THE DRAWBACKS OF MAGAZINE LICENSING
BusinessWeek is reportedly being offered for sale by McGraw-Hill, and regular readers of The Bangkok Bugle will know my connection with the Thai language licensed edition.
Earlier this year I blogged about the demise of print editions of Arena, Maxim and Cawaii and the possible impact on the licensed Thai editions. There is absolutely no suggestion that BusinessWeek will cease printing, but this does highlight how in this industry your ultimate destiny is controlled by what happens elsewhere.
There are more than 50 licensed Thai editions of overseas magazines but even with, in the case of BusinessWeek, an 80-year-old history, global brand image and reputation for high editorial standards, none of these local editions of international magazines can rest easy.
While our 'parent' in the United States is suffering some serious declines in revenue, we're still expanding our magazine as we approach our second anniversary next month. We're pressing ahead with plans to increase circulation and expand our readership. It would be foolish to pretend things are easy here, but I don't think they're anywhere near as bad as in other parts of the world.
So in the absence of facts and with so much speculation I think it's safe to say the coming months will be interesting.
3 comments:
Congrats on your success with BW Thailand. Which raises another question, with home editions on the decline and licensed editions excelling, how long will it be before the masters try and squeeze much more out of their licensees - given that it might be their only source of growth? Of course most license fees are proportionate to revenues right now or based on mininum thresholds but I can see a scenario where they will seek to raise their returns.
Thanks for your question Graeme.
I guess from what you're saying you have some experience of the magazine licensing industry?
My personal opinion is that the 'masters' need to be realistic with their revenue expectations from licensed editions. Most agreements are based on a royalty of income earned and do not take into account rising production costs. And the 'masters' do get more than just financial benefits. It's good to have an established network of local editions around the world.
Obviously cover prices and prices for advertising are far less in this part of the world, yet a number of global publishers still have what I would describe as lofty expectations of what can realistically be achieved in markets such as Thailand.
Having said that, I believe there are still some excellent opportunities for magazine licensing in Thailand. We only have 50, and there are some big names out there that could work really well here.
Thanks for the response. My comments come from a previous association with a specialist magazine that was, shall we say, in an advanced maturation stage (growth-wise) and looked to licensing foreign language editions as a salvation. Of course when the greedy group publishers see that the licensed books carry more ad pages than their own home edition that's when the whole "let's squeeze the licensees" conversation begins.
Post a Comment