Open Road Had ‘Unprecedented Growth’ in 2024

Participation in Open Road Integrated Media’s major programs hit record levels last year, CEO David Steinberger told employees in his annual letter, which described "unprecedented growth" in 2024.

The number of titles in Open Road’s signature program, Ignition, rose by 44% last year, Steinberger wrote. Ignition promotes e-book backlist titles through a series of consumer-oriented programs and the company added three more Big Five publishers to its ranks in the year. The company now works with titles from four of the five largest publishers.

Open Road’s newer Activation paid marketing program for any book in any format also had a good year, Steinberger wrote, citing campaigns for bestselling and debut authors, giveaways supporting house authors and brands, as well as multiple themed promotions ranging from banned books to holiday.

The company’s publishing efforts also gained traction last year. Highlight for the Re-Lit imprint, which re-publishes out-of-print and reverted titles, included the republication of six titles by the horror-writer Stephen Graham Jones, and re-publishing The Way of the Gladiator, which inspired the The Gladiator movies, the second of which was released last year.

In addition, Open Road’s U.K.-based, e-book-first Bloodhound imprint marked its 10th anniversary in 2024 and increased book discovery programs in both the U.K and U.S.