Min's B to B articles from February 2003

Min's B to B archives from February 2003

Push to Delay Next USPS Rate Hike Until 2006 May Have Hit Roadblock.
February 3, 2003... American Business Media's hope that Congress would pass a resolution to reduce the United States Postal Service retirement costs and delay the next postal rate hike to 2006 may have been dashed late last week as a Congressional Budget Office...

min's b2b Box Score Sectors End 2002 With Deep Ad Page/$$$ Deficits.(various publishing sectors)(Illustration)
February 3, 2003... In prelude to our exclusive, year-end B2B group publishers' report, this week min's b2b tallies the 2002 results for the 13 B2B book sectors tracked by CMR's Adscope division. (See chart below.) While 4Q may have provided B2B publishers with a...

Cygnus Bulks Up on Trade Shows With $5M Purchase from Penton.(Penton Media sold trade shows to Cygnus Business Media's Exposition unit)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... In a move to dump more debt-laden, "non-core" properties, Penton Media last week sold 26 regional industrial/manufacturing trade shows to Cygnus Business Media's Exposition unit. The selling price, which neither company would reveal, has been...

B2B Newcomer J&S Media Takes-Off With Aviator's Guide Debut.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... While bigger B2B media firms continue to wait on quarterly profits to bounce back before making any moves, small entrepreneurial B2B publishers have taken to the forefront with new innovative products and ideas. Evidence is Long Island-based...

Box Scores: Developer Titles Flop in 2002 As Ad Pages/$$$ Drop by Double-Digits.(advertising expenditures way down)
February 3, 2003... Thanks to a lousy economy and the threat of war looming, the developer sector (-24.84% ad pages YTD/-21.73% ad revenues YTD) ended double-digit down for 2002, per Adscope. Only two titles, DB2 Magazine (+11.91% YTD/+19.85% YTD) and CMP Media's...

Vert/Special Interest Sector Comes Up Short in '02; Reseller Reels (Again).
February 3, 2003... Adscope's vertical/special interest titles (-7.60% ad pages YTD/-3.75% ad revenues YTD) came up short in 2002 as last minute ad page (+0.35%) and ad spending (+20.29%) increases in December proved too little, too late. Top winners for the year...

Eye on New Media: WorkForce.com: What Do You Want to Know Today?(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... It's only obvious in retrospect, but this year's award winner for Best Integration with Print in min's Best of the Web Awards, human resources trade brand WorkForce.com, has a very simple approach to online/offline synergy. Rather than simply...

New Arrivals: Cows Starve but Vid Geeks Feast on New Sites.(online media )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... We can only hope that Farm Journal Media's Beef Today tried to nab Moo.com for its new Web site. Actually, the URL is taken by a digital document consultant, which BeefToday.com might have hired to jazz up its uninspired site. It is part of the...

Stock Watch: With War Looming, Investors Retreat on B2B Media.
February 3, 2003... Investors' war worries led to Wall Street weaknesses for B2B media, as stock watch finished with nine down and three up for the week. McGraw-Hill (+2.60% FTW, $58.43/-3.30% YTD) topped the ticker after its board of directors approved the...

Bankrupt Key3Media Banks On Private Backers to Keep Trade Shows Going...(Key3Media Group Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2003... After months of speculation as to the fate of Key3Media, the troubled tech trade show producer last week finally filed for bankruptcy protection. At the same time, K3M announced a reorganization plan backed by the private equity arm of Thomas...

... As JupiterMedia CEO Alan Meckler Attempts To Take Out COMDEX.(the Computer Digital Expo Fall will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 11/03)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2003... Don't tell that to JupiterMedia's CEO Alan Meckler, who recently announced the launch of Computer Digital Expo Fall to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada Nov. 17-21. The show will directly compete against K3M flagship COMDEX. While Rosen shrugged...

Print, Print Hooray! Printing News Celebrates 75 Years and Counting...(Cynus Business Media celebrates the 75th anniversary of Printing News)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2003... While many B2B publishers faced the difficult choice of having to close the book on a number of titles, Cygnus Business Media was celebrating the 75th anniversary of Printing News last week. Launched in 1928, PN has "changed significantly over...

