Ross Levinsohn is the president of the popular Sports Illustrated. He replaced his predecessor, James Heckman, who led the magazine through turbulent times. Levinsohn’s first order of business was to restore Sports Illustrated’s former glory.

It turned out that Levinsohn had a secret weapon: the magazine’s incredibly passionate and knowledgeable fan base. Rather than take advantage of these fans, Heckman ignored them and sought new readers who were not invested in sports. On the other hand, Levinsohn has been diligent about keeping Sports Illustrated responsive to its loyal followers while also growing its readership to new generations of sports enthusiasts. Levinsohn’s strategy of appealing to the magazine’s core readership has helped him execute a turnaround that few have pulled off.

Two Factors Drive the Magazine’s Growth:

One way Ross Levinsohn has sought to grow his magazine’s readership is by asking what Sports Illustrated readers like. He conducted a poll and found that they liked sports coverage without a lot of flash and special effects, nicely described in this article on the Huffington Post. Sports Illustrated’s readers liked the magazine because it took a lot of time to describe sports with lots of detail and passion. Monetizing: The second factor is Sports Illustrated’s revenue model. Rather than depend on advertisers to provide revenue, Sports Illustrated gets its revenue from subscriptions. This comes from Levinsohn’s consistent efforts to build followers engaged with his magazine’s content.

Ross Levinsohn Revamps the Editorial Operations:

Sports Illustrated relies on subscriptions to bring in revenue. Levinsohn looks at the magazine’s subscription figures and sees that the magazine has massive subscribers. However, the magazine’s revenues per subscriber are low. Levinsohn knows that if he can get more people into Sports Illustrated, his revenues will increase. To accomplish this goal, Levinsohn the Sports Illustrated CEO sought ways to improve his circulation team’s effectiveness by hiring additional professional editors and equipping them with the tools to make them more effective.

A major source of revenue for the magazine comes from subscriptions. Ross Levinsohn the sports Illustrated CEO has been aggressive in adding new subscribers, with a full-fledged effort to become a technology leader. He started by installing software that would allow readers to order magazines online, and he has since moved on to more technologically advanced ways to sell and ship magazines. These efforts have resulted in over 40% of Sports Illustrated’s revenues coming from subscriptions rather than advertising.