Financial Expert

Ross Levinsohn Elevates Revenue Production as Sports Illustrated’s CEO

Ross Levinsohn The rise of the internet’s popularity after the turn of the century brought substantial changes to the print and media worlds. As was the case for so many other brands, Sports Illustrated saw a dramatic shift in demand toward its website and away from its print magazine. Its audience members were enjoying the convenience and on-demand satisfaction that the internet provided. This brand’s website had been monetized, so a portion of the revenue that was lost through print subscriptions was made up through the website. Nonetheless, the situation created a financial issue for the brand that needed to be addressed. Sports Illustrated CEO Ross Levinsohn successfully rose to address the matter.

Levinsohn gained the position of Sports Illustrated CEO in 2016, which is when his previous employer acquired the digital media rights to the brand. His previous employer, Maven Media, is a recognized and respected services provider in the digital media realm. Notably, it provides crucial monetization services to The Street with Jim Cramer and several hundred other well-known names in the media world. While he strategized ways to improve monetization for many of these brands, one of his more notable endeavors was with The Street with Jim Cramer. With the rise in cryptocurrencies at the time, consumers were asking the brand to deliver related content. Levinsohn devised a money-making endeavor to offer this new content behind a cryptocurrency-specific paywall. By doing so, he created a lucrative line of new revenue.

When Levinsohn took on the mission-critical challenge as Sports Illustrated CEO, he adopted a unique approach. While he drew inspiration from his maneuver at The Street with Jim Cramer, he did not want Sports Illustrated to create even more content than it already was producing. Therefore, the new paywall that he created was put in place to draw a higher level of income from established content. This was accomplished by offering a premium-level subscription that granted subscribers first access to early-release stories.

While Levinsohn’s work as Sports Illustrated CEO has been notable, this is just one of many elite media and print companies that he has worked for over the last four decades. You may also find great examples of his creativity and diligence at work by reviewing his successes at Yahoo!, Fox, Guggenheim Digital, Whisper Advisors, CBS Sportsline and several other major companies.