The world of licensing is changing, and now, so is The Licensing Letter, the industry’s first and still most popular publication.
Publisher Pete Stowe announced the unveiling of a new website that will help support the company’s changing business model, which now includes advertising and new services for the licensing industry.
“Over the past year we have examined every aspect of our business, and we’re now making major changes in several areas that all come together in the new site,” said Stowe. “Regular readers will already have seen our new Featured Banner Ads in the Deal Sheet, as well as the first of our banner ads and sponsored articles for clients.
“The new site is now much more mobile friendly, and designed to better support new ads, the Deal Sheet display, the Licensing Sourcebook, as well as newer services that will be launched in 2023.”
Some of those new services will come from new partnerships formed by TLL with major players in the licensing industry. Stowe says readers will see some of those services being announced in early 2023.
Mark Ziebarth, CEO of parent company Plain Language Media, says the new site will be the most obvious manifestation of the many changes going on behind the scenes at The Licensing Letter.
“Over the past few years we undertook an all-encompassing review of TLL and the place it occupies within the larger licensing industry,” Ziebarth explained. “As a result of that review, we hired a new editor in 2020 and brought in an additional reporter, as part of our drive to hugely expand our editorial coverage.”
Current Editor in Chief Gary Symons is a former investigative reporter with CBC News in Canada, who also ran a successful company doing corporate finance, restructuring, media relations, and investor relations. Since his arrival in late 2020, Symons has increased editorial output by more than 500%, and in 2023 will be launching a new editorial calendar that includes themed, in-depth feature reports on various aspects of the licensing industry.
“That in turn has led to much greater engagement, with the TLL newsletter now hitting highs of 43% open rates this year, and the Deal Sheet setting new records at over 75%,” said Ziebarth. “We also set new records for our click-through rates, and our subscriber numbers soared to more than 32,000, second only to the Licensing International membership publication Licensing Global, with 39,000.
“As a result of those open rates and increased subscriber numbers, The Licensing Letter is again the most read licensing publication in the world, and it has the most readers in North America,” Ziebarth added.
Jim Pearmain, the general manager of parent company Plain Language Media, was in charge of the website design, as well as other initiatives like guiding a shift to a hybrid revenue model.
“When TLL was founded in 1977, the publication ran solely on a subscription model, and we also sold special reports, data packages and other research-oriented products,” Pearmain explained. “Our review showed us the industry needs other services as well, so we also added free articles on our site and our daily newsletter, and we have brought on a new member of the team to handle sales of advertising and Featured Banner Ads in the Deal Sheet.”
Ingrid Dilschneider joined TLL this year, and regular readers will already have seen several companies running Featured Banner Ads in The Licensing Letter magazine and newsletters.
Dilschneider came to TLL with a successful background in marketing and sales, including running the marketing program for the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association in British Columbia, Canada; running business development at one of the world’s top golf resorts; and running the marketing team at world famous Mission Hill, the most prestigious winery in Canada, for the alcoholic beverage tycoon Anthony Von Mandl.
“I’ve always enjoyed working with teams that are creating positive change,” said Dilschneider. “In The Licensing Letter, I see a venerable publication that was the first in the licensing industry, but also a team dedicated to transforming it into a market leader.
“We’re already seeing a lot of early success in our sales and marketing for the new product lines, and the launch of the new website is exactly what we need to take TLL to a whole new level of excellence.”
The timing of the website launch is not coincidental, as it come just months before the launch of TLL’s new Editorial Calendar program under the guidance of editor Gary Symons.
“In the past, TLL was primarily a publication that dealt with the hard data of the licensing industry, analyzing everything from sales to royalty rates,” said Symons. “We still do that, but the mandate now is to provide deeper insights for our readers, and also better exposure for the many licensors, licensees, and service providers within our industry.
“For example, on our current site, we simply don’t have the space on the front page to properly display all of the content we produce on a daily basis,” Symons explained. “The new site gives us the real estate to provide far better exposure to the content we produce, but also for the services, licenses and products from our various clients and sponsors.
“Our goal is to firmly establish The Licensing Letter as the world’s leading publication for the licensing industry, and the new site is one of the most important tools required to get that done.”