Franchise Levels

It is no secret that media franchises rule the world. Huge corporations which globalize and monetize art, have come into our life and changed the way we consume mass culture. There are, actually, the smaller companies which try to develop their product by all means, to endow it with a special corporate identity, emphasizing their individuality. Sometimes they also enter the world market if they achieve the necessary level of success, eventually turning their opuses into franchises. However, what generally can be considered a media franchise and is it possible to categorize them?

A media franchise is, first of all, a collection of works of various forms of media united by a common entourage and characters. Many of them have a mascot, a symbol or a bright, memorable image that warms the brand and which the company operates to advertise and attract popularity to its product. Obviously, new products are sold better if they are associated with an existing and familiar universe. The path of any media franchise begins with the original product which develops into a franchise. The following examples were originally franchises in their fields (literature, cinema, games, music), but subsequently grew into large series.

All franchises are divided into:

1. Corporeal. Material products like toys and goods. Examples: Bionicle, My Little Pony.
2. Literature. Examples: The Chronicles of Narnia, Discworld.
3. Comic. Examples: Garfield, Spawn.
4. Cinema. Examples: Star Wars, Alien.
5. Television. Examples: Breaking Bad, Doctor Who.
6. Performance. Theatre and radio dramas. Example: Guiding Light.
7. Game. Examples: Tomb Raider, Super Mario.
8. Music. Many of those which rise into the media franchises are rock operas. Examples: Pink Floyd's The Wall, Jesus Christ Superstar.
9. Other. Anything that does not fall into other categories: websites, interactive works, other art, non-fiction franchises.

Note that "adaptations" aren't actual parts of a franchise, but are closely connected with it. To find out at what stage the product becomes a franchise, I suggest the concept of franchise levels:

Level 0 — a single product. Technically, it's not a franchise, because the work is presented in a single form. Example: Bruce Bethke's Cyberpunk.

Franchise:
Level 0+ — microfranchise. Usually, this is a small series of the original work and its derivatives: sequel and trequel. Example: the Unbreakable trilogy.
Level 1 — franchise. The original work with more than two formations: a sequel, trequel, spin-off, remake, and other branches in a single media. Example: the Thief series.

Media Franchise:
Level 1+ — pseudo media franchise. Strictly speaking, it is a level 0/0+ franchise spreading with other media forms. Despite the fact these are independent franchises, on this stage the license can be passed on to third parties. Example: Hotline Miami, including two games and comic series.
Level 2 — micro media franchise. The condition of a franchise when it proceeds from the 1st level. Implies the presence of more than two media types. Example: Twin Peaks with the show, full motion picture, and a few books.
Level 3 — media franchise. A franchise with more than three media forms. Example: the Evil Dead series with the trilogy, the remake, the show, and a comic series.
Level 4 — super media franchise. This level is characterized by all forms of media, ranging from books to video games. It's the stage of media franchise development where every form of media starts to have self-sufficiency. Sometimes an element of a media franchise (for example, a comic) grows into the separate franchise inside this media franchise. Example: Minecraft.

Despite the fact that some elements may seem of the same media nature, their presence raises the level of a franchise. For example, if a TV series has a series of films based on it, the franchise level rises from 0+ to 1. Thus, I divided cinema from television, even although these types of media are often permeable. It should be also noted that the promotional, documentary, and descriptive (for example, biopic about the author’s life or the work itself) media is not an attribute of either media franchise or franchise, even if they influence the plot and are part of the transmedia storytelling. On the contrary, the cases when authors use items that are secondary to a franchise to expand the world of this franchise are highly appreciated by fans. Accompanying products like merchandise also don't affect the level of the franchise, but these things are surely present in franchises of the 3rd level and above. Different versions of the same work can be attributed to the franchise.

It would seem that the diversity of media and products for every taste is a gift, but an important problem ensues from this: the higher the level of franchise, the more complex and confusing the information about it, both for the consumer and the manufacturer. For example, for franchises of the 2nd level (micro media franchises) and above, it's not that uncommon when different versions of a product for different countries have dramatic differences or are generally exclusive for a particular region, which causes confusion. On the one hand, this complexity is highlighted by some as the main drawback of media franchises in front of micro franchises with a complete history and a well-developed world, not spreading in all directions by different people. However, on the other hand, a situation where one branch of a company has no idea what happens to the franchise in another branch, warms up the interest of fans and encourages them to search for obscure information about products, adding some spirit of research and exploring to the culture of consumption.