Having a successful television series is about more than who can stay on the air the longest. If your ratings aren’t going up or at least remaining steady, you won’t be making any money. And yes, that means money from the studio. However, it can also mean money from any and all products related to your show or any of the characters.
From simple figurines or action figures of television characters and customized or re-released box sets all the way to board games or show inspired clothes and accessories, the right kind of products can really sell themselves (and your show if you’re doing it right). So where do you start?
Strong Characters
One of the best places to start is by having strong characters that people will want to pay money to see more of them. That doesn’t always mean physically strong, although that can have its merits. Just look at how many super saiyan toys that the success of the Dragonball television series and manga has created and sold even thirty years later. But you don’t always have to have strong characters in the literal sense. It’s much easier to have strong in the general sense, where they’re well-rounded characters that appeal to a wide audience. If you can accomplish that, a lot of people will relate to them and want to buy them and the subsequent products.
In addition, you want to make sure that you have a lot of different and diverse characters. You need multiple characters that people will want to see more of and buy the products associated with them as well. If we use Dragonball as an example again, you can see this taking shape. There are human characters, including Bulma, Master Roshi, Yamcha, Krillin, and Chi-chi. There are also the aliens such the Saiyans, like the main character Goku, Vegeta, Kakarot, and other races such as Piccolo or Tien. There are even Android characters with Androids 17 and 18 and Cell being some of the most notable. These characters are all distinct enough to stand on their own and market themselves when it comes to products.
Multiple collectibles
It sounds great to have figures and posters of your characters or your show in general. However, that’s not what’s really going to make it with a product line. One great example where you can see this is through the Supernatural television series. While the show definitely started off simply, it’s gained a large following and an insane number of collectibles that came along with that. This includes the usual DVD box sets, figures, phone cases and clothing with the right branding, but it also continued to evolve past that. It expanded to include characters featured in different episodes of the show, not just the main trio. It also includes fake weapons like the ones used in the series, different kinds of jewelry, plushies, books that go along with the show, a few customized board games, multiple accessories and accents for your car and home, and so much more. And these kinds of products may include anything from pictures of favorite characters or quotes, to just the simple pentagram brand from the show. That means there are multiple options for the same kind of products depending on who you want to market it towards. They took nearly everything that could be marketed towards this show and made it happen.
Now, it definitely doesn’t start out that way. You have to work your way towards various products as you go along. But you also doesn’t want to paint yourself in a corner by only thinking of the same products as everyone else. You want to really see what you can market towards your show to make it unique and collectible so that your fans will want to buy it and enjoy it as much as the actual show. That’s really the most important thing for any product line whether it’s animated or live action.
