What the sector pays
Royalties account for 8.24% of hotel expenses and 0.11% of supermarket expenses
Spending on royalties for trademarks, patents and franchises in seven activity groups, IBGE 2024, new series
See the full table (35 rows)
| Activity | Survey | 2007 | 2019 | 2023 | 2024, new series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travel agencies and tour operators | PAS | 0.03% | 1.61% | 12.01% | 11.78% |
| Hotels, motels and inns | PAS | 1.19% | 1.96% | 8.55% | 8.24% |
| Restaurants, snack bars and bars | PAS | 6.64% | 7.93% | 6.47% | 7.28% |
| Services to households (20+) | PAS | 3.05% | 4.31% | 5.28% | 5.54% |
| Pharmacies, perfumery and cosmetics (retail) | PAC | 2.77% | 3.34% | 4.35% | 3.72% |
| Footwear, leather and travel goods (retail) | PAC | 2.34% | 2.70% | 1.86% | 2.60% |
| Wholesale trade (total, 20+) | PAC | 0.78% | 1.65% | 2.09% | 2.58% |
| Food products, beverages and tobacco (retail) | PAC | 0.52% | 2.84% | 2.58% | 2.24% |
| Cultural, recreational and sporting goods (retail) | PAC | 0.89% | 2.68% | 2.31% | 2.10% |
| Catering, buffet and prepared food | PAS | 1.10% | 1.41% | 1.97% | 1.86% |
| Vehicle parts | PAC | 0.52% | 1.01% | 1.04% | 1.26% |
| Laundries and dry cleaners | PAS | 0.22% | 1.45% | 1.28% | 1.20% |
| Fabrics, haberdashery, clothing and footwear (retail) | PAC | 0.64% | 1.24% | 0.91% | 1.14% |
| Building materials (retail) | PAC | 0.35% | 1.02% | 0.87% | 1.10% |
| Sports, arts, culture and language instruction | PAS | 1.34% | 1.49% | 1.03% | 1.00% |
| Sports activities (gyms etc.) | PAS | 0.03% | 1.19% | 1.24% | 0.99% |
| Retail trade (total, 20+) | PAC | 0.56% | 1.00% | 0.98% | 0.95% |
| Clothing and accessories (retail) | PAC | 0.39% | 0.96% | 0.73% | 0.86% |
| Fuels and lubricants (retail) | PAC | 1.26% | 1.20% | 0.98% | 0.81% |
| Hairdressing and beauty treatment | PAS | 1.04% | 4.98% | 0.65% | 0.79% |
| Services to businesses (20+) | PAS | 0.13% | 0.47% | 0.87% | 0.74% |
| Real estate brokerage | PAS | 0.01% | 0.24% | 0.24% | 0.46% |
| Amusement and leisure parks | PAS | 0.20% | 0.67% | 0.66% | 0.18% |
| IT and communication equipment (retail) | PAC | 4.90% | 0.30% | 0.59% | 0.17% |
| Auxiliary financial and insurance services | PAS | 0.15% | 0.23% | 0.04% | 0.16% |
| Vehicle maintenance and repair | PAS | 0.07% | 0.00% | 0.14% | 0.15% |
| Cleaning services for buildings and homes | PAS | 0.28% | 0.63% | 0.20% | 0.14% |
| Hypermarkets and supermarkets | PAC | 0.10% | 0.37% | 0.22% | 0.11% |
| Furniture and household goods (retail) | PAC | 0.21% | 0.20% | 0.13% | 0.11% |
| Motor vehicles | PAC | 0.12% | 0.05% | 0.07% | 0.09% |
| Household appliances, audio and video (retail) | PAC | 0.05% | 0.03% | 0.02% | 0.08% |
| Rental of transport equipment | PAS | 1.05% | 0.08% | 0.08% | 0.05% |
| Other personal services | PAS | 0.07% | 0.12% | 0.31% | 0.03% |
| Other education activities | PAS | 2.45% | 0.04% | 0.04% | 0.01% |
| Postal and other delivery activities | PAS | 0.03% | 0.17% | 0.03% | 0.01% |
In the structural economic surveys of IBGE (the national statistics institute), companies report to the government how much they pay in royalties. The Pesquisa Anual de Comércio (annual trade survey) and the Pesquisa Anual de Serviços (annual services survey) have recorded since 2007 a specific item for spending on royalties for trademarks, patents and franchises, which makes it possible to measure the intensity of these charges sector by sector from the payer's side.
