By international standards, television program merchandising and licensing is big business.  It is estimated that consumers, worldwide, have tremendously increased in purchasing merchandising products.  Most of the top-selling merchandising properties are characters driven from television programs that are targeted at children.  Retail of television merchandising products is not only limited to children’s programs.  Many other types of television programs have spawned lucrative merchandising of products as well.

 Merchandising of popular characters in television programs can be an important source of income or additional profit to program producers.  Obviously, production costs are on the increase, whereas the competition is among those who can produce at the most cost-effective levels that are attractive to video rental companies, investors, the studios, and the terrestrial and satellite broadcasters.  This competition has forced television program producers to accept merchandising as an important element of creating product advertising and generating revenues.

Generally the producer or owner of the artistic creation that is the television program, licenses or offers the rights to produce and merchandise these products that carry any of these artistic elements.  In return for that permission, the owner or the producer of the television program receives payment normally in the form of royalty.