Interest in trading card collecting — which, like many hobbies, was rejuvenated during the pandemic lockdowns — is still going strong, with consumer sales of cards on both the primary and secondary markets on the rise. As a result, sports and entertainment properties continue to actively forge agreements in the category. Following are some of […]
Tag Archives | Spin Master
Long, But Not Forever
Over the holidays, the news came out that Paramount Consumer Products and its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are parting ways with licensee Playmates when their current agreement expires at the end of 2026, closing the latter’s 38-year run as the property’s master toy partner. The end of the relationship is significant not only for the […]
Toys, Tariffs, and Turbulence
As many of the Trump Administration-dictated tariffs are set to go into effect later this week, it seems like a good time to take a macro-level look at what’s happening in the toy industry, realizing that this is a snapshot in time and that the landscape continues to evolve daily. The toy segment is one […]
Building a Foundation in Construction Toys
Building kits, led by Lego, have been one of the bright spots in the toy industry over the past several years. In the U.S., construction toy sales were up 16% in 2024 compared to 2023, according to Circana figures, representing a significantly higher rate of growth than any other supercategory tracked. The same was true […]
Games of Skill and Chance
At Toy Fair New York this week, there are many reminders of how licensed properties have long proven to be a good fit with board and other tabletop games for all ages. While not every licensed game will be a success, licensing is assuming an expanded role in several current trends in the board and […]
YouTube Drives Toy Sales for All Ages
New licenses signed by major toy companies over the past year illustrate how far the entertainment/character licensing space has transitioned away from its historical reliance on properties with television as a key component of their distribution platform. This is one of the most mainstream of mainstream categories, historically targeting a global market with mass-priced products […]
Toy Trend Takeaways from Q2
By Karen Raugust on August 12, 2024 in Business models, Character/Entertainment, Licensing, Toys/Games
Second quarter financial results, released in July and August, of five of the major publicly traded toy and collectibles companies—Mattel, Hasbro, Spin Master, Jakks Pacific, and Funko—all showed declines (of varying degrees) in topline revenues and net sales during the period, compared to the same timeframe in 2023. The lone exception was Funko, which saw […]
Strange Bedfellows No More
Toy companies are increasingly working with their direct competitors to refresh, extend, or strengthen their own brands. This would have been almost inconceivable in the past and shows how much the toy industry has changed over the past decade or more as players in this sector face numerous challenges: competition from video games, social media, […]
Big-Name Content Creators Eye Toy Industry
The phenomenon of influencers expanding their brands into the toy industry in a big way goes back to the mid-2010s. There has been a burst of activity lately, with a range of personalities, including some very big names, jumping into the space: In January 2024, Moose Toys announced a new relationship with MrBeast (a.k.a. Jimmy […]
Educational Properties with a Human Touch
By Karen Raugust on January 18, 2024 in Celebrity, Character/Entertainment, Educational products, Licensing
Several educational brands based on individual people or personas have recently signed licensing deals for products that help children learn at home or in school. Some of the properties are based on real people, some are characters created and performed by real people, and some are wholly fictional, educator-created brands. But all have positionings that […]