BtoB Media Business - November 2009 - (Page 6)

ABM EXECUTIVE FORUM Brill, others encouraged by b-to-b media outlook BY SEAN CALLAHAN Rohanna Mertens Several speakers gave what amounted to pep talks for a beleaguered b-to-b media industry at the American Business Media Executive Forum in New York earlier this month. Tom Haas, CMO of Siemens, provided some good news for the publishers in the audience when he revealed that his company’s new branding campaign, which was launched in September, amounted to a “fourfold” increase over last year’s corporate advertising spending. For the campaign, Siemens is using a variety of media, including television, radio and print. Haas said that about onethird of the campaign budget will be spent in digital media. Steven Brill, a co-founder of Journalism Online, an organization designed to help newspapers and other publications get paid for their online content, also had some good news for b-to-b media companies. He estimated that 10% of the users of a typical publication would pay for online content and that publishers could likely maintain more than 90% of digital ad revenue. Not everyone, however, bought into Brill’s assurances. From the audience, Mitch Rouda, managing partner of the Business Media Consulting Group, questioned the assumption that paid digital content was an attainable or even desirable goal for controlled-circulation publications. Brill responded, “I think controlled circulation, by and large, is dead.” The next speaker, Jeremy Miller, an assistant professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, returned to the theme of positive messages for b-to-b media. He said that his students remained very upbeat about entering journalism. “They are excited,” he said, adding that the next generation of journalists has grown up in a wireless world and views online social networking, tweeting and creating video reports as parts of their job. He cautioned, however, that they have also grown up in a world that rewards “participation” and doesn’t demand excellence. Rick Segal, CEO-North America at advertising agency GyroHSR, offered the most comforting view of b-to-b media. After pointing out that McGraw-Hill Cos.’ Engineering News-Record has been around since 1874 and Steven Brill, co-founder of Journalism Online, said during remarks at ABM’s Executive Forum that he believes business publishers can charge for content and maintain most of their digital ad revenue. survived many economic downturns, Segal said pessimism about the future of b-to-b media was premature. ENR has survived, Segal said, “because it never lost sight of the only reason that anyone ever valued a media brand—because of its twin powers of observation and connectivity.” B-to-b media brands still possess the ability to observe and report on the industries they serve and connect buyers and sellers, he said. Segal offered several ways that publishers can harness the Internet’s power. For instance, he suggested that b-to-b brands hire the best bloggers in their industries and host them on their own Web sites. Speakers address challenges of monetizing content This month’s ABM Executive Forum offered several cleareyed assessments of the challenges involved in a traditional b-to-b media company’s attempting to introduce paid content or data businesses. With print advertising revenue down about 30% across the board this year, many business media companies have contemplated entering the subscription data business. In her remarks at the forum, Anthea Stratigos, CEO of analyst firm Outsell (itself a paid-content business), cautioned that data businesses may not be as attractive as they seem at first glance—even though creating a new revenue stream is tempting. Stratigos pointed out that b-to-b trade publication advertising is expected to grow at a 4% compound annual growth rate between 2009 and 2012, according to Outsell estimates. In the same time frame, Stratigos said, legal and tax information businesses are expected to grow at a lesser rate, 3.5%. She also said there will likely be more data businesses entering the market in 2010, which could drive down prices. She also cautioned that sales staffs for marketing programs and for subscription data businesses “are two different animals.” Additionally, with few exceptions—Hearst Business Media being one—most b-to-b media companies that have data divisions, such as Randall-Reilly’s Equipment Data Associates, have acquired the businesses rather than launched them. “It can be done,” Stratigos said, “but it takes deep pockets.” Megan St. John, managing director of InfoCommerce Group, was more optimistic. She presented five general categories where b-to-b media companies could potentially launch paid content businesses: locate (buying guides, directories); buy/sell (lead generation); evaluate (audit and risk analysis, rating services); benchmark (industry benchmarks); and organize (registries and root datasets). St. John stressed, “Know the customer and how the customer uses the data.” Finally, Mike Lonier, CIO of The Deal LLC, discussed how his own company launched The Deal Pipeline last year. The launch transformed the company from an advertising and individual subscription business to one that sells seat licenses for enterprise level customers. Lonier said The Deal hoped to double its revenue from endusers within a year of the launch and it has essentially accomplished that goal. But it took a massive development job to transform The Deal’s content from a magazine-style Web site to one with the deep, searchable content of a database, he said. “Our history (as a print publication) is both an asset and something you have to manage,” Lonier said. —S.C. 6 | Media Business | November 2009 | mediabusinessonline.com http://www.mediabusinessonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BtoB Media Business - November 2009

BtoB Media Business - November 2009
Contents
ABM Executive Forum looks to the Future
Who’s Who in Business Publishing
Custom Content Expertise Back in Style
Sales & Marketing
M&A
Events
Audience Development
People
Benchmarks
Tech Media’s Decade-Long Transformation

BtoB Media Business - November 2009