During last week’s Licensing Show, the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA) announced the results of its Licensing Industry Survey. The royalty survey is USA based but a key indictor to overall trends as the US market equates to approximately 60% of the world’s licensing industry. The report shows that brand owners collected nearly $5.2 billion in licensing royalty revenue in North America in 2009, down 8.7 percent from the year before. This marks the second year of decline. Overall royalty revenues declined 5.6 percent in 2008 after steadily rising each year since LIMA began collecting data.
LIMA’s numbers are derived from results of its annual survey of companies directly involved in the licensing business, examination of public financial documents, and interviews with licensing industry executives, with the goal of providing reliable data to help licensing professionals identify trends and growth opportunities.
“These results are not surprising as consumers continued to limit their spending on nonessential products for most of 2009,” says Charles Riotto, president of LIMA. “Looking ahead, however, as the economy continues to improve and retailers’ inventories come back into balance, I am optimistic that we are poised for improvement as we see our members exploring new and different opportunities and partnerships to ensure future growth.”
Nearly half (46 percent) of licensing industry royalty revenues are generated in the character segment, which includes characters from all portions of the entertainment business. This segment declined 7.9 percent in 2009. Other major segments of the licensing industry include corporate trademarks/brands, accounting for 17 percent of the business; fashion, which makes up 14 percent; and sports, which comprises 13 percent.