We’re all appropriately sad that there isn’t enough Baby Yoda merchandise in the universe yet (and what does exist isn’t exactly up to par). But no one should be more upset by the lack of Baby Yoda merch than Disney, who will miss out on an estimated $2.7 million in potential revenue, according to one source.
Surely, this is a financial hit that a plucky upstart like Disney can nary afford.
Deseret News reported that Jungle Scout, a company that works with Amazon merchants, used search figures to estimate the opportunity cost of choosing not to spoil the character’s big reveal versus using it for marketing from the get-go. It found that users searched “Baby Yoda” about 90,000 times on Amazon from November to December, and “The Mandalorian” about 126,000 times.
Disney potentially lost $2.7 million in revenue because there’s no Baby Yoda merchandise, report says | https://t.co/L1sHUet2VN pic.twitter.com/L2VpC7b6pi
— Deseret News (@Deseret) December 8, 2019
Had there been merchandise showcasing the adorable little mystery, Disney might not find itself in the deep financial hole that it is today. It might even shut down for good!
In all seriousness, the fact that Disney gave “The Mandalorian” creator Jon Favreau its blessing to avoid spoiling the reveal for the sake of a buck (or 2.7 million) is admirable. And we’re sure they’ll recoup that money come 2020 when the merch really hits, starting with the Funko-Pop! toys already available for pre-sale and Hasbro’s full line of Baby Yoda toys.
But, the question is: Will the internet still be as smitten by the character by then? Cultural obsessions move pretty fast, and we’ll have all digested a new feature-length “Star Wars” movie and then some by that point.
We’re not financial analysts, but if we were to guess, we’d say Disney isn’t exactly shaking in its Mandalorian-armored boots about the whole thing.
