Star Wars may be worth at least $4 billion to The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) and Star Trek the subject of 12 mostly successful films and six television series for Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB), but neither beats Doctor Who, the BBC adventure series about a wandering Time Lord that has thrilled audiences for five decades. The Guinness Book of World Records honored the show in 2009 as the most successful sci-fi series of all time.
They came out in force at Denver Comic-Con, Tim says in the following video, overwhelming a conference room just for a chance to see Colin Baker and Daphne Ashbrook. In the 1980s, Baker succeeded Peter Davison as the sixth incarnation of The Doctor. Ashbrook appeared in a 1996 movie playing The Doctor’s human traveling companion. That they both still attract so many fans speaks to the longevity of the franchise.
On a worldwide basis, more than 77 million in 48 countries watch The Doctor regularly, Reuters reports. Expect even more this November, when a 50th anniversary special airs. Neither the Starks and Lannisters of Game of Thrones nor the zombies of The Walking Dead have so large or fervent a fan base.
Why should this matter to you as an investor? Because passion can be a powerful profit driver. Look at AMC Networks Inc (NASDAQ:AMCX). Thanks to The Walking Dead, which debuted on the network in October 2010, revenue growth accelerated from 10.1% in 2011 to 13.9% last year, according to data supplied by S&P Capital IQ.
For Doctor Who, the difficulty for American investors is that there is no way to invest in the BBC directly. Yet there are alternatives: Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), principally.
Both companies sell single episodes and full seasons of The Doctor’s adventures. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), like Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), also streams prior seasons, while Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) says iTunes executes some 800,000 TV downloads daily. Parts 1 and 2 of the latest season rank in the top 10 of iTunes downloads in Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Investing in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) means getting a cut of the profits from those downloads. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) offers a similar opportunity. Will you take it? Please watch the video for Tim’s full take, and then leave a comment to let us know which shows you’re downloading, and from which service.
The article Introducing the Sci-Fi Franchise That Beats “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Tim Beyers is a member of the Motley Fool Rule Breakers stock-picking team and the Motley Fool Supernova Odyssey I mission. He owned shares of Apple, Netflix, and Walt Disney at the time of publication. He was also long January 2014 $50 Netflix call options. Check out Tim’s Web home and portfolio holdings, or connect with him on Google+, Tumblr, or Twitter, where he goes by @milehighfool. You can also get his insights delivered directly to your RSS reader.The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com, AMC Networks, Apple, Netflix, and Walt Disney and owns shares of Amazon.com, Apple, Netflix, and Walt Disney.
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