Intage doubles the character IPs it tracks for Japan's licensing floors
Japan's biggest consumer-research house has doubled, to 140, the manga, anime and game franchises its twice-yearly panel tracks — the same evidence base retailers and department-store licensing floors use to decide which characters earn shelf space and event slots.
Intage Inc., the Tokyo-based marketing research company founded in 1960, has relaunched its "IPファン-kit" (IP Fan-kit) database, doubling the number of intellectual properties it tracks to 140 per survey wave from 70 previously, the company said.
The database draws on an internet survey of 200,000 respondents aged 15 to 59 nationwide (excluding junior-high school students), fielded twice a year in June and November and weighted to the population, according to Intage. It scores each title on a proprietary "IP Power" index spanning recognition, affinity and purchase intent, which Intage says shows both a franchise's current standing and its revenue potential. Coverage spans manga, anime, games, film, TV and toy properties, mixing established hits with emerging titles and pre-adaptation works.
Intage pitches the tool as a way to replace "intuition-based" investment with evidence when a company decides which character to license, collaborate with or promote — which is precisely the judgment call behind every character-goods shelf, pop-up and event space in a Japanese department store or specialty retailer. Doubling the panel to 140 titles matters less for the household names than for the tier below them: it gives retailers a data point on emerging and newly adapted IP before they commit floor space, rather than after.