Whether you are into anime, manga, video games, western animation etc, it is near impossible to avoid the intense marketing of merchandise. Whenever I enter a GameStop store these days, I note how much of the store is now dedicated to merchandising. Perusing Twitter (and the internet in general), I am flooded with ads for collectible figurines, plushies, mugs etc. Why is merchandising so crucial to the industries and what are my thoughts on collecting it?
Merchandising has always been important as a source of revenue for anime. When Osamu Tezuka created the 1963 TV series of Astro Boy, he realized that he would not be able to recoup his costs from television networks. Instead, merchandising was viewed as key to making the Astro Boy anime profitable. Even today, merchandising is vital to the anime industry with series such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica bringing in $400 million of merchandise within 2 years. I would be remiss if I did not mention one of the most successful anime franchises of all time, Gundam and the fact that the series has made billions in merchandising.
