Nickelodeon's Acquisiton of TMNT pays off: $475M sales in its first year

[pannoni1]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...uts-475-649396

At a brand licensing show, executives laud the global first-year retail sales for the reinvigorated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the continued strength of SpongeBob SquarePants.
LONDON – Nickelodeon's successful 2012 reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, along with a new line of consumer products, were in the spotlight here during a keynote event at the Brand Licensing Europe expo.

This week, Nickelodeon executives were all smiles when discussing the first year of merchandise sales for the rejuvenated franchise on the sidelines of the same event.

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Nickelodeon parent, Viacom, acquired the franchise in October 2009 for $60 million and launched a new animated show on the kids network last fall. Since then, Turtles consumer products have brought in more than $475 million in global retail sales, according to the company. That includes about $250 million from the U.S., with the rest coming from international markets.

Content companies typically get a license fee from firms that want to use their characters for toys, clothing, housewares and the like along with a revenue cut.

According to licensing industry experts, the first-year Turtles consumer products haul handily exceeded the property's annual retail sales in the years before Nickelodeon acquired and reinvigorated it.

"The show is really funny and good," explained Pam Kaufman, chief marketing officer and president, consumer products at Nickelodeon. "And the property is all about humor and friendship, which is part of our core DNA. So the show does well, which translates into success in the boys' aisle" in retail stores.

"From day one, we reached out to Turtles fans," added Ron Johnson, who earlier this year was promoted to the role of executive vp of Nickelodeon and Viacom consumer products at Viacom International Media Networks. While the company refreshed the Turtles franchise to modernize it, "we also made it consistent with the past because we didn't want to alienate old fans," he added. "We really engaged the superfans and super-served all the relevant people."

The TMNT franchise revolves around Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello, four mutant turtles who are trained by mutant rat sensei Master Splinter and live in the sewers of New York City. The characters were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in 1984 as a parody comic book that became a hit and a global franchise.

The Nickelodeon executives touted the strong sales of Turtles action figures. Kaufman said they make up about 15 percent of toy figure sales in the U.S. "Nothing's bigger," Kaufman told THR. "We are beating Iron Man, Batman, WWE."

The Turtles are also the top action figure product in such countries as the U.K., France, Italy and Australia, according to the firm.

Johnson highlighted that the line of figures offers a breadth of characters. More than 65 Turtles action figures will be launched by the end of 2015, with all first being introduced in the TV show, something other franchises don't always do, he said.

Asked about the outlook for and the possible longevity of the franchise, Johnson said Nickelodeon is taking a measured approach. "We want it to be profitable for us, our partners and retailers," he said. "We would rather see it be healthy for 25 years than milk it as much as possible short-term."

Kaufman said one advantage of the Turtles is also that due to the team spirit of the characters, the property sees every licensee carry product with all four characters. And no character outsells the others at retail, she added. "The Turtles are like a boy band. They can't be separated."

A live-action Michael Bay movie featuring the Turtles is set for 2014. At the licensing expo here, Nickelodeon showed an early clip without CGI effects that drew much applause and praise from merchandise and retail industry attendees.

Great to see the franchise is as healthy as it ever was and that there is lots expected through 2015, when Season 3 ends. 2014 could gross close to a billion if the movie is a hit.

[kelligrafie]

I don't know how instrumental these executives are in the actual decision making to do with the show but it did read like they're taking a bit too much credit for the genius of the writers and everyone who physically works on it.

Still, if it's raking in the cash, they're a lot more likely to let Ciro and everyone off the leash a little bit and let them go ahead with the 'wilder' ideas that they have for seasons 2 and 3.

[Zulithe]

More seasons confirmed.

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by kelligrafie

I don't know how instrumental these executives are in the actual decision making to do with the show but it did read like they're taking a bit too much credit for the genius of the writers and everyone who physically works on it.

Still, if it's raking in the cash, they're a lot more likely to let Ciro and everyone off the leash a little bit and let them go ahead with the 'wilder' ideas that they have for seasons 2 and 3.

While the Nick series still has yet to impress me though (but it doesn't matter, because the show isn't designed for me, being an adult now ), Nickelodeon better be paying Ciro, the writers, and the staff more if this show is just that profitable then (in beating Iron Man, Batman, and the WWE) because the success is primarily due to them.

As optimistic as this article is, it seems more of an advertisement "earnings report" for investors from the Nick executives, so the source of the information is somewhat biased though. I wonder if its truly as successful as they hoped for, since the show incorporated so many OT elements, and did Nick wish to replicate the whole TurtleMania craze back in the late 80s to early 90s? (I mean lets face it, that's probably the primary reason why Nick wanted to acquire TMNT.) So it begs the question then, how much pressure are the Nick executives placing on Ciro and the writing staff? The reason I bring this up is because this part of the article seems a bit suspicious:

Asked about the outlook for and the possible longevity of the franchise, Johnson said Nickelodeon is taking a measured approach. "We want it to be profitable for us, our partners and retailers," he said. "We would rather see it be healthy for 25 years than milk it as much as possible short-term."

