Min's B to B articles from December 2004

Min's B to B archives from December 2004

BIN Spin: Is Every Step Forward Matched By Two Steps Back?
December 6, 2004... Over the year, there's been sporadic talk in the media press of an advertising rebound that never quite seems to come. Reports usually come in fits and spurts, and every step forward seems to be countered by one step--and sometimes two--back....

M&A Recap: On the Ascent, Ascend Media Expands Healthcare/Medical Presence with EVW Buy.
December 6, 2004... In our 2004 M&A preview (min's b2b, 1/12/04), we suggested that Ascend Media, among others, likely would be on the hunt for tack-on acquisitions in its health/medical media core. Early last week, the company made us look good, completing its...

Executive Research: Forbes.com: C-level Brass OK Some Extra Spending, but KO Accountability Lapses.
December 6, 2004... B2B media companies looking for an extra surge from incremental advertising outlays may find hope in FORBES.COM's latest C-level research findings, the fifth in a series. But those uncomfortable with the demands of heightened advertising...

Boxscores (September): More Double-Digit Gains Hit the Books in Busy Banking/Finance Fold.
December 6, 2004... It's unwise to reach too many sweeping conclusions based on the industry snapshots provided by a B2B category's monthly Boxscores, but a look at our Banking/Finance data--complete through the first three quarters of 2004--suggests why...

B2B New Media Boxscores: Back to Work--Office Eyeballs Return to the Web in September.
December 6, 2004... After an unusually good summer for business information traffic, B2B publishers got an additional boost from the traditional September bounce-back as office Web usage patterns returned to normal. Among other beneficiaries was min's b2b...

TechTargets Gets a Java Jolt--and We Don't Mean from Starbucks.(The ServerSide Communities, acquired last Tuesday software vendor Veritas)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... As if seeing the hometown Boston Red Sox unseat the hated New York Yankees en route to their first World Series since World War I wasn't enough excitement, TechTarget is now also getting to use a new capital infusion to expand its role in...

Boxscores (September): Foodservice Fades in the Fall.
December 6, 2004... Unfortunately for some publishers, our three-quarter report on our 30 foodservice titles isn't nearly as upbeat as our review of Banking/Finance books. The pressures being seen in food retailing and wholesaling--namely, fewer manufacturers,...

B2B Stockwatch: With '05 Looming, 66% of Our B2Bs Boast YTD Market Gains.
December 6, 2004... In last month's presidential election, George Bush scored points in some quarters for a moderately improving economy. You can't always prove that by B2B publishers, but the year so far has been fairly kind to our group of 11 publicly traded...

M&A Monitor: Spurt in Sponsored White Papers Sparks TechTarget/Bitpipe Union.(mergers and acquisitions)
December 13, 2004... Just because ad pages may not be growing significantly in many B2B categories doesn't mean there isn't substantial advertising/marketing dollars changing hands. Case in point is the growing infotech business of sponsored white papers. This is...

Five-Year B2B Financials Review Pegs "Average" '03 Pub Revenue at $2.8M.
December 13, 2004... It turns out that B2B publishers who felt they were losing money--lots of it, sometimes--in recent years weren't just imagining things. According to a new study on financials and profitability, B2B publication revenue has declined in each year...

Media Association Head Salary Survey: Is ABP's Gordon Hughes Underpaid?(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... They say you can make a nice living in association work. That certainly seems to be the case in Internal Revenue Service compensation data, compiled by Crain Communications' Advertising Age (12/6/04), for 25 not-for-profit media industry trade...

B2B Launches: Penton, Thomson End Old Year With New Offerings.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... Two B2B media companies are getting a head start ringing in the new. Penton Custom Media is retooling its signature Web site to help B2B marketers enhance their marketing efforts and build more profitable customer relationships through custom...

M&A Briefs.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... Last Monday, Ziff Davis Media acquired Palo Alto, CA-based DeviceForge LLC, a privately-held vertical online B2B media company. Their offerings target developers and executives involved in the development and design of business and consumer...

B2B Boxscores (September): At Q3 Mark, Broadcast/Video Inches Up on YTD Gains.
December 13, 2004... More and more frequently, we seem to be seeing in B2B what is on display in three-quarter advertising results for our 14-title Broadcast/Video group: there may not be many home runs, but there also aren't many titles going over the cliff...

