Global sales of licensed merchandise and services reached a groundbreaking $356.5 billion in 2023, a 4.6% increase compared to 2022.

NEW YORK — Licensing International, the leading trade association for the $356+ billion global brand licensing industry, has released an executive summary of its 2024 Global Licensing Industry Study. The study shows the continued worldwide sales growth of licensed products and services across categories including fashion, entertainment, music, location-based entertainment, sports, and more.

This year’s Global Licensing Industry Study will be published later this summer and was conducted by third-party research firm Brandar Consulting, LLC.

“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,” said Maura Regan, President of Licensing International. “In fact, the global brand licensing industry once again performed better than the overall worldwide retail market, proving brands are a difference-maker.”

The 2024 Global Study results are derived from multiple sources of market information as well as data reports from 45 countries and all seven major geographic regions. In all, the study’s analysis includes specific licensing data from 899 companies spanning the globe.

Key takeaways from the 2024 Global Licensing Industry Study include:

• The Entertainment/Characters segment grew 6.9% to reach $147.6 billion in revenue. In this segment, Anime, Video Games, and Social Media accounted for 38% of the licensed revenues in 2023. 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 in 2023 included Music (+16.4%), Fashion (+7.5%), and Sports (+5.6%).
• Top performing licensed product/service categories included Music/Video (+16.3%), Location-Based Entertainment/Themed Attractions (+13.5%) and Video Games (+11.0%).
• The biggest decline in a product category was in the licensed Toy segment, which saw revenue fall -3.5% in 2023. It was clear that beloved brands inspired purchases, however, as the Toys/Games market overall actually declined -4.5%
  
• The eCommerce retail channel for the licensing industry expanded again in 2023 to reach a 37% share of global licensing sales.
• Several regions reported above market average growth rates in 2023, including North Asia (+9.3%), ME/Africa (+7.5%), South Asia/PAC (+7.4%), and Eastern Europe (+7.1%).

Further results from Licensing International’s 2024 Global Licensing Industry Study will be published in the complete report, including regional and country-by-country breakdowns for major markets. The full Global Study will be made available for free to Licensing International members (and publicly for purchase) later this summer.

About Licensing International
Licensing International is the leading trade organization for the $356+ billion global licensing industry. Licensing International’s mission is to foster the growth and expansion of licensing around the world, raise the level of professionalism for licensing practitioners, and create greater awareness of the benefits of licensing to the business community at large. Founded in 1985, Licensing International members in over 40 countries enjoy access to an array of benefits, including extensive educational programming and worldwide networking events. Visit LicensingInternational.org for more information and to utilize licensing’s definitive online resource.

About Brandar Consulting, LLC
Brandar Consulting, LLC is committed to providing companies subject matter expertise in the areas of Brand Licensing, Market Research, Market Analysis, Brand Extension and Business Strategy. The firm specializes in helping organizations start or proactively expand Brand/Trademark Licensing Programs. The key components in its suite of services are conducting brand equity & category extension research, in-licensing brand identification research, product market analysis, modeling brand royalty potential, and conducting factor analysis to set priorities for Licensing Plans. Visit www.brandar.com for more information.

Media Contact
Licensing International
Elizabeth Foster
EFoster@licensing.org