New data from market research firm The NPD Group shows that licensed products aimed at kids ages 14 and under accounted for a quarter—or US$17 billion—of total US unit sales in Q4 2017.
PAW Patrol (pictured) was the top license across all ages and categories in the quarter, followed by Disney Frozen, Mickey Mouse, NFL and Star Wars. Spanning all categories, Clothing took home the largest share of licensed product sales, followed by Toys, Games & Puzzles, Party Supplies or Costumes, and Books.
NPD’s data also found that kids ages three to five led the way for licensed sales based on units sold (30%). The majority of sales for this age group were in Toys, Games & Puzzles, Arts & Crafts and Health & Beauty, with the PAW Patrol brand capturing the largest share of sales among this preschool set.
The second-largest group was kids ages six to eight (23%) with Fashion Accessories, Apps/In-App Purchases and School Supplies leading the way for categories. The property with the most brand power for this demo was Star Wars.
The data comes from the market research firm’s newly launched US Kids License Tracker, which analyzes sales of licensed products aimed at children in 17 categories. The data provided by the service includes purchase methods and occasions, pricing, items both purchased and requested, and the demographic profiles of both buyers and kids.
The NPD Group’s metrics for the US Kids License Tracker define a license as anything related to cartoons, games, movies or fictional characters, famous personalities or groups (band/celebrity) and sports teams.