Sports and animés drive toy licensing growth ahead of overall industry sales in Europe

Licensed toys continue to outperform the overall toy market in 2024, according to new data published today by Circana, a leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behaviour. Growing by 2.4%, licensed toy sales in Europe (EU5: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) bucked an industry decline of 3.1% during the first seven months of this year, thanks in part to the popularity of major sporting events this summer, including the UEFA Football Championships (Euro 2024).

Licenses now represent 28.8% of total toy sales in EU5 with licensing gaining share in every country. Top gaining licenses in Europe this year are UEFA National – European Cup, Lilo & Stitch and Mercedes Benz, showing the breadth of licenses embraced by the toy market.

With the big franchises, Star Wars, Marvel and Pokémon distributing more content on streaming platforms in addition to the cinema, entertainment is naturally fuelling toy licensing. But the toy industry has also seen recent incremental growth thanks to older consumers, with the big studios focusing on fans and particularly older fans. According to Circana’s State of the toys consumer: Teens & Adults report, Star Wars is unique in the industry, with over half of total sales among consumers aged 12+ years, while Pokémon is also growing its share among older fans.

That said, sport licenses, with 2.2% of overall toy sales in Europe, are the main growth driver (+34%) this year. Toys derived from animés represent an even larger share, with 5.8% of total toy sales and also contributing to growth, up 8% year-on-year. The rising popularity of animés in the European market – which are no longer a ‘niche category’ – has been facilitated by the likes of streaming giants, Netflix and Amazon, and dedicated animé platforms such as Crunchyroll.

“The UK really embraces both characters and licenses,” comments Melissa Symonds, UK Toys Director for Circana. “Football, of course, is particularly strong here and with England’s men making it through to the final of the Euros, sales of related merchandise did really well despite the team falling short against Spain. In a year with fewer blockbusters, the toy industry was able to successfully pivot from big screen names to small screen legends and sports heroes.”

Future trends

Major film releases will resume in the final quarter of this year with Wicked, Sonic and Moana set to provide much excitement on and off screen. The return of Jurassic World, Superman, James Cameron’s Avatar, Fantastic Four, Captain America, and Gabby’s Dollhouse, and live action movies, Minecraft and Stitch, will also provide plenty to look forward to in 2025.

Frédérique Tutt, Global Industry Advisor for Toys at Circana, adds: “Even if the box office drives the bulk of consumer product sales, licensing is more than just what’s on the big screen for the toy industry; it’s about collaborations with consumer brands, sports teams and motor vehicles, video games and music content, as well as shows from streaming platforms. It’s about building new franchises for new generations, but also nurturing fandom and nostalgia, particularly among older toy buyers. Most of the major franchises are fuelling this fandom among kids and adults who enjoy buying merchandise of their favourite characters. It’s a lucrative market with a healthy pipeline.”

Best-selling character-driven or licensed toys for selected categories, YTD July 2024, Sterling, UK:

Data is derived from Circana’s Toy Retail Tracking Service in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, Euro sales, Jan-July 2024