The Toy Industry Association’s (TIA) 114th North American International Toy Fair brought 31,133 members of the toy industry to New York City last week to preview hundreds of thousands of games coming out this year. The largest toy marketplace held in the Western Hemisphere, Toy Fair 2017 boasted a record-breaking 444,309 net square feet of exhibit space—the equivalent of nearly eight football fields filled with toys. The show was held from Feb. 18 to 21 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
14,176 retailers, wholesalers, entertainment executives, importers, buying groups, and trade guests from 96 countries were in attendance. The show drew notable increases in attendees from outside the U.S., including international buyers (+10.9 percent year-over-year) and trade guests (+33.1 percent), as well as foreign press (+17.2 percent). The top five countries represented at the show, not including the U.S. and Canada, were China, the UK, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Japan.
Toy Fair had 1,131 toy companies showcase new product lines and key drivers for holiday in front of 10,276 (+2.4 percent) mass and specialty buyers, including delegations from 4,000 unique retail outlets and 22 of the nation’s top 25 toy sellers, such as Amazon.com, American Girl, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Costco, CVS, Disney Store, Target, Toys “R” Us, and Walmart. Buyer attendance from brick-and-mortar outlets grew 9.2 percent.
Licensing executives from Amazon Studios, Cartoon Network, Disney Consumer Products, HBO, Lionsgate Entertainment, Marvel, Nickelodeon, Nintendo, Sesame Workshop, SONY Pictures, Warner Bros. Consumer Products, and others were also on-site to scout new trends and forge licensing agreements with toymakers.
Toy Fair 2017 also welcomed 1,016 global print journalists, broadcast reporters, and bloggers to report on the top toy trends for 2017.
The 115th North American International Toy Fair, will take place from Feb. 17 to Feb. 20 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. TIA’s fall marketplace, Fall Toy Preview, will take place Oct. 3 to 5 in Dallas.
