Videoage International April 2019

8 World April 2019 V I D E O A G E (Continued on Page 10) country. U.S. students provided an estimate of 30 percent, quite high in some regards, but mo- dest compared to other countri- es (such as Malaysians with 39 percent). Country-level estima- tes varied widely, ranging from 11 percent (Switzerland) to 61 percent (Russia). Toy Fair New York Show— With a Twist “T ech is not trendy anymore,” commen- ted a spokesperson from The Toy Association (TTA) when VideoAge asked how tra- ditional children’s TV producers could take advantage of new technology platforms to license their properties. TTA is the New York City- based association of the U.S. toy industry that organizes the annual Toy Fair New York (now in its 116th year — it started in 1903, while the Association was founded in 1916). The association’s 950 members now account for 90 percent of the annual $26.5 billion U.S. toy market. The four-day fair, which began on February 16 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, housed 1,038 exhibiting toy makers from 30 countries, utilizing 41,342 square meters on two floors of the Center, and catered to 7,440 global buyers. In total, therewere 30,000 participants from over 100 countries. Indeed, looking through the “Exhibitors by Product” catalog, the electronic toy companies numbered just 21. Commented a representative of PlayShifu: “We don’t license content. We develop our own, and I honestly don’t know who does.” A VideoAge visitor couldn’t be more amazed to see the extent of traditional toys on display, including hundreds of puzzles and action figures. The virtual absence of video monitors was equally surprising. T hose who know where the Fiji Islands are located will surely be pleased to learn that 35.8 percent of residents there reported that they believe that the Islands contributed to the world’s historical evolution. Similarly, 61 percent of Russians think that their motherland not only contributed, but made history. These findings were reported in “We Made History: Citizens of 35 Countries Overestimate Their Nation’s Role in World History” published last December in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (an Elsevier publication). Six researchers asked 6,185 students from 35 countries: “What contribution do you think the country you are living in has made to world history?” The students provided an estimate from zero to 100 percent, with zero percent indicating that the country made no contribution to world history and 100 percent indicating that all contributions came from the World Nations’ Overrated Self-Notions (Continued from Page 4)