Min's B to B articles from December 2003

Min's B to B archives from December 2003

B2B Profit & Loss: Eying High Single-Digit Growth in '04, RBI Parent Plans to Invest in a Better Tomorrow.
December 8, 2003... A lot of B2B publishers have done just about all they can to pare costs from their operations. Now it's time to start investing in the future. Case in point is Reed Business Information/LexisNexis parent Reed Elsevier, which last week, in its...

Getting New Business: Fairchild Weekly Ferrets Out Untapped Ad Sectors With B2B/Consumer "Hybrid" Book.
December 8, 2003... It's not the first time the fashion/apparel/style/design powerhouse has used limited-frequency magazine spinoffs to target new ad spending; Fairchild Publications' DNR line extension, the quarterly Menswear, has found new readers--and new...

Is Digital Distribution a Winning Proposition for Advertisers, Readers, Too?
December 8, 2003... Guest Commentary by Bob Carrigan/Computerworld Many publishers today are experimenting with new forms of digital distribution, which is raising some compelling questions and concerns. When publishers save money by cutting print...

B2B Boxscores (October): Short Reprieve in Accelerating Losses Is Over in Developer/Tech.
December 8, 2003... When last we looked at the Developer/Technical sector (see min's b2b, 11/10/03), we noted that, while year-to-date results were still down big-time, there had been modest improvement in month-vs.-month performance. Perhaps we were grasping at...

B2B New Media Report: Publisher, Contextualize Thyself.
December 8, 2003... Shore Communications (www.shore.com) analyst Janice McCallum offers B2B publishers an interesting twist to the contextual advertising model we looked at two columns ago (see "Publishers Ogle Split Fees from Contextual Ads on Search Engines Like...

B2B Boxscores (October): Off Month Makes Healthcare a Bit Less Hale & Hearty.
December 8, 2003... We've been singing the praises of the healthcare/pharmaceutical magazines lately (see min's b2b, 11/17/03, et seq.), but the tune is a little less sweet after an uncharacteristically slow October. While the category's September ad pages were...

Pulse of the Industry: Is Media Optimism Fact, Fiction, or Fantasy?
December 8, 2003... It was clear from last month's American Business Media-sponsored Top Management Meeting in Chicago that B2B executives are--or want to be--cautiously optimistic about their near-term business prospects. Less clear was whether there is genuine...

B2B People on the Move.
December 8, 2003... A year after joining Ziff Davis Media, Derek Irwin last Wednesday (December 3) was promoted to chief financial officer, taking some of the load off chief operating officer Bart Catalane, who had been CFO/COO. Irwin (ex-TMP/American League of...

Procrastinators Reprieved as ABM Extends Neal Awards Entry Deadline to Dec. 12.
December 8, 2003... Many B2B editors who hit publishing deadlines like clockwork are master procrastinators in other pursuits. With that in mind, American Business Media has extended the deadline for entries to the 50th Annual Jesse H. Neal National Business...

B2B Stockwatch: Return to Market Parity Spells Good News (Sort Of) for B2B.
December 8, 2003... In light of recent weeks when nearly all out B2B group suffered declines, this week's mixed bag of six up/five down isn't so bad. (It also mirrors the market performance of all media companies, where a Comcast has inched up with word of a new...

B2B Corporate Succession: Krakoff Drops CEO Duties, Will Redouble M&A Efforts As Advanstar Chairman...
December 15, 2003... There's good news and bad news in B2B M&A: Advanstar chairman/CEO Bob Krakoff has relinquished his CEO title to COO Joseph Loggia, and will now turn his full-time attention toward trawling for acquisitions. This suggests that the company,...

...While COO Joe Loggia, "Adopted" Via '98 MAGIC Buy, Takes Over CEO Reins.
December 15, 2003... He turned heads by working executive management magic with what was once the troubled MAGIC International trade show unit, Krakoff tells us, and he's had the full confidence of Advanstar management and its Hellman & Friedman capital backers...

B2B Goings & Comings: Fast-Changing Electronics Market Claims CMP's Oldest Magazine...
December 15, 2003... For more than 30 years, CMP Media has been known for its expertise in publishing for a high-tech audience. So why would it knowingly close the first title it ever launched, announce a new title that would be monthly instead of weekly, and...

...But Those Same Global Changes Foster New Supply-Chain Launch Set for April.
December 15, 2003... Nevertheless, life goes on. The history of CMP (and of its principal competitors, International Data Group and Ziff Davis Media) is replete with rapid-fire magazine startups and closings in response to changing market conditions. Enter...

B2B Boxscores (October): Month Shows Gains, But YTD Power Drain Remains in Electronics.
December 15, 2003... When a B2B category is down in double-digits month after month, we sometimes try to find silver linings to make things seem less grim. Call it a public service to beleaguered publishers-- even though it comes too late for CMP Media, which last...

