Licensing revenues in the United States and Canada grew 3.3% in 2013 as sales of licensed merchandise rose to $115.8 billion.  Entertainment licensing rose 4.3% with sales rising to $51.44 billion, which yielded royalty revenues of $2.66 billion for 2013.  Licensed comics and merchandise remain a major source of revenue for pop culture retailers.
 
The clear leader in entertainment licensing is the Walt Disney Company, which has the luxury of licensing products based on movie and TV shows from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm.  It is also clearly the world leader in licensed sales with, according to Variety, global sales of licensed merchandise that amounted to a record $40.9 billion in 2013.  Disney currently licenses products in 137 different categories, though toys remain the largest revenue generator with apparel a somewhat distant second.
 
Disney’s biggest licensing competitor among Hollywood studios is Warner Bros., which according to Variety typically generates around $6 billion in worldwide retail sales.
 
The outlook for entertainment licensing in 2014 and beyond remains strong for licensing with a new Star Wars TV series (see "Full 'Star Wars: Rebels' Trailer"), and a new Star Wars film due in December of 2015 plus a major slate of DC Comics movies (see "Warners DC Film Schedule").