In the last six months, we began asking Licensing Source Book listees two additional questions: How much licensed retail sales of licensed merchandise is your company responsible for? And, how many employees at your company are involved at least part-time in licensing? We break down the findings below.
Almost 5% of over 11,000 total listees answered at least one of these questions. We counted responses from every property type and product category we track, although not enough, in some cases, to report statistically significant trends between narrower categories. Approximately 75% of are based in the U.S., and 25% elsewhere. Respondents had the option to confidentially report either or both of these figures, which will be made available in the Licensing Source Book later this year. We may release these figures in different metrics than reported below.
It’s a Small World After All
Surprisingly, there are many smaller players reporting under $500,000 in annual licensed retail sales worldwide—just under 18% of respondents. Over three-forth are either licensors or agents. Eighty-five percent count less than 3 employees (a majority of those are one-person operations). They own, represent, or license an average of 6.3 and a median of 2.5 properties. While this cohort is broadly represented, it is more likely that members are licensors who work with art, character, or publishing brands.
Just over 20% of listees reported generating anywhere from $500,000 to $3 million in licensed retail sales. Licensees were more likely to fall into this category than any other at over 40% of respondents within this cohort—agents and licensors were equally split. This group owns, represents, or licenses an average of 7 and a median of 4 properties. While it’s usually a poor indicator of success, it is true that companies reporting higher retail sales tend to manage more properties—it is the lucky outlier that can generate even $1 million in licensed retail sales with only one license.
As expected, roughly 60% of respondent-companies generated over $3 million in licensed retail sales annually. Roughly one-third of each company type (licensor, licensee, and agent) fall into this group, with just 2% of responses from other executives in consulting, retail, and other services. This group owns, represents, or licenses an average of 13.8 and a median of 8 properties.
But of the $3 million+ group, over 90% had under $10 million in retail sales. Just over 1% of companies in licensing industry at large are responsible for at least $250 million in licensed retail sales a year.
Note that the figures may be slightly skewed, because we did not ask for specific retail sales figures above $3 million—all of those figures are purely self-reported. A survey of those companies that reported simply “over $3 million” in licensed retail sales, however, showed that the majority are relatively smaller firms with sales under $50 million.
A more conservative adjustment would pin the number of companies worldwide generating under $10 million in licensed retail sales at approximately 80%, and at the very least well over 65%, of all companies listed in the Source Book.
Slightly over 70% of companies count under 10 employees who are tasked with licensing-related tasks at least part-time. Roughly 35% of all companies have 1–3 or 4–9 such people on staff. Just 30% have over 10 licensing-related employees.
These numbers line up with the most recent results of the Licensing Compensation Report, which counts only full-time employees directly involved in licensing. In 2016, over 60% of companies boasted 1–5 employees, 21% had 6–20 heads, and just 10% of respondents reported 101 or more.
TLL’s Salary Survey is now open and we’re collecting compensation data for 2017 right here—take 15 minutes and get a free $5 Amazon gift card for the trouble. All results are confidential and only reported in aggregate.