CMP Media Shutters Another; Is New Architect the Last?(Brief Article)
February 10, 2003... CMP Media last week announced plans to shutter New Architect (formerly Web Techniques) after the March issue. After a redesign, name change and refiguring circulation several times, CMP officials decided to pull the plug on NA (circ....

Reprint Services and iCopyright Combine To Create RSiCopyright.(Brief Article)
February 10, 2003... In a move to add clients and bulk up services, B2B custom publisher Reprint Services last week purchased iCopyright Instant Clearance Service for an undisclosed sum. The deal merges both St. Paul, Minn.-based firms under the new moniker...

Box Scores: Aero/Defense Books Bomb in 2002; Gov. Sector's YTD Tallies Fall Short.
February 10, 2003... Even as war worries over Iraq led to ballooning military budgets, aerospace/defense books ended 2002 on a negative note (-19.13% ad pages YTD/-13.01% ad revenues YTD). Still, half of all titles tracked by Adscope--led by such books as Military...

Electronic Books Fizzle in 2002 As December Adds Another Loss.(electronic publishing ad page information for 2002)
February 10, 2003... Adscope's electronic sector's ad pages (-24.42%) and ad spending (-28.11%) dimmed in December, finishing double-digit down in 2002 (-28.74% ad pages YTD/-21.58% ad revenues YTD). Only Information Display (-0.58% YTD/-0.59% YTD) ended even for...

Eye on New Media: The December Dip.(12/03 traffic for online business publishers)
February 10, 2003... No surprise in the December traffic for business publishers. (See chart below.) With fewer workdays in this holiday month, and even office-bound surfers tending to slip off the reservation to e-commerce sites, B2B traffic always suffers. The...

2003 Traffic Growth: Monetizing a Maturing Market.
February 10, 2003... The age of predictable double- and triple-digit Web traffic growth is long gone, at least in the business press, but we were surprised to see how many sites in the most mature online B2B sectors actually lost substantial traffic in 2003. In...

Editor's Note: min's b2b Year-End Publisher Report Pushed Back.
February 10, 2003... Due to technical difficulties, part one of min's b2b exclusive year-end group publisher report, which was expected to be released in this week's issue will instead appear the following week (Feb. 17). We thank you for understanding and...

Stock Watch: Bottom Falls Out of B2B Media For Week.
February 10, 2003... B2B media stocks fell for the third week in a row as stock watch finished with two up and 10 down for the week. Winners were few and far between as Alan Meckler's JupiterMedia (+7.14% FTW, $2.85/YTD % n/a)--formerly INT Media--was joined by the...

Editor's Note: Sign Up Now for min's b2b's Exclusive 'Trade Show Challenges and Changes' Webinar...(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... Join us on April 1 as min's b2b presents "Power Shift: How to Meet New Challenges and Changes in the B2B Trade Show Industry." This one-of-a-kind Webinar will show you how to rebuild your trade show business and provide key strategies for...

min's b2b Exclusive Review of B2B Group Publishers' 2002 Vs. 2001 Ad Pages/$$$: 101's Government IT Books Capitalize on Homeland Security Spending/Terrorism Concerns.(a list of the ad pages in 2002 and 2001 for various titles)(Illustration)
February 17, 2003... The min's b2b exclusive review of B2B group publishers returns with Part One of our ad page/revenue report for 2002 versus 2001 (see chart below), analyzing results from 101communications, Advanstar and CMP Media. Nearly the entire field...

PennWell Adds Homeland Protection To Growing Field of B2B Security Books.(PennWell Publishing plans to launch 'Homeland Protection')(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... Speaking of homeland security, PennWell Publishing recently announced its intent to enter the crowded field of B2B security publications (i.e. Primedia's Government Security, CMP Media's Government Enterprise) with the launch of monthly...

As Losses Lessen in 4Q, Primedia's Rogers Predicts Better Ad Days Ahead.(Primedia reports its fourth quarter results)(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... Primedia ended 2002 in the red as the company last week reported a 4Q loss of $87.4M (34 cents a share) compared with last year's $628.2M deficit ($2.60 a share). Overall, Primedia's 4Q revenue rose to $412.5M (+0.7%) from $409.6M in 2001. ...

Box Scores: CC/Info Sector Sours in 2002; Computers Follow Suit.(corporate computing, information systems)(Illustration)
February 17, 2003... While Adscope's corporate computing and information systems sector may have ended 2002 in the dumps (-13.82 % ad pages YTD/-17.49% ad revenues YTD), December ad pages (-0.82%) ended even, and ad spending (+5.47%) inched up. Among the year's...

