By Mark Seavy 

While the characters/entertainment segment continues to dominate the licensing market in Germany, new digital platforms and evolving consumer behaviors are demanding continued expansion across a number of categories.  

This widening of IP demand comes  despite the characters/entertainment segment accounting for about half of licensed retail sales in Germany. In fact, new data from Licensing International’s Global Licensing Industry Study shows that sales of licensed merchandise and services in the region grew 5.3% in 2025 to reach $14.64 billion.   

But among the most mentioned brands in Germany in 2024, 75% were in the Top 100 globally, down from 83% in 2023, signaling that consumer awareness in the region is spreading across a larger pool of brands and creating a more competitive landscape, according to Philippe Guinaudeau, CEO of BrandTrends Group. The impact of that broader landscape can be found in Marvel, which was mentioned by 16.2% of those surveyed (down from 18.8% a year earlier), and Disney, which was mentioned by 12.3% of those surveyed (down from 13.4%), according to BrandTrends.   

“This new environment rewards speed, cultural agility, and relevance over legacy alone,” Guinaudeau said. “Success is no longer about being the biggest brand. It is about being the most relevant to the right audience at the right time. Different age groups now engage with different brand universes, often with limited overlap. Children, teenagers, young adults, parents, and older consumers each follow distinct cultural pathways.”  

Many changes are being driven by social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and others that have helped raise awareness for gaming and anime properties as well as digital creator IPs.  

For example, Asmodee’s boardgame Settlers of Catan, created by Germany’s Klaus Teuber, has sold tens of millions of copies since it was released in 1996 and spawned a number of expansions. Last fall, Netflix secured exclusive content rights for the game. Game studio Hans im Glück, meanwhile, has made its tile-based game Carcassonne a staple of tabletop gaming under a licensing agreement with Asmodee. 

The German videogames industry, which is largely led by small- and medium-size developers, also received a boost in 2024 when the Minister of State Culture and the Media launched the $37-million Press Start: Games Founding Grant. The program is designed to provide targeted support to videogame developers over a year and a half. Gamescom 2026 is scheduled for a four-day run in Cologne, Germany in August, following the BRANDmania event that took place in Essen, Germany in June and focused on the brand licensing industry. 

“Digital platforms play a critical role in the evolution [of IP demand],” Guinaudeau said. “They build brand awareness without traditional mass media scale. This dynamic accelerates fragmentation and reshapes consumer licensing trends in Germany. The German licensing market is no longer about winning one dominant cultural moment. It is about winning relevance across many fragmented audiences.”  

In building that brand awareness across even more categories, the licensing industry in Germany is also competing against a growing private label business among retailers. 

Private label products represented about 36% of total grocery retail sales in 2024, making Germany one of the largest markets for the category in Europe, just slightly behind the U.K. and the Netherlands. The private label grocery business in Germany is driven by Aldi (4,269 stores in Germany), Lidl (3,200), Rewe (3,800), and Edeka (10,800), which dominate the category. Aldi and Lidl each generate 80% of sales with private labels. 

Overall, German retail net revenue reached $929 billion in 2024 across supermarkets, discount, department, and self-service in addition to eCommerce, according to Statista. The overall eCommerce market value in the region hit $100 billion in 2024. 

“The future of retail in Germany is shaped by several converging forces,” Statista reported. “Buyer hesitation topped the list of retailer concerns in 2025, alongside price pressures and energy costs. Supply shortages and elevated inflation levels following the Russia-Ukraine war also continue to affect the sector, even as rates have moderated.”