In 2024, the first year of the new series of both surveys, intensity continued to vary widely across sectors. Travel agencies appear with 11.78%, a level close to the 12.01% of 2023, which indicates that the jump recorded that year, from R$ 4.7 million in 2022 to R$ 911 million in the same item, was not a one-off, although its cause remains unidentified. Among the other activities, hotels spent 8.24% of their expenses on this item, restaurants 7.28%, pharmacies 3.72%, clothing retail 0.86% and supermarkets 0.11%. Combined, the seven activity groups we follow spent R$ 14.65 billion in 2024, an increase concentrated in the wholesale of pharmaceutical products and in support services for agriculture, activities in which the item mainly reflects trademarks and patents.
The comparison with 2023 crosses a series break declared by IBGE, which changed the criterion for identifying active companies in the sample register and expanded coverage in the North Region. In the subset of companies with 20 or more persons employed, used here, the effect tends to be small, but it was not measured by IBGE. In pharmacies, the shift from 4.35% to 3.72% results mainly from the growth of total expenses, while spending on royalties rose less. From 2007 to 2023, in the old series, pharmacies' real spending on royalties was multiplied by 9.5. Because the item combines royalties for trademarks and patents with franchise royalties, these percentages should be read as an upper bound of what franchising charges each sector.
How we calculate
We took the item for royalties for trademarks, patents and franchises from the two IBGE structural surveys and divided each activity's spending by its total expenses in the same year, which gives the intensity as a percentage. From 2007 to 2023 the data come from the old series, in SIDRA table 1412 for the Pesquisa Anual de Comércio and in tables 2614 to 2697 for the Pesquisa Anual de Serviços. From 2024 onward they come from the new series, in tables 10655 and 10760, which contain the same variables with a different organization of activities. Each activity was linked to the corresponding category of the new series, and retail of fabrics, clothing and footwear results from the sum of three classes. IBGE did not republish 2023 in the new series. Values in reais were deflated by the IPCA (the official consumer price index) from table 1737. The universe is that of the two surveys, that is, formal companies with 20 or more persons employed in the activities surveyed.
Version 1.1, dated September 6, 2026, had 2023 as the last year. Version 2.0, dated October 18, 2026, adds 2024, and the file of the previous version remains available in Open data.
What this figure does not show
- The IBGE item combines royalties for trademarks and patents with franchise royalties, so the percentage for each sector is a ceiling for spending specifically on franchising.
- The Pesquisa Anual de Comércio and the Pesquisa Anual de Serviços cover only companies with 20 or more persons employed, which excludes most small franchisees.
- The data are per company and by main activity, so a company that operates several brands appears only once, in the sector in which it was classified.
- From 2024 onward, PAC and PAS form a new series. IBGE declared a series break owing to the change in the criterion for identifying active companies in the sample selection register and to the expansion of geographic scope in the North Region, which came to include all municipalities of Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará and Amapá. Because 2023 was not republished under the new criteria, the difference between 2023 and 2024 mixes economic variation and method effect.
- According to IBGE, the effect of the register change is concentrated in companies with fewer than five persons employed, outside the scope of this indicator, but the magnitude of the effect on companies with 20 or more persons employed is not known. In 2025, coverage of the North Region will be expanded again, with Acre and Roraima.
- Since 2024, IBGE has applied an additional confidentiality rule, which may suppress activities in which a few companies concentrate the result.
- Travel agencies went from 0.10% in 2022 to 12.01% in 2023 and 11.78% in 2024 in the same item. The new level held in the new series, but the cause of the change has not been identified.
- Intensity is a ratio over total expenses, so it rises when spending on royalties grows and also when other expenses fall.
Frequently asked questions
Which sector spends the most on royalties in Brazil?
In 2024, travel agencies appear with 11.78% of their expenses in royalties for trademarks, patents and franchises, a level reached in 2023 after a discontinuity whose cause has not been identified. Among the activities with a stable series, hospitality leads, with 8.24%, followed by restaurants, with 7.28%.
How much do Brazilian companies pay in royalties per year?
The seven activity groups we follow spent R$ 14.65 billion on the royalties item in 2024, according to the PAC and PAS (annual trade and services surveys) of IBGE (the national statistics institute), in the first year of a new series.
Can the 2024 figures be compared with those of 2023?
With a caveat. IBGE (the national statistics institute) declared a series break in 2024 and did not republish 2023 under the new criteria, so small differences between the two years do not indicate a trend.
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