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Study Shows Global Retail Sales Of Licensed Products Up 4.4% Last Year; Sports Up 9.6%

Worldwide retail sales of licensed products last year increased 4.4% to $262.9B, according to a study commissioned by the Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association (LIMA) that was released today in conjunction with the trade association's annual expo in Las Vegas. The figure is the highest in the three-year history of the study. The report, prepared by Brandar Consulting, attributed much of the growth to entertainment, sports, publishing and celebrity-licensed properties. Royalty revenue from '16 licensed-product sales reached $14.1B, a 1.3% increase over $13.9B in '15. The average royalty rate rose from 8.2% to 8.5%. For the third straight year, entertainment- and character-licensed properties were the largest category measured, accounting for 45%, or $118.3B, in global retail sales. Corporate trademarks generated 20.8% ($54.6B), followed by fashion at 11.8% ($31.1B), sports at 9.6% ($25.3B), publishing at 6.2% ($15.7B) and collegiate licensing at 2% ($5B). Among product categories, apparel generated 14.9% of the global retail sales, while toys (13.3%) and fashion accessories (11.3%) continued to round out the top three in licensed-product sales. The U.S. and Canada continued to be the two biggest markets for licensed merchandise and services, with revenue accounting for 57.9% of the global total, up slightly from 57.7% last year. The Southeast Asia/PAC region was the fastest growing of all areas worldwide, with 6.8% year-on-year growth. The region now accounts for 3.4% of global licensing revenue. The sports category does not include collegiate licensing. Colleges accounted for $5.7B on their own. LIMA Senior VP/Industry Relations & Information Marty Brochstein said that nearly all the collegiate revenue measured in the study comes from a U.S. school, and that almost all of those sales are sports related.

CHICAGO HOPE: Although sport-specific data will not be available until this summer, Brochstein said that "108 years of pent-up demand" for a Cubs World Series win helped propel the sports category. He also cited the continued rise in e-commerce, saying that all the leagues have "gotten good at the hot market business,” making items like Cubs' World Series Champions apparel available to fans around the world just seconds after the game. This week’s conference at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center is expected to draw 20,000 attendees. Fanatics Chief Commercial Officer Cole Gahagan will kick off the week with a talk on “licensing in an on-demand economy.”

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