BtoB Media Business - September 2011 - (Page 9)

and necessary by industry observers. “They’re seeing less dependence on advertising and they’re shifting to digital,” said Reed Phillips, managing partner at DeSilva & Phillips. “With the shift to digital, more profit is dropping to the bottom line.” Penton is making a decided shift to more digitally oriented services. It recently acquired Nine Lives Media, a group of three online destinations, including the blog Talkin’ Cloud. Nine Lives will become part of Penton’s Technology Group, which publishes Windows IT Pro. Earlier this year, Penton acquired digital consultancy Eye Traffic to boost its marketing services offerings. In addition to acquiring Nine Lives, Penton was also a seller in August. After the company announced that it was closing American Printer, Output Links stepped up to buy the brand. “When we heard it was going to shut down, our team felt this print industry icon deserved to live. So we bought it. And now we look forward to giving it new life and extending its services through our global platform,” Andy and Julie Plata, co-CEOs of OutputLinks, said in a statement. Despite sluggish overall economic growth and the lingering threat of a double-dip recession, industry observers see “They’re seeing less dependence on advertising and they’re shifting to digital. With the shift to digital, more profit is dropping to the bottom line.” Reed Phillips, managing partner, DeSilva & Phillips continued deal flow in the months ahead, especially for companies that have expanded their presence in online, event and data businesses. “The b-to-b media companies that have made themselves into content companies, where now they deliver content with all of the new digital tools, those companies are very valuable,” said Roland DeSilva, managing partner of DeSilva & Phillips. “They’re being sought after.” With these improvements and an economy that is stronger than it was in 2008 and 2009, sellers are finally able to command reasonable prices, DeSilva said. “The companies selling in this market are getting fair prices and not the discounted prices like a lot of companies have gotten in the last couple of years,” he said. While industry observers remain optimistic about M&A activity in the near term, it wouldn’t take much to darken that forecast. One black cloud on the horizon is the credit market, which had stabilized but has become roiled by the recent gyrations in the global economic outlook. “Credit markets are pretty uneasy right now, especially in the last few weeks with the upheaval in the stock market,” 1105 Media’s Vitale said. Cross-Platform Integration Powerful Tool for Publishers Let Texterity help build your brand, attract subscribers, grow communities, archive back issues, and open up new advertising opportunities. Texterity’s affordable “Total Mobility” package includes a digital edition, mobile web, iPhone, iPad, and Android apps. Find out more today! Call 508-804-3000 or 800-455-5450 Visit www.texterity.com/info-request mediabusinessonline.com | September 2011 | Media Business | 9 http://www.texterity.com/info-request http://www.texterity.com/info-request http://www.mediabusinessonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BtoB Media Business - September 2011

BtoB Media Business - September 2011
Table of Contents
Outsell report bodes well for b-to-b media
Companies plan for growth amid economic uncertainty
Dealmaking picks up, raising hopes of a comeback
Sales & Marketing
Events
Audience Development
Production
People
Benchmarks
How SourceMedia transformed its operations

BtoB Media Business - September 2011