“Contributing to the growth in the Barbie property was the Barbie Dreamhouse, which was among the top 10 fastest selling toys* in the U.S. from March to September 2020,” said Juli Lennett, NPD’s toys industry advisor. “The latest season of ‘Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures’ on Netflix also debuted on Netflix in March, right when stay-at-home orders began and families with kids started watching a lot more streaming video.”

The amount of time spent watching Barbie titles on Netflix more than doubled between February and June 2020. “While we can't attribute the subsequent success in toys directly to increased Netflix viewing, given that the pandemic shelter-at-home orders likely played a role, there is a correlation,” said Lennett. “It was readily apparent, once we noted the increase in time spent viewing in June and the increase in Barbie toy sales that same month.”