China - growing licensing business

By Alice Yang Licensing Team China Toy & Juvenile Products Association Tel: +86-10-66038881 WeChat: chinalicensing alice_yang@tjpa-china.org www.tjpa-china.org www.chinalicensing.org Cartoon & Animation 25% Art & Culture (inc Museums) 17% Fashion, Trend & Lifestyle 14% Moves & TV Programs 13% Video Games 7% Corporate Brand/Trade Name 6% Images & Stickers 6% Video & Publishing 4% Sports 3% Network Literature 3% Collegiate & Celebrities 1%

The 14th edition of the China Licensing Expo (CLE) was held from October 21st to 23rd, 2020 in Shanghai, China. China Licensing Expo continues to be the largest and most effective licensing event in Asia despite the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic this year. After 14 years of development, China Licensing Expo is widely recognized as the most effective channel in order to understand the Chinese licensing market, promote brands, and expand licensing businesses in China and Asia. For over a decade, the China Licensing

Property Categories of Exhibitors at CLE 2020

Expo has witnessed the development of the licensing industry in China. CLE 2020 presented over 1,800 brands, covering every aspect of property category, including entertainment and characters, fashion, art, lifestyle, museum, sports, and NGO. According to the organisers, the China Toy & Juvenile Product Association, professional attendees at CLE 2020 numbered 69,433, showing a slight growth over previous years despite the impact of COVID-19. The most popular industry categories of the visitors were toys/non-video games, apparel/accessories, product design/ marketing, and infant & kid’s products. China Licensing Expo 2020 was held concurrently with the China Toy Expo, China Kids Expo and China Preschool Expo. And this year, more and more records were broken at CLE. Many new things happened at this expo that are worth highlighting.

International properties giants China now is one of the fastest growing licensing markets in the world, and more and more international companies recognize the potential of the Chinese licensing market. International property giants choose the China Licensing Expo exclusively as their first choice option when exploring licensing business in China. CLE 2020 hosted new international exhibitors, such as Universal, Legendary Pictures, and TOEI Animation, meanwhile many famous international properties licensors including Mattel, Hasbro, Discovery, Blizzard, EA, and Ubisoft have been regular exhibitors for years. Also, top global licensing agents like Licensing Matters participated in the show too, bringing more fresh and diversified properties into the Chinese market. Meanwhile, the dynamic international pavilions, including the European Pavilion organised by Total Licensing and the Japan Pavilion organised by CBLA, brought more fresh properties to the market, and expanded a wider category at the expo. Top and emerging domestic properties As the licensing market in China grows, more and more Chinese companies realize the importance of brand licensing and they have already started to explore opportunities in the business. China Licensing Expo serves as the most professional platform for domestic properties, from wellrecognized properties to emerging ones. In 2020, the tier-one Chinese domestic brands including Tencent, Ali Group, Alpha, Wanda, NetEase, iQIYI all joined the show, and more popular and young properties from social media also took part in the exhibition, such as China Aerospace, Yijianyuzhou, Popmart and 52Toys. Art and museum properties Alongside the regular tradition of entertainment and characters, CLE covers every property category, and the art and museum properties were in the spotlight last year. The 14th edition of the China Licensing Expo hosted a special museum section at the show, and more museums have participated independently from home and abroad, including Forbidden City, Shaanxi History Museum, the British Museum and the V&A Museum. Art licensors grew too. Exhibitors like Tokidoki and Fuyun Art joined the show last year. Museums and artists create beautiful merchandise, which is well received by the market. Art licensing is becoming trendy and fashionable in China, and more high-end consumers prefer to choose those products to identify with their lifestyle. China Licensing Week activities More activities than ever were held during the Expo comprising the China Licensing Week. The twelfth session of the China Licensing Summit further discussed the new media era and its influence on the Chinese licensing industry. At the Summit, speakers from Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Nice Boat Animation, Shanghai Animation Film Studio, and Jahwa, shared their observations and experiences in this dynamic industry with audience. The China Tourism Licensing Forum focused on the topic of licensing in tourism and the China Licensing Professional Academy provided one whole day training for licensors, licensees, and retailers, to educate the market. The first session of the CLE Fashion Show was also held during the Week. Over two days, the CLE Fashion Show displayed licensed products in the fashion world, including apparel, accessories, bags and luggage, sporting goods, and toys. Licensees from Universal, Hasbro, Mattel and other companies joined the fashion show, and attracted an audience of over 400 people. Over 1000 projects applied for the China Licensing Star Awards in 2020, including licensors, properties, licensees, licensed products, licensees, and retailers. At the CLE Night, 21 Awards were presented in the names of Most Commercially Valuable IPs, Most Popular IPs, Rising Star IPs, Best Licensees, Best Retailers, Best Licensed Products and more. Besides the activities hosted by the organizers, more than 30 on-site licensing seminars were organized during the China Licensing Expo by exhibiting companies. Live video streaming was introduced at the show for the first time too. The activities of China Licensing Training Program, China Licensing Alumni, the Museum Art Cafe Lounge, the Football Fans Club, the Character Parade and IP365X Matchmaking… made the Week more diversified and dynamic.

Toys/Non-Video Games 22% Apparel/Accessories 13% Product Design/Advertising 11% Infant & Kids Products 8% Others 7% Stationery/School/Office 6% Food/Beverage 6% LBE/Theme Space 5% Gifts/Collectibles 4% Media/Internet 4% Consumer Electronics 4% Publishing/Music/Video 3% Home Decor/Housewares 3% Software/Video Games/App 3% Health/Beauty 2% Sporting Goods 1%