings, and other elements of the media franchise do still exist within the different mediums, regardless of the fact that they are being presented in sometimes completely different ways,[6] such as the shared, interweaving storylines and elements of Spider-Man films, television shows, comics and video games. Espen Aarseth describes the financial logic of cost-recovery for expensive productions by identifying that a single medium launch is a lost opportunity, the timeliness of the production and release is more important than its integrity, the releases should raise brand awareness and the cross-ability of the work is critical for its success.[7]
American Idol was a transmedia franchise from its beginnings, with the first season winner Kelly Clarkson signing with RCA Records and having the release of A Moment Like This becoming a #1 hit on Billboard Hot 100.[8] The success resulted in a nationwide concert tour, an American Idol book that made the bestseller list and the film From Justin to Kelly.[8] A transmedia franchise however is often referred to by the simpler term "media franchise". The term media franchise is often used to describe the popular adaptation of a work into films, like the popular Twilight book series that was adapted into the five films of The Twilight Saga.[9] Other neologisms exist to describe various franchise types including metaseries, which can be used to describe works such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.[clarification needed][10]
Multimedia franchises usually develop through a character or fictional world becoming popular in one medium, and then expanding to others through
Canon content
Transmedia franchises occasionally release content through certain mediums that is not canon to the main or greater story that the franchise is built around, meaning that the elements of said content do not truly exist in the main timeline of the franchise.[12] Canon content often times breaks continuity, leading fans to speculate or seek to confirm which mediums are canon and which are not, which can get confusing if the franchise does not provide an answer themselves since entire mediums can be non-canon to the greater story, with a popular example occurring.[12] On the other hand, specific episodes, volumes or parts of a series can be canon while others in the same medium are not, such as the fact that only some of the Battlestar Galactica comics are canon, with a large amount of them breaking the continuity of the main story.[13]
Japan
In
The term media mix gained its circulation in late 1980s and is first used to describe adaptations of Sakyo Komatsu's Japan Sinks,[clarification needed] but the origins of the strategy can be traced back to the 1960s with the proliferation of anime, with its interconnection of media and commodity goods.[17] Some of the earlier popular Japanese franchises such as Vampire Hunter D in the 1980s and Pokémon in the late 1990s, acted as benchmarks in the country's transmedia dominance.[18][19] The latter in particular began as a video game available on Nintendo's Game Boy, and crossed through the mediums of television, film, news, and other non-media related realms, such trading cards, merchandise, and more.[19] A number of Japanese media franchises have gained considerable global popularity, and are among the world's highest-grossing media franchises. For example, Pokémon's penetration into the American market of the franchise along with others of Japanese origin, such as Yu-Gi-Oh!,[14] gave rise to the recognition of what is variously called transmedia storytelling, crossmedia, transmediation, media synergy, etc.[17]
Researchers argue that the 1963 Tetsuwan Atomu marked a shift in Japanese marketing from the focus on the content of the commodity to "overlapping the commodity image with the character image".[15]
The book Anime's Media Mix: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan, by Marc Steinberg, details the evolution of the media mix in Japan.
Japanese terminology
- anime-ka (アニメ化), recast as anime
- dorama-ka (ドラマ化), recast as drama
- gēmu-ka (ゲーム化), recast as computer game
- noberaizu (ノベライズ, "novelize"), recast as novel
- komikaraizu (コミカライズ, "comicalize") or manga-ka (漫画化), recast as manga
- eiga-ka (映画化), recast as movie
Development to other forms
Fiction
Long-running franchises were common in the early studio era, when Hollywood studios had actors and directors under long-term contract. In such cases, even lead actors are often replaced as they age, lose interest, or their characters are killed. Spin-offs and adaptations of popular pieces of media within a franchise can even be created, which ultimately leads to the creation of brand worlds.[20]
Since the creation of
Media franchises tend to cross over from their original media to other forms. Literary franchises are often transported to film, such as
A media franchise does not have to include the same characters or theme, as the brand identity can be the franchise, like
Non-fiction
Non-fiction media franchises also exist in the television and film mediums, with reality TV being one of the most well-known examples; ranging from competition shows like The Amazing Race to the day-in-the-life episodes of the many different Real Housewives series.[24] Documentaries and docuseries are other highlights of the non-fiction branch of media franchises,[24] such as the popular Planet Earth series, which serves as both a film and television transmedia franchise.
See also
- Lists of multimedia franchises
- Media convergence
- Media multiplier
- Narrative consumption
- Database consumption
- Film series
- Prequel
- Sequel
- Spin-off (media)
- Spiritual sequel
- Standalone film
- List of television show franchises
- Tie-in
- Transmedia storytelling
- Transmediation
- Trilogy
- List of video game franchises
- List of space science fiction franchises
References
- ^ Keiles, Jamie Lauren (December 1, 2022). "'Avatar' and the Mystery of the Vanishing Blockbuster - It was the highest-grossing film in history, but for years it was remembered mainly for having been forgotten. Why?". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
- ^ Lemke, Jay (2004). "Critical Analysis across Media: Games, Franchises, and the New Cultural Order" (PDF). First International Conference on CDA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
- S2CID 150052589.
- S2CID 199244984.
- S2CID 143801652.
- ISBN 9781315637570.
- S2CID 46602603.
- ^ ISBN 9780814742815.
- ISBN 978-1433108945.
- ^ Palumbo, Donald (1998). "Asimov's Crusade Against Bigotry: The Persistence Of Prejudice as a Fractal Motif in the Robot/Empire Foundation Metaseries". Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. 10: 43–63.
- ISBN 074863858X.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-349-45500-3, retrieved 2022-11-23
- ISSN 1441-2616.
- ^ a b Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, p. 110
- ^ a b Steinberg
- ^ Denison, Rayna. "Manga Movies Project Report 1 - Transmedia Japanese Franchising". Academia.edu. Retrieved 2015-07-31.
- ^ a b Steinberg, p. vi
- ISBN 9781452949833, retrieved 2022-11-23
- ^ S2CID 144360372.
- S2CID 56267324.
- S2CID 213642766.
- S2CID 251029975.
- ^ Bernstein, Joseph (12 August 2013). "How To Kill A Major Media Franchise In A Decade". Buzzfeed. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
- ^ ISBN 9781315879970.
Bibliography
- Marc Steinberg, Anime's Media Mix: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan.