Sports Illustrated CEO Envisions Higher Profits from a Premium Paywall

For Sports Illustrated and many other brands with roots in print media, the last few decades have been challenging. Print magazines have largely seen readership drop. As a result, subscription and ad revenues have plummeted. This has been the direct result of an increased preference among consumers for internet content. Like other print publications, Sports Illustrated developed a website early on. Its monetization strategy was sufficient at alleviating the decline in subscription and ad revenues initially. More recently, however, it has become clear that a shift in the brand’s digital monetization efforts is needed. Creating this shift become the responsibility of Sports Illustrated CEO Ross Levinsohn.

Levinsohn, who has an illustrious, 40-year career under his belt, has a wealth of experience with monetization. Some of his in-depth knowledge was developed while he was CEO of Maven Media, a significant service provider for the industry that specializes in infrastructure, monetization and more. The Street with Jim Cramer is one of Maven Media’s 300 brands served, and it is one of the many brands that has benefited directly from Ross Levinsohn’s ingenuity. This brand was largely monetized based on Wall Street content, but there was a developing interest in cryptocurrencies as well. Levinsohn decided to harness that interest for financial gain. He instituted a specialized paywall that now meets consumer demand and generates more income for the brand.

While the Sports Illustrated CEO knew that he needed to take a similar approach with his present-day predicament, he did not want to commit to making more content through a new line regularly. Because of this, he devised a strategy to raise the worth of existing content. This was accomplished by delivering content initially through an early-release paywall.

Prior to serving the media industry at Sports Illustrated and Maven Media, Levinsohn’s productive career has included time in some of the highest positions at the industry’s most elite companies. These positions have been at Fox Sports, Whisper Advisors, Yahoo! and a variety of other companies.

For Sports Illustrated and many other brands with roots in print media, the last few decades have been challenging. Print magazines have largely seen readership drop. As a result, subscription and ad revenues have plummeted. This has been the direct result of an increased preference among consumers for internet content. Like other print publications, Sports…