'Net Books Stay Cool in 2002, As New Economy Sector Heats Up in December.(a chart of Internet ad pages and revenues in 2002)(Illustration)
February 17, 2003... The free-fall of the Internet sector's ad pages (-37.87% YTD) and ad spending (-29.77% YTD) tracked by Adscope continued in 2002. While all titles tanked for the year, International Data Group's CIO (-4.95% ad pages/-7.83% ad revenues) watched...

B2B People: Movers & Shakers.(publishing industry personnel industry)(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... Last week Crain Communications announced the hire of Nina La France (ex-RHC Media) as corporate circulation manager... Jeff Victor was lifted to publisher of Primedia's Video Systems, Millimeter and SRO Magazine group... Media investment bank...

Eye on New Media.(Primedia relaunches Radio Magazine's Web site)
February 17, 2003... By Steve Smith Primedia Tries a New Frequency in Radio Magazine re-launch In an attempt to redesign its B2B publications both offline and on, Primedia's Web results so far have proved middling with some smart elements. Like its...

Stock Watch: War, Terror and Economic Worries Weaken B2B Media.(stock prices for various companies)
February 17, 2003... B2B media stocks suffered across the board last week as investors continued to grapple with war fears and terror threats. Thanks to fears of cutbacks in school spending on textbooks, Scholastic (-28.30% FTW, $24.49/-31.90% YTD) hurt the worst,...

Editor's Note: Sign Up Now for min's b2b's Exclusive 'Trade Show Challenges and Changes' Webinar...
February 24, 2003... Join us on April 1 as min's b2b presents "Power Shift: How to Meet New Challenges and Changes in the B2B Trade Show Industry." This one-of-a-kind Webinar will show you how to rebuild your trade show business and provide key strategies for...

min's b2b Exclusive 2002 vs. 2001 B2B Group Publishers' Report: Part II: Shrinking Ad Budgets Tank Techies.
February 24, 2003... Part two of min's b2b's exclusive review of B2B group publishers' yearend ad pages/revenues for 2002 vs. 2001 analyzes results from Fawcette, International Data Group, McGraw-Hill, Nelson Publishing and PennWell Publishing. (See chart member...

BIN Busts: True Test for B2B Books to Come in 2003.
February 24, 2003... in 2001 rural district council elections, accused the government of starving them as punishment for Zanu PF's losses. by Chris Gande in Bulawayo Copyright The Daily News. Distributed by All Africa Global Media(AllAfrica.com) News...

Where's the Beef? Farm Journal Media Ups Beef Today Circ., Adds Two New Titles.(Brief Article)
February 24, 2003... The salad days may be over for B2B publishers, however the folks at Farm Journal Media couldn't care less. The company (www.farmjournalmedia.com) last week announced plans to ramp up circulation 150% at flagship title Beef Today to 250K from...

Box Scores: Telecom Troubles Sour Comm/Network Sector in 2002 (-22% $$$).(Illustration)
February 24, 2003... After another tough year for telecom firms, Adscope's communication and networking titles tanked in 2002 (-34.99% ad pages YTD/-22.32% ad revenues YTD). For the month, December ad pages (-16.83%) flopped, as ad spending (+9.97%) perked up,...

Engineering Titles Collapse in 2002 As IT Spending Stays South.
February 24, 2003... Adscope's engineering sector added up double-digit ad page (-20.29% YTD) and ad spending (-17.08% YTD) deficits in 2002, as even December returns (-28.74% ad pages/-27.25% ad revenues) fell far short of poor post-9/11 results. Escaping the fray...

Eye on New Media.
February 24, 2003... By Steve Smith We Want Our B2B TV Okay, so maybe watching jagged online video about server technology is not quite like lapping up the irresistible sleaze that was Fox's "Joe Millionaire," but it may just be the sort of thing that...

Stock Watch: B2B Media Breaks Even.(Illustration)
February 24, 2003... While war worries still weighed on investors' minds, B2B media stocks ended mixed with six up and six down for the week. Primedia (+7.10% FTW, $2.11/+2.40% YTD) led the pack of winners followed by lesser gains at McGraw-Hill (+2.10FTW,...