United Media turns over syndication management to Universal (UPDATED)
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Universal Uclick has announced that it has taken over syndication management of United Media properties. According to the deal, Universal will manage all aspects of syndication for the Scripps’ subsidiary including sales, editorial, distribution, billing, collections, reporting and licensing fulfillment/management. The agreement also covers features in the Newspaper Enterprise Association. The transition of the services begins immediately and is expected to be completed by June 1, 2011.
From the press release from E.W. Scripps we learn that United will retain certain copyrights and control the licenses for their properties which include Pearls before Swine, Get Fuzzy, Marmaduke, Frank & Ernest, The Born Loser and Big Nate. They will also continue to manage the business relationships with their cartoonists.
Rich Boehne, Scripps president and CEO, said that the reason for the move was to focus their energies on core news and journalism enterprises. “We set out to construct the best operating model for the remaining syndicate, whose primary customers are newspapers across America. A review of our operations – and the marketplace we serve – made it clear that we should seek greater efficiency by teaming up with one of the other remaining players. In Andrews McMeel we found the scale and skills to carry forward the comic properties we have nurtured for many years.”
Scripps sold their licensing operations back in 2010 selling Peanuts and Dilbert (two of the industries top properties) to Iconix Brand Group.
Comics featured on Comics.com will be transitioned to gocomics.com in June creating the largest daily comic destination site on the web.
More information will be posted as it becomes available.
UPDATE #1: I spoke with John Glynn, Universal Uclick’s VP/Acquisitions and Rights, about today’s big announcement. Here are a few of the pertinent tidbits of information surrounding the deal – from a Universal perspective.
United Media and Andrews McMeel Publishing (parent company to Univeral) have had a long-standing positive relationship. Andrews McMeel regularly publishes book collections for United Media features. Even though they compete for newspaper space, the videos with Pearls Before Swine creator Stephan Pastis and John demonstrate a very positive relationship between UU and UM’s talent.
Discussions regarding UU taking over syndication management began late last year. United Media retains individual contacts with their cartoonist and vendors. Universal’s role is over distribution of the comic through newspapers, web and mobile channels.
One of the most public facing assets for United Media is the Comics.com domain. E.W. Scripps (parent compnay for United Media) will continue to own the domain but has licensed its use to Universal. It is still undecided which domain Universal will use once the transition is complete. Because Universal already hosts comics from Washington Post Writers Group, Tribune Media Syndicate and Creators – gocomics.com or comics.com (which ever will be used) will become the largest trove of comics on the web.
I asked if this new arrangement impacts Universal’s plans for launching new features. In a way, it doesn’t change much for Universal – at least in the short-term. Before the announcement they were already committed to a marketing/sales campaign for the newly acquired Peanuts (starting tomorrow) and Dilbert (starting in June) that they acquired from United Media in a separate arrangement. They have other comics in the development cycle which they anticipate launching in the future – but no date has been set.
UPDATE #2: I’ve received an email from former Editor of Acquisitions and Development at United Media – Ted Rall with his reaction to the announcement.
Landing at Universal is the best fate the cartoonists and columnists being transferred from United could have hoped for. Universal is financially viable and run by nice, honest people. Generally speaking, however, consolidation is always bad for media. It limits diversity and freedom of choice.
This morning President Doug Stern told soon-to-be-sacked UM employees that part of the failure of UM was directly attributable to the company’s inability to make money online, that they had tried their best but failed. This was untrue. United’s website Comics.com was the laughingstock of the industry, full of Javascript gone wild, 404 errors and broken widgets. When I was at United I and other employees repeatedly tried to fix it, only to be told our advice was unwelcome. They could have hired dozens of high-quality employees with the millions they wasted on a terrible website.
United did not fail because newspapers or newspaper syndication is unviable. It failed due to shitty management. Short-sighted executives not only didn’t have ideas; they shot them down when smart people spoke up. If there were any justice, they’d be thrown in jail and their assets would be redistributed to the scores of decent, hard-working workers who are about to wind up in the street due to their negligence and malfeasance.
UPDATE #3: I spoke with Lisa Klem Wilson, senior vice president and general manager at United Media. She stressed very strongly that this agreement wasn’t an indication that United Media was struggling financially and that this was a “fire sale.” She maintains that United Media, as a company within EW Scripps, has met all financial goals each quarter and was very profitable. The decision to outsource syndication to Universal was a strategic move for Scripps.
She also tells me that they’re very pleased with the work they’ve done for United Media. United Media has found and developed some of the top comic properties in the industry – and they’ve sold them all for a handsome profit.
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