 | |
| Formerly | Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products(1991–2019) ViacomCBS Consumer Products(2019–2022) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Division |
| Industry | Merchandising |
| Predecessor | CBS Consumer Products(2009–2019) |
| Founded | 1991; 34 years ago (1991)[1] |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Services | Licensing |
| Parent | Paramount Consumer Products and Experiences[2][3] |
| Subsidiaries |
|
Paramount Consumer Products (formerlyNickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products, thenViacomCBS Consumer Products) is the retailing and licensing division ofParamount Global. The department is in charge of merchandising for Paramount-owned brands. As of 2015, the division was valued at $3 billion.[4]
While the company manages merchandise for the entire Paramount portfolio (includingParamount Pictures andComedy Central), its main focus is Paramount's children's television brand,Nickelodeon. Most of its products are based on TV shows that originated on the network, as well as properties that they purchased and incorporated into Nickelodeon, likeTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles andWinx Club.[5] From 2007 onward, the division's most profitable property has beenSpongeBob SquarePants.[6]
According to an article inThe Chicago Tribune, Paramount Consumer Products takes "an unconventional approach to licensing" where the company waits up to two years after a show's premiere before releasing tie-in merchandise. This is in contrast to competitors likeDisney Consumer Products, which generally release products to coincide with a premiere.[7]
Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products (NVCP) was founded in 1991.[1] At first, it was a subdivision of Nickelodeon Enterprises,[8] a business unit set up to license Nickelodeon's properties to other companies.[a]
One of the division's first profitable franchises wasRugrats, which theNews & Record called Nickelodeon's "first big splash in consumer products."[9] Merchandise sales forRugrats peaked at over $1 billion in 1999.[9] The following year, NVCP released merchandise spun off fromBlue's Clues, which also garnered over a billion dollars in revenue.[9]
SpongeBob SquarePants represented the "company's biggest surprise" when tie-in products were first released in the early 2000s. Revenues fromSpongeBob items exceeded Nickelodeon's expectations by over $250 million. At first, merchandising companies were hesitant to produce merchandise based on the show, and they "underestimated consumers' emotional connection" with it. By 2003, however, there were over 100 companies that were licensed to use theSpongeBob brand.[9]
Shows likeSpongeBob helped Nickelodeon Enterprises (the branch of Nickelodeon that included NVCP) become Viacom's fastest-growing asset in the early 2000s.[10] In 2003, Nickelodeon's consumer products arm generated $2.5 billion in sales, which marked a 19 percent increase from the year before.[7] Meanwhile, the sales of the company's main competitors (Disney andWarner Bros.) were both flat compared to the previous year.[7]
In late 2003, the division experimented with creating a pair of new properties that were not based on TV characters. These "off-channel" brands were the video game franchiseTak and the Power of Juju andeverGirl, a doll line and website designed to promote a positive self-image for girls.[11]everGirl was co-created byAngela Santomero (one of the creators ofBlue's Clues)[12] and its development was overseen by Leigh Anne Brodsky,[12] who went onto become the president of NVCP from 2004[13] to late 2011.[14]
Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products took overParamount Pictures' licensing activities in 2004, relocating all operations toNew York.[15] Paramount, which is Viacom's film division, had previously managed licensing from its ownHollywood offices. Three years later, Paramount regained its own licensing division in Hollywood with the foundation of a separate department called Paramount Licensing.[16]
In 2007, NVCP namedJakks Pacific as the master licensee forSpongeBob SquarePants, continuing a long partnership between the two companies.[17]
Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products appointed Michael Connolly, a formerDisney Consumer Products executive, as head of international consumer products in 2010. In the following years, Connolly helped relaunch two brands that Viacom had purchased:Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles andWinx Club. Connolly said thatTMNT represented an opportunity to appeal to collectors and the "comic book geek crowd" whileWinx Club provided Nickelodeon "with a much-needed girl's property."[5] One of Nickelodeon's top priorities for 2012 was to reboot both franchises worldwide;Kidscreen reported that the company had "international plans to make a splash at retail with the rebooted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and WinxIPs."[18]
In 2012, Connolly suggested that Viacom's consumer products had been decreasingly relevant to the public for several years, and that he hoped the introduction of thetoyetic brandsTMNT andWinx Club would change this.[5] Connolly also stated thatSpongeBob toys did not sell as well as other non-toy products based on the franchise:
WhileSpongeBob is a great franchise, it has never been a heavy-hitting toy aisle property. WithTMNT, that's all about to change, and buyers believe that TMNT will re-invigorate the toy aisle.Winx [Club] puts us more prominently in the girl's aisle and offers wider opportunities.[5]
From 2013 to 2015, Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products started to open Nickelodeon-branded stores worldwide, including a flagship location inLeicester Square,London.[19] Around 80 percent of the stores' merchandise was exclusive; Nickelodeon opened an online e-commerce site at NickelodeonStore.co.uk so that international fans could buy it.[20] By 2016, NVCP had opened twelve different Nickelodeon stores.[21]
Following the2019 merger of CBS and Viacom, Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products (NVCP) was renamed ViacomCBS Consumer Products (VCP), and it began to manage merchandise for CBS-owned properties fromCBS Television Studios andShowtime. As a result, CBS Consumer Products was integrated into VCP.[22]
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