BtoB Media Business - October 2011 - (Page 5)

“Everyone talks about an integrated offering, but the fact is that it’s usually siloed.” Elliot Markowitz, senior VP-director of editorial content, Ziff Davis Enterprise Page 7 IBM pushing analytics services in media sector BY SEAN CALLAHAN Last month, Madrid-based Prisa Media Group announced it will use IBM Corp. analytics software and services to improve, among other things, its ability to personalize content in real time. The announcement is the latest sign of how serious IBM is about penetrating the broad media market around the globe with its expanding analytics offerings. Over the past several years, the company has invested heavily in this market. It has made a series of acquisitions that include Unica, a developer of marketing campaign automation software; SPSS, which offers Buying spree IBM Corp. has aggressively made acquisitions of analytics software companies, expanding their services aimed at the communications industry. Company Unica SPSS Cognos Date August 2010 July 2009 January 2008 Cost $480 million $1.2 billion $4.9 billion software for predictive analysis; and Cognos, a provider of business intelligence software. These deals were aimed, in part, at moving deeper into the media market and providing media companies with a better understanding McGraw-Hill split raises questions about value, timing, C-suite BY SEAN CALLAHAN When McGraw-Hill Cos. announced its plan to split the company in two last month, the move raised many questions. First, how would the market react to the plan that would create two new public companies: McGraw-Hill Markets and McGrawHill Education? In the first several days of trading, the market’s reaction was emphatically positive. The company’s share price jumped 17% as the market cheered the proposed creation of McGraw-Hill Education, which under the plan will become an independent business operating in the K-12, higher education and professional education markets. The other half of the company, McGrawHill Markets, will comprise Standard & Poor’s, Platts, J.D. Power and Associates, McGraw-Hill Construction and the Aviation Week brand. Harold “Terry” McGraw III, currently chairman and president-CEO of McGraw-Hill Cos., will hold the same title at McGraw-Hill Markets. Second, the announcement raised questions about the split signaling the end of McGraw’s hold on the CEO position. Others see the move as a sign of his security as the head of the newly created McGraw-Hill Markets. “If you would have asked me that two weeks ago, maybe,” Mike Parker, managing director of AdMedia Partners, said when asked whether McGraw’s tenure was in danger of ending. “But now the board has been willing to give Terry and other members of the management team a fair chance. So the answer is probably not at this point.” Third, some questioned why the splitting off of McGraw-Hill’s education business wasn’t done earlier. Ultimately, the move to separate the education unit was at least 20 years in the making. McGraw-Hill has been looking to find a home for its education business for decades, said Robert Crosland, an industry consultant. In 1989, McGraw-Hill took one step out of the education business by merging its textbook publishing business with Macmillan Inc. to form a joint venture called Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Co. At the time, the deal created the secondlargest textbook publisher in the U.S. The joint venture went sour when Robert Maxwell, the owner of Macmillan, died under mysterious circumstances in 1991 and his publishing empire, which included Macmillan, was liquidated. McGraw-Hill, taking advantage of an attractive price, eventually made a full-fledged re-entry into the education business by buying Macmillan in 1993 for a fraction of what Maxwell had paid for it five years earlier. of how their content is being used online and how to deliver it more efficiently and profitably. “The world is going to continue to produce more and more content,” said Steve Canepa, general manager of IBM’s Global Media and Entertainment Industry division. Canepa said IBM can aid media companies with many different aspects of their businesses. It can help with virtualization and the cloud, work-flow automation, understanding meta-data and analytics, he said. Media organizations are using IBM’s analytics software in a number of ways. Dutch broadcaster RTL Nederland is using it to analyze social media buzz. CyberAgent of Japan is using it to gain insight into bloggers. And the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Innovation Lab uses it to monitor Twitter to gauge buzz and predict a movie’s opening weekend performance. Canepa said IBM’s technology can also be used by a video game company to help retain customers. For instance, if a gamer is having trouble moving from level three to level four in a game, the game company can intervene with tips or point the user to social media sites that can help. AGENDA OCT. 24–25 ABM Executive Forum 2011 American Business Media Intercontinental Chicago www.americanbusinessmedia.com NOV. 7 Pearl Awards Custom Content Council Guastavino’s, New York www.customcontentcouncil.com NOV. 9 ABM Mobile Drill Down American Business Media New York Academy of Sciences www.americanbusinessmedia.com NOV. 10 ‘BtoB’s’ Best Awards BtoB Edison Ballroom, New York www.btobonline.com mediabusinessonline.com | October 2011 | Media Business | 5 http://www.americanbusinessmedia.com http://www.customcontentcouncil.com http://www.americanbusinessmedia.com http://www.btobonline.com http://www.mediabusinessonline.com

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

BtoB Media Business - October 2011
Contents
McGraw-Hill Split Raises a Number of Questions
Who's Who in Business Publishing
Virtual Events are Moving Beyond the Booth
Sales & Marketing
M&A
Audience Development
Production
Benchmarks
How to Keep Up as B-to-B Media Transforms

BtoB Media Business - October 2011