Soon after the internet started to become more mainstream with consumers around the world, a unique phenomenon gripped the print publication industry. Many brands across this industry, including Sports Illustrated, saw a consumer shift away from print and toward digital content. Sports Illustrated quickly developed a well-designed website to accommodate the change in consumer preference, and this website was properly monetized to raise a new stream of income for the brand. However, as print subscriptions continued to decline in the decades that followed, income from the website was not proving to be sufficient. The matter fell onto the shoulders of Sports Illustrated CEO Ross Levinsohn.

Levinsohn has been an active and instrumental player in the media industry for the last four decades, and he had gained extensive knowledge of monetization strategies over those years. For example, prior to joining the executive leadership team at Sports Illustrated, Levinsohn was the lead executive at Maven Media. This digital services provider has been focusing on monetization strategies and other critical services for the media industry throughout its history. One of the hundreds of top-notch brands that it currently serves is The Street with Jim Cramer. The brand has steadily provided Wall Street-related content to its many happy audience members for years, but the audience had developed an interest in cryptocurrencies as well. With this in mind, Levinsohn strategized a way to raise the brand’s income potential while meeting that need. He constructed a crypto-based paywall specifically for this purpose.

When Levinsohn became the Sports Illustrated CEO approximately six years ago, he was able to assemble an excellent monetization plan that was based on his prior professional experiences and endeavors. He opted to institute a separate paywall on the website, and this paywall is now adding more value to the brand’s content. This is because it is offered earlier to premium subscription members.

Ross Levinsohn has improved the playing field through his work as Sports Illustrated CEO, but this is only one of his many professional accomplishments. For example, prior to spending time in the lead chair at Maven Media and Sports Illustrated, companies like Yahoo!, Fox, Whisper Advisors, Guggenheim and others benefited from his leadership skills and industry expertise.