B2B New Media Report: Drawing Self-Targeted Buyers Gives CNet More Conversions Than the Dalai Lama.
December 15, 2003... Well, maybe not more conversions than the world's trendiest Tibetan, but the tech network often used by gearheads and IT pros is beating the pants off of all the major search engines when it comes to transforming visitors into buyers. According...

B2B Boxscores (October): Banking/Finance Books Book Third Straight Month of Spending Gains.
December 15, 2003... Advertising cutbacks, corporate scandals, and bank consolidation have all taken their toll on our 21 CMR-tracked Banking/Finance titles in recent months. Those pressures may not end soon, either. But there is a kernel of encouragement in...

B2B Launchpad: CMP Is Seeing Stars in ECS Market.
December 15, 2003... Speaking of rapid-fire launches amid changing market conditions, CMP Media has another startup debuting this month, although this one begins as a quarterly. Launching under the auspices of CRN and EETimes, Embedded Computing Solutions claims...

B2B Boxscores (October): Engineers Hope Reduced Losses May Be Foundation for Recovery.
December 15, 2003... The Electronics group isn't the only place where a major player is being taken out of action due to folding a title or consolidation (see stories elsewhere in this issue). The Engineering sector is also at a bit of a crossroads following...

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December 15, 2003... For years, print magazines like Time and Newsweek have used free or discounted school distribution to cultivate their paying readers of tomorrow. Now Dow Jones is trying something similar. Wall Street Journal Online will provide 3,000 graduate...

B2B People on the Move.
December 15, 2003... At McGraw-Hill Cos., Tony Velocci last week was promoted to editor-in-chief of Aviation Week & Space Technology as well as editorial director of the Aviation Week Group. The promotion takes effect February 1. Velocci succeeds David North, who...

B2B Stockwatch: Little Market Impact Found Although Rosy Spending Outlooks Abound.
December 15, 2003... It's yearend outlook season, and various financial concerns in recent days have issued their usual upbeat (and sometimes overblown) projections for advertising spending in the months ahead. The onslaught began with Nielsen Media Research 10...

B2B Executive Management: Integrating Healthcare Media, Keeping Clear Focus Top New Advanstar CEO's To-Do List...
December 22, 2003... Newly installed Advanstar CEO Joe Loggia may not be a publishing natural--his background is in trade shows--but it sounds like he's mastered B2B. "I've learned that the biggest challenge in business publishing is constantly staying one step...

...And Trade Shows Need to Underscore Customer Value.
December 22, 2003... While exhibitor sales and attendance have been off at many trade shows in recent years, Loggia says Advanstar's extensive trade show holdings are not a source of worry for him. "On the contrary," he says, "we're fortunate to have very strong...

BIN Spin: Are October Spending Gains a Miracle--Or a Statistical Mirage?
December 22, 2003... The unsettling trend of ad spending inching up while ad pages decline continued in October, according to monthly Business Information Network figures released by American Business Media. October ad spending grew 3.3% even as ad pages fell...

B2B Profit & Loss: VNU Hits Guidance Targets, Laments Weak Results in Ad- Supported Media.
December 22, 2003... Despite 2003 cash earnings growth per share within range of its earlier 6% to 9% projections, VNU last Tuesday (December 16) said it expected that reported cash earnings per share would decrease between 18% and 21%. Factors include a weaker...

B2B Boxscores (October): Foodservice Bounty Grows Even As Pace Slows.
December 22, 2003... When we last examined the crucial Foodservice group (min's b2b, 11/24/03), several consecutive months of relative growth had slowed to a crawl. That reversal continues in the October numbers here, where 31 Foodservice titles (two fewer than...

B2B Circ Quirks: Target Audience Facelift Gets Events Solutions Closer to Clients, Opens New Ad Horizons.
December 22, 2003... Circulation is one of the hardest things to get right in B2B, but overhauling your complete file--eliminating some longtime regulars and adding many newcomers--can take a cast-iron stomach. Not only is it expensive and time-consuming, but, for...

B2B New Media Boxscores: Waning Aphid Crisis Eases Early Ag Gains, But Events Programming Signals Cygnus Gains.
December 22, 2003... After a shaky September, B2B eyeballs seemed to settle back into their usual Web habits in October. Most sectors registered double-digit page-view gains and modest audience expansion with some notable exceptions. Agriculture readers preferred...

B2B People on the Move.
December 22, 2003... The Wall Street Journal has promoted Michael Sheehan to VP/circulation; production director Larry Hoffman succeeds him as VP/production. Also, Liberta Abbondante has agreed to leave as Forbes' VP/circulation to become VP/circulation marketing...

B2B Stockwatch: The More We Learn, the Less We Know.
December 22, 2003... About the only thing last week's market action--a frenzied run-up in prices followed by a mild retreat--teaches us is how little we really know about the stock market. Early in the week, a tide of positive economic news, including a...

Gone Ice Fishin': Next Issue of min's B2B: Monday, January 5th.
December 22, 2003... There's no place like home for the holidays , and that's why we won't be publishing next week. With many B2B executives forecasting better days ahead, we'll start checking progress on their projections when we return with our next issue, dated...