As with every previous edition, Licensing Magazine attended the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas.
We never miss this event. Our participation is always multifaceted: a dedicated magazine issue, an exhibition stand to connect with partners and followers, video interviews, and many activities across our social media channels. Like with other events, we prefer to read the market through direct conversations with industry professionals. We value dialogue with both exhibitors and visitors, rather than relying only on panels, presentations, and promotional activities, even though these kept us busy throughout the show.
Market Resilience
We could overlook it, but as a European publication, we must note the much lower presence of European operators than in past years. Fewer professionals from countries with complicated political ties to the United States attended. We do not have official figures, and this is not the place for political debate. Yet we cannot help but notice that, for the first time since we began attending, geopolitics had a tangible effect.
Does this mean fewer people on the floor, or that the event felt quieter? Quite the opposite. The licensing market is dynamic, adaptable, and consistently demonstrates a strong capacity for renewal. In fact, the show was intense, and we can confidently say that—more so than in recent editions, perhaps in part due to a revised visitors’ ticketing policy—the vast majority of attendees were highly motivated industry professionals, which made meetings exceptionally productive. Not a single exhibitor we spoke with reported a lighter schedule compared to last year. Additionally, a marked increase in attendance from Asian and South American operators contributed significantly to overall visitor figures, complemented by an impeccable matchmaking service.
Are Asian Brands Conquering the American Market?
Building on the theme of shifting global presences, it’s worth examining the remarkable emergence of Asian brands at the Expo. It may still be too early to draw definitive conclusions, but the presence in Las Vegas of Asian brands and toy companies — with a particularly significant increase in Chinese representation — was genuinely striking. Where once Chinese and Japanese exhibitors (with the exception of the consistently impressive Korean collective and the well-established Japanese giants already known in Western markets) occupied smaller stands on the periphery of the event, this year many were positioned prominently in the central aisles, on an equal footing with leading American and Western brands and agencies.
It is clear that these companies did not make such a significant appearance at Licensing Expo merely to scout for opportunities or bring Western IP into Asia — quite the contrary. For many of these businesses — from brand owners to consumer goods manufacturers, with a particular focus on toys — the time has come to step beyond their home region and establish a presence in Western markets, where a genuine “EastMeetWest” phenomenon is well underway. Following the global rise of J-Pop and K-Pop, we are now witnessing the emergence of C-Pop — a growing fascination with China-Pop culture — a trend already discussed at the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids this past April, and one that was unmistakably present in Las Vegas last week.
Asian brands have a distinctive ability to build direct and authentic connections with fans across multiple age groups. Asian markets tend to anticipate trends first embraced by younger generations and later adopted by adult audiences. Studying Asian brands is not about positioning oneself against them, but about understanding how they communicate, what types of content they produce, and how they capture consumer attention. On this point, it is worth noting the growing “Japanification” of Western IP as brands seek to align with it. A number of newly announced animated series presented at Las Vegas drew heavily on the anime aesthetic. This is not unprecedented, but this year it was particularly pronounced.
European Brands Making Inroads in the American and South American Markets
European companies such as Peyo Company, Smurfs, and Rainbow have a longstanding presence at Licensing Expo Las Vegas, but this edition proved especially rewarding for the European-origin brands they represent — properties that are not only cornerstones of the industry, but firmly embedded in collective cultural memory, and which are now recording remarkable growth in both the United States and South America. Joining these established names, Moomin is actively expanding its US footprint through original collaborations, while Skifidol Italian Brainrot by Officina Comunicazione made its Las Vegas debut.
The Reboot Enters a New Phase
This is no longer simply about releasing updated versions of established, legacy IP. At Las Vegas last week, we witnessed a new stage in this concept — one of particular relevance to those managing a portfolio of evergreen IP that nonetheless demands continuous fresh content to sustain and expand its fanbase.
The forthcoming Harry Potter television series, along with new content tied to the Scooby-Doo universe — both from Warner Bros. Discovery — are excellent illustrations of this evolution. These are not mere updates; they represent a genuine elevation of the IP, expanding its creative language and opening up new commercial opportunities. In this context, the “newstalgia” theme we explored in the summer issue of Licensing Magazine, and revisited at Bologna last April, shifts and evolves alongside the reboot itself. This is emphatically not about a lack of creativity — if anything, it is the opposite. It takes considerable creative talent to evolve an IP that appears to have been fully explored, yet still contains uncharted territory: rethinking its voice and tone, placing its characters in new contexts and design frameworks, refreshing and diversifying, and ultimately giving birth to an IP that is, in every meaningful sense, new — while remaining rooted in something audiences already love.
Las Vegas Goes Transmedia
This once-niche term — one that we at Licensing Magazine have been using for some time and around which we have even built a dedicated podcast (The Deep Media Pulse) — has now entered not only the common vocabulary of industry professionals, but also the core development strategies of the majority of IP presented at Las Vegas.
The understanding that a property can no longer survive through a single medium is now firmly established. More than that: IP owners who previously focused their licensing development efforts primarily around major industry events have come to recognise the importance of exploring new territories and markets, and of connecting the dots around a rich media ecosystem that enables content to reach new audiences, consumers, and fans. Game-originated IP, such as Minecraft, is expanding into entertainment, while print-based content such as Kodansha manga is finding a key promotional moment at events like the Annecy Animation Festival — with world-premiere television series launches of a kind never seen before. Meanwhile, brands such as Richard Scarry — rooted in books — are travelling into licensing, while other brands that have historically existed purely through visuals and branding are now generating content that allows them to live across multiple media touchpoints, fully aware that storytelling is central to speaking to today’s consumer. Chinese plush toy company BazuuYu is a good example: starting from distinctive plushes, the company has created a fully realised family of characters — each with their own backstory — built from the ground up.
What to Expect in the Months Ahead
Asian content is no longer a trend — it is a well-established, multi-layered phenomenon that spans generations, from children to adults. For licensees, identifying which IP to invest in next will be a far more complex exercise than in the past. Television is no longer the central asset, while streaming alone is insufficient: it generates momentum and short-lived hype but does not, on its own, establish a lasting connection with new audiences and consumers. Understanding audiences will no longer simply be a matter of hearing what a licensor has to offer; it will require a genuine know-how about the different target groups’ consumption of content, their habits, and their attitudes. Knowing what emotional learning is, understanding how to build an authentic relationship with your target audience, and becoming familiar with C-Pop culture or the current content vernacular — these are no longer optional considerations, but essential ones.
All of this was abundantly clear in Las Vegas. We look forward to reconnecting with the international licensing industry at Brand Licensing Europe in London to see how this market continues to evolve. In the meantime, we will be stopping in Germany for BrandMania — the unmissable licensing event for accessing the German market — and then on to Paris for France Licensing Day, the dedicated licensing networking day for the French market. We will also be covering animation at the Annecy Animation Festival and Market (MIFA) and children’s and youth content at the Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield. More in-depth coverage to follow soon.
