Pokémon Continues its Upward Growth Trends

With a decade under its belt, a new generation of kids are playing, watching, collecting and trading their Pokemon, while the brand has surged to the top of the charts in a number of categories. Pokemon brand categories include video games, a trading card game, an animated TV series on Cartoon Network, DVDs and licensed toys and merchandise.

NPD Analysis and Sales Data Show Brand's Strength in Video Games, Trading Cards, TV Series and Movies

According to independent sales data released late last week by the NPD Group, Pokemon Diamond(R) is the #1 selling video game across all formats for the second consecutive month, with sales of 331,000 units in May.

ICv2, a source for information on the business of pop culture products, ranked the Pokémon Trading Card Game as the #1 collectible trading card game as of spring 2007. Current trading card game sales are running upwards of 400% over last year.

In its first TV season the anime show premiered with Saturday morning ratings growth of +29% for Boys 6-11 and +39% for Kids 2-11, consistently ranking as the top show in its timeslot. Season 10 of the animated series -- "Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl" -- debuted June 4 and was the #1 show for Boys 6-11 on all channels (cable and network) for the entire day with a rating of 5.4.

Jakks Pacific became Pokémon master toy licensee in January 2007 and launched the new Pokémon toy line at mass; sell through numbers for the new figures ranged from 21% to 27% in the first three weeks on shelf, without TV advertising. Sales continue to increase.