I mean toy fads have periods for about 5 years on average (TMNT, Pokemon, etc.), and of course most kids were initially clueless about TMNT before 2012, so naturally this Nick series all feels "new" to them, but anyways, I'm curious exactly how they want to see TMNT "be healthy for 25 years". I mean what exactly is their business approach in doing that? Reinvent the series every 10 years or so for every subsequent generation?

[blindturtle02]

Originally Posted by Zulithe

More seasons confirmed.

Awesome news. I hope we get at least 5 seasons. This show has the potential to boast as many episodes as the 87 series.

[oldmanwinters]

I can't believe they only had to pay $60 million for the brand. Seemed like a steal to me at the time, but I guess the franchise had reached an apparent dead end in 2009.

[pingclang]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I can't believe they only had to pay $60 million for the brand. Seemed like a steal to me at the time, but I guess the franchise had reached an apparent dead end in 2009.

That's an enormous turn-over. Wow. Nick really made the right decision.

[kelligrafie]

Originally Posted by Zulithe

More seasons confirmed.

I think Ciro said in an interview that he was hoping for around five seasons.

That sounds about right. Much as I love the series to pieces I don't want it to fizzle out or become boring. Of course as long as the ideas keep pouring in there's no limit to how long they can go on for but it depends on their main source of audience, kids.

Can the show maintain their interest for so long?
Can it attract new kids that come along or will the turtles eventually get overshadowed by a brand new show?

And if they do get five seasons, by that point, the turtles would be hitting their 20s so they'd no longer be teenagers. A lot of cartoons never age up, The Simpsons for example. But I get the feeling that the team want the characters to grow up and they can't mature mentally and not physically as well. You can't have the wisdom of a 40 year old man in a teenager because it's too weird.

But we'll see. Season 2 is off to a good start anyway.

[Shark_Blade]

Yes. Yes. YES.

[xChri5x]

Originally Posted by pingclang

That's an enormous turn-over. Wow. Nick really made the right decision.

Well, you have to factor in the costs of producing the show, merchandise, games, marketing, etc. Subtract all that from the earnings (as well as the 60 million).

[CyberCubed]

Its obvious the show is going to be renewed for more seasons.

I fully expect at least a 7 season run to match the 4kids series, but maybe if we're really lucky it'll outlast the original toon.

My dream is to finally see a TMNT cartoon hit the 200 episode milestone number, maybe this time we can actually do it. 200 episodes or bust!

[Allio]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Its obvious the show is going to be renewed for more seasons.

I fully expect at least a 7 season run to match the 4kids series, but maybe if we're really lucky it'll outlast the original toon.

My dream is to finally see a TMNT cartoon hit the 200 episode milestone number, maybe this time we can actually do it. 200 episodes or bust!

yes...cause Quantity over quality

[The Stryker]

Gee. Remember all the "Nick is gonna kill the franchise" talk?

[Leo656]

Yeah, it definitely worked out better than a lot of us expected. I for one thought the show was going to be a lot more dumbed-down than what we got. I think that's what a lot of people expected initially, and if it had gone that way it may not have worked as well. But it's pretty clever and well-done in general, and the quality probably has a lot to do with it doing better than expected.

[snake]

Originally Posted by The Stryker

Gee. Remember all the "Nick is gonna kill the franchise" talk?

Same thing with the Bay film. Although I originally I hated it. The movie eventually warmed up to me and now I can't wait to see it.

[Leofan26]

Fine, I just hope we don't get another fast forward arc as we get to the seventh season like the 4 Kids series did.

Glad Turtles are going toe to toe with that big Sponge, finally some thing can stand up against him. Now why won't they air reruns is my question to them? That or I miss them

Can't believe how well the series does each time a new series comes out, fandom that big each series?

[Donatello19]

Originally Posted by Leofan26

Fine, I just hope we don't get another fast forward arc as we get to the seventh season like the 4 Kids series did.

Glad Turtles are going toe to toe with that big Sponge, finally some thing can stand up against him. Now why won't they air reruns is my question to them? That or I miss them

Can't believe how well the series does each time a new series comes out, fandom that big each series?

I'm glad that they finally have another successful cartoon besides Spongebob, but they can't really be competing if they're both making money for the same network.

[blindturtle02]

I wish other networks would learn from the success of this show. You don't have to dumb down animated series involving superheroes. Kids are smarter than the execs think.

[JTH]

Originally Posted by Donatello19

I'm glad that they finally have another successful cartoon besides Spongebob, but they can't really be competing if they're both making money for the same network.

In terms of audience numbers and ratings, of course they can.

Eventually wanting to top or equal SpongeBob on the network will make Ciro and the writers stay on their "A" game and continue to try and make the show better as the years move on. Competition within to be the best show on your network is the best form of motivation.

[BabyTurtles]

I'm so happy for them!! now let's get more seasons!!