PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, June 26, 2001 - According to leading marketing information provider The NPD Group, Inc., Harry Potter’s popularity remains steady among children and teenagers ages 6 – 17, but continues to grow among adults since the March debut of The NPD Harry Potter Prophet.

May numbers reveal adult readership of at least one Harry Potter book has increased significantly since last March. Although more women than men have read Harry Potter, both groups showed an increase in the last two months. The percentage of men who said they have read at least one Harry Potter book has nearly doubled (15% in May vs. 9% in March).

Source: The NPD Group, Inc.

"This heightened awareness and interest among adults may be attributed to the movie hype and the increased presence of merchandise in the stores," commented Christina Charasse, senior account manager of NPD Leisure Services. "It is likely these new Harry Potter readers will become Harry Potter fans, which in turn may entice them to see the movie and buy related merchandise."

The interest in seeing the Harry Potter movie among adults overall has nearly doubled since March (24% vs. 14%). NPD found that over three-quarters of the adults who are both Harry Potter readers and aware of the movie plan on seeing it. And, while the majority of adults plan to see the movie with kids (69%), almost one-third plan to see it without kids.

According to The NPD Harry Potter Prophet, 57% of children and teenagers and 47% of adults who have read Harry Potter plan to buy Harry Potter-related products. Children who want to purchase the products named about six different items they are interested in, while adults named three they intended to buy. Among adults who intend to buy Harry Potter products, 32% say they are buying some of them for themselves.