Licensing International released an executive summary of this year’s Global Licensing Industry Study.
The study shows continued worldwide sales growth of licensed products and services across fashion, entertainment, music, location-based entertainment, sports, and other categories.
The research was conducted by a third-party research firm, Brandar Consulting. The results come from multiple sources of market information as well as data reports from 45 countries and all seven major geographic regions. The study’s analysis includes specific licensing data from nearly 900 companies spanning the globe.
Some key points from the study include:
- The Entertainment/Characters segment grew nearly 7% to reach $147.6 billion in revenue. In this segment, Anime, Video Games, and Social Media accounted for 38% of the licensed revenues last year. Recently launched titles, characters, or brands accounted for 22% of the entertainment segment while evergreen titles, characters, or brands accounted for 73%.
- Top performing property categories last year included Music (more than 16%), Location-Based Entertainment/Themed Attractions (13.5 %), and Sports (more than 5.5%).
- The biggest decline in a product category was in the licensed toy segment, which saw revenue fall 3.5% last year. Beloved brands inspired purchases, as the Toys and Games market overall declined 4.5% worldwide.
- The eCommerce retail channel for the licensing industry expanded again last year to reach a 37% share of global licensing sales.
- Several regions reported above market average growth rates last year, including North Asia (more than 9%), ME/Africa (7.5% percent), South Asia/PAC (more than 7%), and Eastern Europe (more than 7%).
The global brand licensing industry shows no signs of slowing down. In 2023, consumers proved they are more loyal than ever before to the brands, characters, and properties they love. In fact, the global brand licensing industry once again performed better than the overall worldwide retail market, proving brands are a difference-maker.
The full study will be published later this summer and made available to Licensing International members for free, and publicly for purchase. To stay up to date, visit licensinginternational.org.
