MAGAZINE LICENSING: AN INSIDE GUIDE

Magazine licensing is big business. In Thailand there are more than 50 such titles in sectors as diverse as yoga, hair, business and watches.
For Thai publishers licensing offers the opportunity to acquire instant brand recognition, as opposed to the long and often unsuccessful alternative of starting your own magazine. Of course you do pay for that privilege.
Each licensing deal is different. For example the amount of content the Thai publishers takes (and translates) from the overseas title can be anything between 90 per cent and 30 per cent. The amount of support given by the overseas publisher also varies too.
To further illustrate the business of magazine licensing I've chosen Top Gear magazine, which has a number of local language licensed editions around the world, including here in Thailand. You'll see from the image above that the cover story of the UK edition in February has become the April cover story for the Thai edition. There are a number of other subtle differences, and the Thai publisher has developed a number of their own Thai-focused stories and features.
Naturally there are downsides to licensing. The local publisher pays a royalty to the overseas publisher, usually backed up with what are called minimum guarantees. Often you are restricted in what you can do with the brand, and ultimately the local publisher will never truly own what is essentially their own magazine. Licensing doesn't come cheap but can be a more economical and faster was to establish a magazine.
I hope this offers some insight into the world of magazine licensing, and if you have any questions feel free to comment or email me.