Boxscores (September): Government B2B Sector Shows No Signs of Election Season Spending Surge.
December 13, 2004... Fall advertising in election years usually surges across a range of media as politicians and causes seek to get their word out. However, nothing of the kind was evident in September results for our seven Government titles, which collectively...

B2B Research: Government Sector Also Dominates B2B Media.
December 13, 2004... George Bush and many other prominent Republicans have campaigned for smaller government in our lives, but one place where government dominates is in B2B. According to a B2B media sector survey that is part of Jordan Edmiston Group, Inc.'s...

B2B Boxscores (September): Monthly Gains Improve Third-Quarter Lie for Some in Vertical/Special Interest Field.
December 13, 2004... Our Vertical/Special Interest group is a pretty eclectic lot, but many of the 15 titles have at least one thing in common: a pretty-good-to-excellent September has them on a favorable course to post good overall 2004 numbers. Indeed, four...

B2B People on the Move.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... With longtime editor (since 1984) Steve Shepard moving on to academia next spring (see last week's issue), BusinessWeek (December 6) named Wall Street Journal deputy managing editor Stephen Adler, 49, to succeed him. The 16-year WSJ veteran...

B2B Stockwatch.(Illustration)
December 13, 2004... Based on Thursday's Market Close (12/9/04) Company Symbol Close 1 Week % Chg. YTD %Chg Dow Jones & Co. DJ 41.09 -3.20% -16.07% Elsevier N.V. ENL 26.75 -0.74% ...

B2B M&A Monitor: Ascend Hits Paydirt Again, Ratchets Up Size of Company Via Medical World Buy.(Ascend Media)(Medical World Communications)
December 20, 2004... Media acquisition activity often quiets down going into the holidays. Not so this year with Overland Park, KS-based Ascend Media, which made M&A headlines for the third time in little more than a month last Thursday when it inked an agreement...

B2B Advertising Research: Key Ad Categories--No Fast Start to End of a Slow Year.
December 20, 2004... It remains to be seen whether the fourth quarter of 2004 will produce any of the change in B2B category revenue rankings seen upon completion of the third (when Healthcare/Pharmaceutical leapfrogged past Advertising & Marketing into the #7...

B2B Boxscores (October): Few Early Signs that Healthcare/Rx Books Will Repeat Third-Quarter Growth Spurt in Q4.(Illustration)
December 20, 2004... As we mentioned in our September review of key B2B advertising categories, Healthcare/Pharmaceutical had one of the stronger third-quarter adpage/ad-revenue quarters among the groups we monitor. (On the strength of its Q3 performance, the group...

B2B Strategy: After Its Cadence Conquest, 'Integration' Is More than a Buzzword for Advanstar's Cadalyst.
December 20, 2004... When Dana Fisher, who had been publisher of Advanstar Communications' Cadalyst computer-aided design and spatial technology monthly from 1991-'98, returned to its helm in the summer of 2003, she was surprised to see how little had changed. "We...

Boxscores (October): Winter Is Here, and Developer/Tech Sector Is Still Ice Cold.
December 20, 2004... The Developers/Technical B2B magazine category used to be one of the hottest sectors we tracked. No more. In October advertising results for 15 key groups we follow (see story, page 1), Developers/Tech posted the second worst year-to-date ad...

High-Tech Publishing Briefs.
December 20, 2004... The highly publicized lunar eclipse earlier this year wasn't the only eclipse people are examining. In its December 1 issue, BZ Media's semi-monthly SD Times includes a "Spotlight on Eclipse" supplement devoted to how in a few short years...

Boxscores (October).(Illustration)
December 20, 2004... ENGINEERING AD PAGES AND REVENUES (January-October) Ad Pages Ad Pages % Chg. PUBLICATIONS YTD 2004 YTD 2003 YTD 1 Advanced Imaging ...

B2B People on the Move.(appointments)(Brief Article)
December 20, 2004... It looks like it's going to be a Merry Christmas at CMP Media for Dan Dignam and Bob DeMarzo, both of whom start new assignments Jan. 1. Dignam, formerly associate publisher of VARBusiness, becomes publisher of CRN. Meanwhile, DeMarzo--onetime...

B2B Stockwatch: Few Public B2Bs Will Get Coal in the Stockings.
December 20, 2004... It's our last B2B Stockwatch of the year, and while we can't quite say all is well, things aren't at all bad. Nine of our 11 companies are up in yearto-date results, six in double figures or (in the case of JupiterMedia) better. Primedia is...