NEW YORK and DES MOINES, Iowa, Dec. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP; www.meredith.com) – the leading media and marketing company serving 100 million unduplicated American women monthly and more than 60 percent of U.S. Millennial women – and Sequential Brands Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SQBG; www.sequentialbrandsgroup.com) – which owns, promotes, markets, and licenses a portfolio of consumer brands in the fashion, home, active, and lifestyle categories – announced today a restructuring of Meredith's licensing agreement with the Martha Stewart media properties.
Under a new 10-year contract – which replaces a prior agreement reached with the former Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia announced on October 15, 2014 – Meredith's National Media Group will assume the editorial and operational teams for all print, digital and video functions for the Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart Weddings media brands, including www.marthastewart.com and www.marthastewartweddings.com. Additionally, Meredith will continue to lead sales and marketing, circulation, production, and related functions. The agreement continues to apply to the United States and Canada, with opportunities for further overseas expansion.
"The change will be invisible to the consumer, and will help to further strengthen the Martha Stewart brand in the advertising marketplace," said Meredith National Media Group President Tom Harty.
Martha Stewart, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, said, "This new agreement is a natural evolution of our partnership with Meredith Corporation and will allow our magazines to realize their full potential. I'm extremely proud of our editorial team and the work they do to deliver inspiring content to readers everywhere. I'm confident that the Martha Stewart editorial team, along with Meredith's leadership, will be a powerful combination that will evolve the opportunities for our invaluable content and grow the reach of our magazines for years to come."
Martha Stewart Living is published 10 times annually with a ratebase of 2.1 million. Its readership is more than 10 million, including 1.75 million Millennial women, according to Mediamark Research Institute. Martha Stewart Weddings, a quarterly publication, is the #1-selling bridal magazine on newsstands. The Meredith Weddings Group, a collaboration between Martha Stewart Weddings and mywedding.com, reaches a combined audience of 6.4 million and ranks #1 in page views per online visitor in its competitive set. Additionally, Martha Stewart's digital properties average 8 million monthly unique visitors and 60 million views, according to comScore.
"This is a groundbreaking partnership for the Martha Stewart media properties as they will now be fully integrated with one of the leading media companies in the world and well positioned to grow their audience," said William Sweedler, Chairman of Sequential. "This transaction allows our team to focus on our core strength which is activating new growth channels in the merchandising vertical."
The Martha Stewart brand reaches approximately 100 million consumers across all media and merchandising platforms each month. Martha Stewart branded products can be found in over 70 million households and has a growing retail presence in thousands of locations. Throughout the years, the Martha Stewart media and merchandising properties have been recognized by the industry for its award-winning content including multiple national magazine awards, multiple ASME awards for excellence in design and photography, 19 Emmys, 3 James Beard Awards, several Webby Awards and more.
The agreement will not have a material effect on Meredith's fiscal 2016 second quarter financial performance. Meredith will provide more details on its fiscal 2016 second quarter earnings call on January 27, 2016.
ABOUT MEREDITH CORPORATION
Meredith Corporation has been committed to service journalism for more than 110 years. Today, Meredith uses multiple distribution platforms – including broadcast television, print, digital, mobile and video – to provide consumers with content they desire and to deliver the messages of its advertising and marketing partners.
Meredith's National Media Group reaches 100 million unduplicated women every month, including 60 percent of American Millennial women. Meredith is the leader in creating and distributing content across platforms in key consumer interest areas such as food, home, parenting and health through well-known brands such as Better Homes and Gardens, Allrecipes, Parents and Shape. Meredith also features robust brand licensing activities, including more than 3,000 SKUs of branded products at 4,000 Walmart stores across the U.S. Meredith Xcelerated Marketing is a leader at developing and delivering custom content and customer relationship marketing programs for many of the world's top brands, including Kraft, Lowe's and NBC Universal.
Meredith's Local Media Group includes 17 owned or operated television stations reaching 11 percent of U.S. households. Meredith's portfolio is concentrated in large, fast-growing markets, with seven stations in the nation's Top 25 – including Atlanta, Phoenix, St. Louis and Portland – and 13 in Top 50 markets. Meredith's stations produce approximately 650 hours of local news and entertainment content each week, and operate leading local digital destinations.
ABOUT SEQUENTIAL BRANDS GROUP, INC.
Sequential Brands Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:SQBG) owns, promotes, markets, and licenses a portfolio of consumer brands in the fashion, home, active, and lifestyle categories. Sequential seeks to ensure that its brands continue to thrive and grow by employing strong brand management, design and marketing teams. Sequential has licensed and intends to license its brands in a variety of consumer categories to retailers, wholesalers and distributors in the United States and around the world. For more information, please visit Sequential's website at: www.sequentialbrandsgroup.com. To inquire about licensing opportunities, please email: [email protected].
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SOURCE Meredith Corporation; Sequential Brands Group, Inc.
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