• by Ken Liebeskind , June 14, 2001

With magazine ad revenue down, publishers are looking for other ways to generate income and Primedia has found one. The company, which publishes over 230 titles including Seventeen, New York and American Baby, has entered into licensing agreements with three companies who will manufacture and sell products based on the magazines.

Barbara Deering, president of Primedia Enterprises, a newly formed licensing arm of Primedia, is at the 2001 Licensing Show in New York today. She spoke with MediaPost from the show, reporting three deals the company has made.

The first is with the Lantis Eyewear Corp., which will begin selling Seventeen sunglasses and optical frames this fall. The sunglasses will be sold at general retail outlets and the frames will be sold at optical stores. The products will be branded with Seventeen hangtags and labels and Seventeen fashion editors will help design them.

An agreement was also reached with Passing4sane, a tee shirt manufacturer, to make Tiger Beat and Teen Beat tee shirts. The tee shirts, with tiger logos, will be for the "tween" market of eight to 12 year olds, which Deering calls an illusive market that is hard to reach, "but we have 14 million readers every month."

A third deal was made with New-Ray Toys Development, which will make toy model touring trucks associated with Lowrider, an automotive magazine. The trucks will be sold at specialty, mass and gift stores.

All of the deals are royalty based, meaning Primedia earns a fee from every licensed product sold. "It can be extremely lucrative, and that's the reason we're here," Deering says. "It's very important right now because of the advertising climate." Magazine ad revenue dropped 9.4% in May, so the additional revenue from the licensing deals will help Primedia weather the storm.

Primedia Enterprises, an in-house licensing company, was formed a year ago. The company had used a licensing agent for Seventeen previously. "They felt it would be more lucrative to bring it in house and focus on key brands," Deering says. So now the licensing is done internally and for a variety of magazines besides Seventeen.

The company is also trying to license Seventeen jewelry, hair accessories, school supplies and other products and license Seventeen content for books. Primedia Enterprises handles all trademark and content branding for Primedia.