How much has Viacom/Nickelodeon made off of the TMNT so far?
 

I don't know enough about ancillary revenues from things like toys or video games and bedsheets and all that so I can't really fathom an educated guess beyond the movies' profits (net, not gross) or how much they are actually taking home from, say, an episode of the Nickelodeon TMNT cartoon that pulls 2 million viewers in ratings (less nowadays, it seems). I don't think they're making significant sums of money in license fees from IDW... probably a static yearly fee that's likely somewhere around $30,000 or so, maybe a % of raw sales but I suspect not (but maybe).

Point and question is, after Viacom/Nickelodeon purchased TMNT en masse from Peter Laird in 2009 to the tune of 63 million dollars... how much have they honestly made off of it beyond operating/distribution/labor fees? Raw profit (probably factoring in how much they've... lost from the latest film)? Any educated guesses?

Every single product from 2009 with the Turtles printed on it, some sort of sale goes to Nick. 2009-2016 is 7 years...so its been 7 years worth of this stuff

TMNT toothbrushes, bed sheets, t-shirts, watches, backpacks, toys, etc....Nick gets a profit from everything. They wouldn't be making all these licensing deals and keep them going if they didn't make some money off it. Also aside from the Playmates toys there are now all these collector statues from Sideshow, Neca and other companies. There were Lego TMNT and now Mega Block TMNT. There's the videogames with Activision.

Also I remember reading the CG animation in the cartoon is cheaper to produce once the character models are finished since they can just re-use them as well as the backgrounds. i.e. they don't have to keep designing the characters from scratch like a cartoon would besides when they introduce new characters.

Overall though, there's obviously no real way of knowing. None of us are business insiders, none of us work for Viacom/Nick, none of us are doing their taxes...so we can just make educated guesses.

Must be pretty good, 'cause they keep pumping stuff out without hesitation.

As long as the Nick cartoon gets at least 7 seasons and the IDW comics go on for at least 10 years (they're already 5 years in, surprisingly enough), then it doesn't matter how much or little they make.

Haha. :lol: [/thread]

Quick skim read through and stopped on page 21 may have answers. Not sure how to interpret it all. I am not a numbers person.

Playmates liquidity and financial resources. 2015. I guess you didn't ask about Playmates but they are partners with Viacom right, so share profits perhaps?

Link below.

http://www.irasia.com/listco/hk/play...erimreport.pdf

What I see there, matches what I've seen elsewhere; TMNT is one of the strongest boy's brands on the planet, I've seen in different places it's still in the top 5 boy's brands this year. I work in retail, and all of our TMNT stuff moves fast; figures, clothing, food items- if it's got turtles on it, it sells. To say it's slipped a bit is possible, but to say it's falling fast and will disappear is laughable. Even the movie stuff is selling decently.

Again, it has slowed a bit this year, though it did pick up traction again a little with the 'failed' movie. It might be pulled up by the upcoming season of the cartoon and the Usagi toy crossover, we'll just have to see.

Andrew, I know why you keep bringing this stuff up. I remember you telling Tokka last year at Comic Con that Viacom is a heartless corporation in your eyes. I didn't mention it then, but I get the feeling you're hoping to see Nickelodeon fail at owning the TMNT.

For some anecdotal evidence, I've been working at a campground the past few years. Lots of kids there, with their toys and branded shoes and beach towels and whatever else. Turtles are commonly one of these brands. Every time we do Halloween there is minimum one turtle costume, usually more.

Because Andrew has been secretly plotting to take over the reigns of the TMNT franchise himself for years now, and he needs to know who to bump off before he can take charge. One day I think Andrew might get his wish. He just has to keep trying and making the right connections.

I only stressed -- and he agreed wholeheartedly -- that the human heart from the center of TMNT has... well, not been removed... rather, self-removed. But the point remains. There is only suits and flowcharts and focus groups at the center of it now.

Kevin Eastman's heavily involved, Tom Waltz and Bobby Curnrow are doing an excellent job over at IDW, and Ciro and his team have been respectful and turned out a lot of good stories at Nick, and the movies are said to be all but dead anyway. I think the franchise is in good hands, at least for the moment. If they turn out a crappy product, we've seen with the recent flick people will vote with their wallets, and that'll be the end of said crappy product.

I was gonna make a similar response, but I like the way you said it.

I think the point is where does TMNT go after Nick/IDW era end.

It'll die just like all the other Nick/Viacom owned properties and they'll probably never sell it.

Would you have prefered if Peter Laird, let's say, offered a license deal with some automatic vetos rather than sell TMNT like he did?

That's a scary thought, but it's very plausable

Even if that's the case, by then we'll have nearly 40 years of TMNT history to revisit. So it won't be too bad.

Then far in the future there will be another inevitable reboot at some point.