After topping LIMA’s 2018 International Licensing Awards nominations with five nods, Nickelodeon snapped up a pair of wins at last night’s ceremony in Las Vegas—but the breadth of different winners at this year’s event is telling in how diverse the global licensing market has become.

Honoring the industry’s best products and programs across 22 categories—including licensing, retail, promotions and consumer products—the 2018 LIMA Licensing Awards saw Nickelodeon star Jojo Siwa (pictured) win in the Best Film/TV/Entertainment – Live-Action licensed program category, while Cra-Z-Art took home the prize for Best Toys/Games/Novelties/Role-Play (0 to 12) in the Licensed Product category for its Nickelodeon Slime kits.

Only three other brands—Crayola, Sesame Street and Star Wars—scored double wins. Crayola Insta-Dry nail color collection by Sally Hansen won the first-ever LIMA Community Choice Award (selected via online ballot across the entire licensing industry), and the Best Health & Beauty Aids award in the Licensed Product category.

Sesame Street Alexa Skill from Amazon notched the Best Digital/Apps/Software/Video award in the Product category, and Sesamstrasse (Sesame Street) organic food range by Brand & Vision won Best Food/Beverage product. The LEGO Group’s LEGO Star Wars BB-8, meanwhile, won for Best Toys/Games/Novelties/Role-Play product, and Broil Chef’s Star Wars TIE Fighter Gas Grill took home the Best Appliances/Automotive/Electronics/Hardware/Housewares/Paint product award.

Other key wins included MGA Entertainment’s L.O.L. Surprise! collectibles for Best Character/Toy Brand, Spirit Halloween’s honor as Retailer of the Year for its Netflix Stranger Things program, and Vans’ popular Peanuts line for Best Apparel/Footwear/Accessories product.

This year’s winners within the kids entertainment space include:

Best Licensed Programs

Character/Toy Brand: L.O.L. Surprise! (MGA Entertainment)

Film/TV/Entertainment – Animated: Rick and Morty (Adult Swim and Cartoon Network Enterprises)

Film/TV/Entertainment – Live-Action: JoJo Siwa (Nickelodeon)

Licensed Promotion: Masters of the Universe and Dirty Dancing (Mattel and Lionsgate/Born Licensing)

Art/Design: The Very Hungry Caterpillar/The World of Eric Carle (Eric Carle Studio/ The Joester Loria Group)

Digital: emoji – the iconic brand (the emoji company/Global Merchandising Services)

Location-Based or Experiential Initiative: National Geographic Encounter (National Geographic)

Retailer: Spirit Halloween for Stranger Things

Sports: WWE (WWE)

Best Licensed Products

Toys/Games/Novelties/Role-Play (0 to 12): Cra-Z-Art for Nickelodeon Slime kits

Toys/Games/Novelties/Role-Play (13 plus): The LEGO Group for LEGO Star Wars BB-8

Publishing/Social Expression/Back-to-School: Lovepop for Beatles pop-up card collection

Digital/Apps/Software/Video: Amazon for Sesame Street Alexa Skill

Apparel/Footwear/Accessories: Vans for Peanuts

Appliances/Automotive/Electronics/Hardware/Housewares/Paint: Broil Chef for Star Wars TIE Fighter Gas Grill

Food/Beverage: Brand & Vision for Sesamstrasse (Sesame Street) organic food range

Health & Beauty Aids: Sally Hansen for Crayola Insta-Dry nail color collection

Home Décor: Jay Franco and Sons for Minecraft home collection

This year’s winners’ circle comes as global revenue from licensed goods and services grew by 3.3% to US$271.6 billion in 2017, according to LIMA’s newly released Annual Global Licensing Industry Survey. The Entertainment/Character category continues to lead the way, accounting for US$121.5 billion, or 44.7% of the total global licensing market. In terms of royalties from sales of licensed merchandise and services, revenue increased by 2.6% to US$14.5 billion.

After the Entertainment/Character category, the second-largest industry segment, Corporate Trademarks, generated US$55.8 billion at retail for 20.5% of total revenue. The Fashion and Sports segments were the third- and fourth-largest in the market with US$32.1 billion and $26.5 billion in revenue, respectively.

Among product categories, Apparel, Toys and Fashion Accessories continues to comprise the largest share of the business, while Home-related categories, Infant and Video Games/Software/Apps all delivered higher growth than the overall 2017 average. In addition, rising sales in the Music and Celebrity categories were driven by more social media influencers building their own brands, while publishing-based properties and art licensing saw some of the biggest growth (despite having smaller roles in the overall business).

Geographically, the US and Canada remained the largest global market for licensed products last year, representing a 58% share. And of all worldwide regions, North Asia and LatAm were the fastest-growing with 6.2% and 7.6% year-on-year growth, respectively, driven by higher revenue in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Brazil.

Further excerpts from the LIMA Annual Global Licensing Survey will be published in future issues of LIMA’s Inside Licensing, and the complete report, including regional and country-by-country breakdowns for major markets, will be available to LIMA members for free later this summer. Brandar Consulting conducted the survey for the fourth straight year.