With the imminent release of the new Harry Potter movie, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," as well as the upcoming book release on July 21 of the seventh and final installment in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," The Nielsen Company today released a multi-dimensional overview into the young wizard's strong impact on the entertainment industry.

In the United Kingdom alone, more than 22.5 million copies of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books have walked off the shelves since 1998, when Nielsen BookScan began measuring books sales in the UK and six of the top ten best-selling books during this period have been Harry Potter books. In the United States, the Harry Potter titles published after 2001, the first year of the U.S. Nielsen BookScan panel, have sold more than 27.7 million copies. During that period, three of the top ten best-selling books in the U.S. have been Harry Potter books.


In all territories where Nielsen BookScan monitors book sales data, peak sales of Harry Potter titles consistently coincide with launch of the new hardback editions and continue to break records. In 2005, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince jumped out of the starting gate with 1.87 million copies sold in the first day in the UK and 4.1 million copies sold the first day in the U.S. (both countries include pre-orders). Similarly, nearly 1.7 million copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix were sold on its 2003 release date in the UK, accounting for nearly 50% of the book's total first year sales in that country.


The greatest peak in sales of Harry Potter books took place in 2003, when sales in the UK accounted for fully 22% of the Children's market for the year, while sales in Australia took 19% of the Children's market and generated Aus$30.5 million in revenue for the year. This trend was largely due to the long delay in the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This was also the first new title to be released following the launch of the first Harry Potter film in November 2001, which helped catalyze a large increase in sales of the backlist titles as people caught up with the series.


The second largest sales peak for Harry Potter titles was in 2005, except in Ireland (ROI) and China, where 2005 sales surpassed 2003 sales as news of Harry Potter spread across the globe.


2006 saw a slowdown in sales, with the annual sales of Harry Potter titles being at their lowest since 1999 in the UK. This trend is indicative of people waiting for the launch of the final hardback edition later this month.


Audio titles of the Harry Potter series were also very popular, with total sales of more than 1.34 million audio copies in the U.S. (818,000) and the UK (525,000) to date. In the UK, audio releases of Harry Potter and Sorcerer's Stone have sold the most volume to date (128,280 units). Since 2001, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (452,000 units) and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (349,000 units) are the best-selling audio books in the U.S..


In the U.S., ad spending for all Harry Potter branded merchandise (including books, movies, DVDs and other promotional products) totaled $269.2 million for 1998 to date. Outside of the U.S., from 2000 to date, $119.3 million was spent on total advertising for all Harry Potter branded merchandise in the following 8 countries -- Canada, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, and the U.K.


Since 2000, international advertisers have spent $659,019 promoting the Harry Potter books (print books and audio books), with the bulk of the ad dollars going towards audio books ($543,412). The top spending category outside the U.S. has been theatrical releases ($57.3 million). Ad spending for Harry Potter among DVD/Video releases came in second at $31.9 million. Advertisers for video games spent $11.8 million and toys/games spent almost $11.6 million, while advertising for Harry Potter magazines reached $3.8 million.


Book Advertising in U.S. - Since 1998, when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone first appeared in the U.S., the publisher has spent a total of $344,787 to promote the book. That amount is a long way off from the advertising peak for the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which since 2002 has totaled $942,049. Additionally, $184,700 was spent in 2001 to advertise Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, two books published by J.K. Rowling and Scholastic, whose proceeds benefit needy children. In total, $3.6 million in the U.S. has been spent to date for the Harry Potter books (1-7), Harry Potter Fantasy Beast/Quidditch books and the Harry Potter Deluxe Box Sets, with the majority of the ad spend going towards the first seven books ($2.8 million).


The Warner Bros. Web site, "Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix," drew 446,762 unique visitors in May 2007. Social media and reference sites related to the movie attracted a unique audience of 705,487, more than 1.5 times the Web traffic to the official Harry Potter sites. However, average visitor time spent at the Warner Bros. site in May was more than seven minutes, compared to under 2.5 minutes at the official site.


Over the last six months, the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," has generated more buzz than the latest movie installment, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". After the release of the Order of the Phoenix movie trailer in late April, buzz about the movie briefly surpassed buzz about the final book.


Bloggers reacted to the announcements of the final book and book cover design, generating a sharp increase in posts and discussions in January and March 2007.


Fake scans of the movie's ending sparked interest among bloggers and buzz about the final book and latest movie increased in tandem in June 2007.