The Global IP Heat Map: What 40+ Countries Tell Us About Entertainment Trends in 2026
2026-04-14 · 2 min read
IP Ranking launched with a simple question: what is the world watching, playing, and collecting? To answer it, we built a data pipeline that combines Netflix Top 10 rankings from 94 countries, YouTube trending data from 20 key markets, Google Trends search interest from 75+ countries, and community data from AniList and MyAnimeList.
The result is the Global IP Heat Map — a thermal visualization of entertainment IP popularity across the world. Here are the key findings from our first comprehensive dataset.
Finding 1: Anime is not a niche. Anime IPs appear in Netflix Top 10 charts across 35 countries, spanning every continent. Japan leads with 6 simultaneous anime titles in its Top 10, but Hong Kong (3 titles), Taiwan (3), and Vietnam (3) aren't far behind. Even markets like Italy, Germany, and Brazil show consistent anime presence.
Finding 2: Gaming IP interest is truly global. Minecraft, Roblox, and League of Legends generate search interest in 80+ countries each, according to Google Trends. Unlike anime, which concentrates in Asia-Pacific, gaming IPs show relatively even distribution across all regions.
Finding 3: Character IPs follow cultural corridors. Sanrio characters (Hello Kitty, Cinnamoroll, My Melody) concentrate in East and Southeast Asia. Pop Mart's designer toys (Labubu, Skullpanda) show a Hong Kong-Singapore-Thailand corridor. Western character IPs (Marvel, Star Wars) dominate in the Americas and Europe but have limited presence in Asia outside of Japan.
Finding 4: The "heat score" varies dramatically. Japan scores 100 on our composite heat index (combining Netflix, YouTube, Google Trends), while most European countries score 10-25. This doesn't mean Europeans don't engage with IPs — it means their engagement is more evenly distributed across categories rather than concentrated in anime.
Finding 5: Small markets punch above their weight. Sri Lanka, Morocco, and the Maldives appear surprisingly often in our Top 10 data. These markets have small populations but high per-capita engagement with specific IP categories.
IP Ranking updates weekly. As we accumulate more snapshots, we'll be able to track how IPs rise and fall across regions — turning a static picture into a dynamic story of global entertainment consumption.