BtoB Media Business - September 2011 - (Page 14)

SPECIAL REPORT Videos, blogs offer licensing revenue potential S usan Tusken, principal at consul- lishers are considering at this point? tancy Licensing Logistics, was reTusken:Publishers are trying, but they cently named by Cygnus Busicome up against some challenges. It’s ness Media to help grow its licensing Q & A easy to negotiate a deal. The more difdivision. She spoke to Media Busificult side is to be able to fulfill it and ness about successful partnerships get those pieces to the partners. MB: What are some of the chalbetween publishers and licensing partners. lenges? Media Business: Where do you see Tusken: One of the biggest chalSUSAN untapped licensing potential for b-to-b TUSKEN lenges is that publishing companies media publishers? Principal, are publishing companies, not licensSusan Tusken: I see the most Licensing ing companies. When it comes to li[opportunity for] growth in nontradi- Logistics censing, they are dealing with a segtional content. While print content ment that isn’t a core piece of their will always be a vital piece of licensing, dig- business. When development time is short ital and online content will be the key to and positions are eliminated, they are reaching licensing revenue goals for pub- forced to keep their focus on their core lishing companies. Publishers are going to business, which is understandable. But lineed to look deeply into their libraries of censing seems to get lost in the shuffle. content and be able to offer all of the appeal- Finding the development time that it takes ing pieces to the licensing partners: videos, to fulfill the licensing of nontraditional onblogs, e-newsletters. line content can pose a challenge because, if MB: Is that something that most pub- the publisher has any spare technological resources, they are putting them toward their internal publishing needs—websites, portals, new online products—not how to get these products to the licensing partners. MB: Is this revenue that companies are leaving on the table? Tusken: Yes. MB: What about smaller partners? How should publishers evaluate those opportunities? Tusken: Publishers need to look at exposure and revenue. The benefit has to outweigh the cost. There needs to be exposure that will increase traffic to your site, or subscriptions or revenue. It can depend on how the publishing company has the technological side set up. There may not be any cost associated with (a smaller partnership) because it’s a feed (that is) already offered to larger partners. You just have to look and say, is this as easy as finding money sitting on the sidewalk or is this going to be a lot of accounting and technological work on our end. —C.W. The world of digital media delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday. Each edition of Media Business’ Digital Directions features news and analysis, case studies and interviews with thought leaders, as well as new product information. You’ll enjoy reading Digital Directions as it covers everything you need to know about the diverse and fast-changing world of digital media. Published every Thursday. Subscribe today at: www.btobonline.com/digitaldirections Advertising opportunities are available. To advertise, contact David Bernstein at Dbernstein@crain.com or 212-210-0782. 14 | Media Business | September 2011 | mediabusinessonline.com http://www.btobonline.com/digitaldirections http://www.btobonline.com/digitaldirections http://www.mediabusinessonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BtoB Media Business - September 2011

BtoB Media Business - September 2011
Table of Contents
Outsell report bodes well for b-to-b media
Companies plan for growth amid economic uncertainty
Dealmaking picks up, raising hopes of a comeback
Sales & Marketing
Events
Audience Development
Production
People
Benchmarks
How SourceMedia transformed its operations

BtoB Media Business - September 2011