Global brand licensing business at a new record high of 356.5 billion US dollars
Global sales of licensed goods and services reached a new high in 2023: at a total of 356.5 billion US dollars, global sales last year were 4.6% higher than in the previous year. This is according to the latest Global Licensing Industry Study, published for the ninth time by Licensing International - the leading global trade association for the brand licensing industry - and the market research company Brandar Consulting.
Strong global sales growth
The study confirms the continued strong global sales growth of licensed products and services despite economic challenges caused by inflationary pressure, increased raw material and manufacturing costs and higher end product prices. The biggest sales drivers were the character/entertainment, fashion, music and sports sectors. This means that those sectors in particular, which were slowed down in previous years due to the pandemic, were able to grow significantly in 2023.
Licensed toys record biggest decline
The largest decline in a product category was recorded in the licensed toys segment, where sales fell by 3.5% in 2023. However, the decline is still below that of the overall toy market, which saw global sales fall by 4.5% in 2023. In terms of sales by region, North Asia (+9.3%), Middle East/Africa (+7.5%), South Asia/Pacific (+7.4%) and Eastern Europe (+7.1%) in particular recorded above-average growth rates. With total sales of USD 65.5 billion, Western Europe is still the second-largest licensing region in the world after the USA/Canada, but was only able to demonstrate sales growth of 4.2% in 2023, thus falling to 18.4% of the global market.
The complete Global Licensing Industry Study is available for download. Members of Licensing International can access the study free of charge.
To the Global Licensing Industry Study: https://licensinginternational.org/get-survey/