What this is
Estimated licensing income The Pokémon Company earns per dollar of Western licensed retail sales in 2025: about 4–6 cents on an industry-average rate, 6–9 cents on a higher toy-company rate.
How it’s built
- Take the research’s estimates of Western licensing income (¥98.5–204.3bn).
- Divide by License Global’s $15.7bn retail figure, ¥2,348bn at ¥149.57 per dollar.
- Industry rate: 4.2–4.7¢ if cards sit inside the retail figure, 5.5–5.6¢ if not. Higher rate: 6.1–7.4¢ and 8.1–8.7¢.
What we assumed
- Royalties are 5.51–5.56% of retail on the industry-average rate.Matches the licensing industry body’s survey average and Sanrio’s own yield.
- On the higher rate, royalties are Funko’s 16.1–17.4% of wholesale, with wholesale half of retail.Funko files its average royalty rate across all licensors; no Pokémon rate is disclosed.
- Whether the company’s own cards are inside the $15.7bn.The figure’s scope is undefined, so both cases are shown.
Sanity check
No licensee discloses a Pokémon royalty rate, so every case is a benchmark. Replaces an earlier 3.8–8.7¢ range built at ¥150 per dollar.
Where it comes from
Our calculation from other figures in the trainer’s notes:
- EstimateEstimated royalty income The Pokémon Company earned from Western licensed merchandise in 2025
- EstimateTPCi license global series ratios by year, 2021-2025 (LG) vs TPC year to February 2022-year to February 2026
- EstimateLicensing yield per license global retail dollar, year to February 2026 vs License Global 2024/2025 report
Show the working
- ¥98.5–111.1bn / ¥2,348.2bn = 4.19–4.73¢ TCG-IN
- 5.51–5.56¢ TCG-OUT
- Funko-class 6.13–7.40¢ / 8.05–8.70¢
Where it’s used
Related figures
Built from this one