License revenue, like everything else, takes the plunge
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Today’s bad news comes courtesy of the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers Assn. (or LIMA for short -- we’re stumped as to why it’s not called ILIMA ). As you might have guessed, it tracks licensing dollars for consumer products and most of that business is made up of movies, TV, music and sports.
In its annual North American survey, LIMA found that the movie and television industry took in $2.6 billion in royalty revenue in 2009, a 4% drop from 2008, which was up only 1.1% from 2007. In other words, this is a trend as opposed an anomaly.
Sports, which includes leagues and individual players, took an even bigger hit, falling 9.2% to $740 million while music lost 6.4% in royalty revenue to $117 million.
So where was licensing revenue was up? The collegiate category, which grew 3.5% to $208 million. Go Bobcats! (I went to NYU).
Here’s the stats:
Estimated Licensing Revenue (in millions of dollars)
2008 2007 Change
Art $154 $175 (12.0%)
Characters (Entertainment/TV/Movie) $2,605 $2,710 (3.9%)
Collegiate $208 $201 3.5%
Fashion $775 $810 (4.3%)
Music $117 $125 (6.4%)
Non-Profit (Museums, etc.) $39 $43 (9.3%)
Sports (Leagues, Individuals) $740 $815 (9.2%)
Trademarks/Brands $975 $1,160 (8.0%)
Publishing $37 $41 (9.8%)
Other $6 $9 (33.0%)
For the full report, click here.
-- Joe Flint
