New York, NY, June 8, 2015 – LIMA announces the results of its first-ever LIMA Annual Global Licensing Study, quantifying worldwide royalty rates and accompanying retail sales. According to the report, retail sales of products bearing the trademarked names and likenesses of cartoon characters, corporate logos and brands, major sports teams and more totaled an estimated $13.4 billion in royalty revenues and $241.5 billion in retail sales in 2014. LIMA, the leading authority for the global multibillion dollar licensing and branding industry, commissioned Brandar Consulting, LLC to conduct the survey.

“Licensing is a major marketing and retail force around the globe and our first-ever global survey clearly attests to its power and reach all over the world,” said LIMA President Charles Riotto. “With this comprehensive report, we are able to provide LIMA members with the data they need to more effectively grow their brands and their businesses.”

U.S./Canada was by far the most dominant region with more than $144 billion in retail sales, nearly 60% of the worldwide total. Europe, with more than $57 billion in retail sales, accounted for just under one-fourth of the total global market while Asia, with its huge and growing population, accounted for nearly 10% of total retail sales in this inaugural survey.

By category, the licensing industry continues to be dominated by five major sectors: Character & Entertainment, Corporate Trademarks, Sports, Fashion, and Collegiate. Together, they represented 89% of all licensing revenues in 2014. Character & Entertainment, by far the most dominant category with more than $107 billion, accounting for 44% in retail sales, was more than double the next highest category, Corporate Trademark ($53 billion, 22%). Fashion, with $29 billion in estimated retail sales or 12% of the total, was third, followed by Sports ($26 billion, 11%), Publishing ($12 billion), Collegiate ($4.6 billion), Celebrity ($3.3 billion), and Music ($2.3 billion).

About the Study
In early 2015, LIMA contracted with Brandar Consulting to complete the challenging task of accurately sizing the global licensing market. The resulting analysis is a bottom-up model that sizes the worldwide licensing industry by property type and product category. The results are a compilation of market research survey data, which was fielded in April 2015, and publicly available industry data. A total of 325 companies responded to the survey: 110 licensors, 125 licensees and 90 agents/consultants. The survey was fielded online in six different languages and supplemented with in-language phone interviews that resulted in reported revenues for 24 countries representing all major geographic regions. In all, the analysis includes specific data from 490 companies spanning the globe.

The full LIMA Annual Global Licensing Study, including regional and country-by-country breakdowns for major markets will be made available later this summer. The survey is free of charge to LIMA members and priced at $750 for non-members. For information on ordering the survey, please click here.

About LIMA
LIMA – the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association – is the leading trade organization for the global licensing industry. LIMA’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, LIMA maintains offices in New York, London, Munich, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Melbourne, with representatives in India, Italy, Korea, Spain, Turkey and the Middle East.  Members in over 35 countries enjoy access to an array of benefits, including LIMANET – licensing’s interactive, global directory – extensive educational programming, and worldwide networking events.  LIMA is the exclusive sponsor of Licensing Expo, the industry’s largest trade event, in addition to shows in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Visit www.licensing.org for more information and to utilize licensing’s definitive online resource.

About Brandar Consulting Brandar Consulting, LLC is an 8-year old firm committed to providing companies subject matter expertise in the areas 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. The firm’s principals, Mike Slusar and Randy Malone, share a combined 32 years of experience in the brand licensing industry.  Brandar prides itself in providing senior management with the knowledge and processes needed to integrate marketing data and research into everyday licensing business decisions.  www.brandar.com

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