Where the money goes – NLA infographic outlines what the company does with the revenues it collects

One of the first questions people often ask when speaking to NLA media access staff for the first time is ‘where does your money go?’

The answer is – back to the publishers who employ the journalists creating the content!

In 2013 alone NLA media access collected and distributed over £26m in royalty payments to publishers; a figure that has grown year on year as demand for publisher content has increased.   Who we collect it from and how it helps the industry is outlined in the NLA infographic, published today.

This year, we are on track to deliver a further £25m+ in payments to publishers. National and regional newspaper groups continue to be well served by NLA and, in 2014, over £2.5m of royalties will be paid to magazine publishers, successfully represented by NLA for the first time.

Our money also goes on investing in databases.  As you will see from the infographic, NLA supplies daily and online news to 13 UK and 18 international media monitoring agencies and provides 7000 UK journalists with online access to a comprehensive database of news articles from 2006 to present day.  Around 20% of the revenue NLA media access collects each year goes into investment in new database services and covers operating costs, with the bulk (80%) of the company’s revenue paid directly to represented publishers.

This formula of investment in news services and efficient and regular royalty payments to publishers means an effective service for all; it also ensures the vast majority of the money collected goes back to the content creators  - newspaper and magazine publishers.