Min's B to B articles from October 2003

Min's B to B archives from October 2003

USPS: Magazine Audit Bureaus Can Verify Electronic Subs After All.
October 6, 2003... It isn't often that B2B publishers hear good news coming from United States Postal Service. But that's what they heard last Thursday (October 2), when the much-maligned USPS, after much costly delay, agreed to authorize BPA International and...

B2B M&A Monitor: Deal Values Climb in Third Quarter, But the Good Old Days Are Hardly Here Again.
October 6, 2003... Thanks to one Advanstar deal that accounted for 82.8% of dollar volume, third-quarter B2B magazine deal values rose more than fivefold in 2003 versus a dismal Q3 last year. Among other things, this could mean that valuations are beginning to...

B2B Boxscores: July--Things Could Be Worse in Broadcast/Video Vector.(a list of ad pages and revenues for broadcast/video publications)(Illustration)(Industry Overview)
October 6, 2003... When one looks over July and YTD results for our CMR-tracked Broadcast/Video group in light of what's been seen in many other B2B sectors, it's easy to say, "It could've been worse." After all, the 13 titles listed here are actually up in YTD...

B2B Circ Quirks: DNR's Menswear Spinoff Takes It to the (Right) People by Going Where Big Spenders Spend.
October 6, 2003... Publishers everywhere are often looking for new circulation sources to boost revenue (for consumer magazines, at least) and broaden their appeal to advertisers. This search can sometimes lead to strange places; in the case of Fairchild...

B2B Boxscores: July--Nothing Special for Special Interest; Reseller: Hardly Stellar.(ad page counts and revenues for several special interest periodicals)(Illustration)(Industry Overview)
October 6, 2003... In B2B, Special Interest is a rather esoteric category--it could just as easily be called Miscellaneous--embracing everything from Electronic Musician to Sales & Marketing Management to Scientific American. But this eclectic bunch has at least...

B2B New Media Report: Clickstream Analysis: It's All About Getting Into Your User's Mind...
October 6, 2003... One emerging trend in Internet advertising (or at least the chatter among agency types) is considering user "mindset." People come to the Web at different times and with different intents - to perform a task, to do necessary...

...Especially If You Live and Die on Web Reviews...(online product reviews)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... For publications that live and die by the way they review products for professionals, the competitive atmosphere is even tighter online. While most users find their way to PCWorld.com via search engines (17.5% from Google alone), it is clear...

...But Should You Consider "Coopetition" With Your Business Rivals?(brand loyalty online)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... In a truly fragmented mediascape of rampant brand disloyalty (to which the Web surely points), longtime competitors may even have to consider radically new business models, including "coopetition." Is it so outlandish to believe that...

Ranking & Filing: 15 B2Bers Make the Grade Among Forbes' "400" Richest Yanks.
October 6, 2003... It's tough to get rich in the rough climate B2B publishers have faced in recent years. But that's not to say that people with B2B connections are broke. Indeed, in the recently released "Forbes 400" ranking of America's highest networth...

B2B People on the Move.(Tom Pellet appointed VP at Cygnus Expositions)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... At Cygnus Business Media, 30-year trade-show management veteran Tom Pellet last week joined Cygnus Expositions as group VP. Pellet (ex-Society of Petroleum Engineers) teams with fellow group VP Steve Schneiderman (ex-Miller Freeman)--who...

B2B Stockwatch: Like Some Sports Teams, Primedia Goes From Last to First.(Illustration)
October 6, 2003... As many sudden losers know, the stock market can be a pretty volatile place. But Primedia's stock price fragility, rather than market volatility, probably accounts for that currently very newsworthy company's flip-flop from last week's weakest...

B2B M&A Monitor: 1) Highline Gives High-Fives As It Bags NUCO in First B2B Buy.(Highline Media acquires National Underwriter Co.)
October 13, 2003... With the largest single-loss event ever (the 9/11 terrorist atrocities and their $40B+ insurance tab) largely behind it, the insurance industry is poised for a sustained period of growth in both revenues and earnings. At least that's the...

2) PBI Subscribes to Cable World As Primedia Sheds Another Asset.(PBI Media completes its purchase of 'Cable World' from Primedia)(Brief Article)
October 13, 2003... As expected, Veronis, Suhler Stevenson unit PBI Media last Tuesday closed on its purchase of the weekly Cable World, from Primedia, for undisclosed terms. Business plan calls for Potomac, Md.-based PBI--publisher of this newsletter--to cut...

B2B Boxscores (August)--Will Doom Follow Gloom in Deteriorating Developer/Tech Sector?(ad page counts and revenue totals for several developer/technical sector periodicals)(Illustration)(Industry Overview)
October 13, 2003... The fact that hundreds of thousands of software jobs in this country have been transplanted (to India, for instance) or eliminated may be reflected in another month of dismal advertising results in the important Developer/Technical category....

B2B Research Report: 40% in ChangeWave Survey Say Q4 Sales May Exceed Expectations.(Illustration)
October 13, 2003... We all know the best-laid plans are made to be broken, but it doesn't take an MBA from Wharton to realize that the ability (or expectations) of client companies to meet their own internal business goals can go a long way toward determining...

B2B Boxscores (August)--Electronics Books Could Sure Use a Jolt of Energy.(ad page counts for several electronics industry magazines)(Illustration)
October 13, 2003... Most of the across-the-board double-digit ad-page/ad-revenue declines charted here for our 22 CMR-tracked Electronics titles aren't quite as bad as those seen above in Developer/Technical. But they're still double-digit decreases, and it's hard...

B2B New Media Report: The March of the B2B Eyeballs Continues Apace, Off-Page and Online...(business-to-business periodicals are getting more readers online)(Brief Article)
October 13, 2003... Say what you will about the overblown promise of a paperless office and the supposed death of print at the hands of the Internet, but the march of B2B eyeballs away from the page and onto the Web continues. Yes, this medium was over-hyped,...

...But Better Web Sponsor Research Could Help Get Cash Registers Ringing.(for business publishing)(Brief Article)
October 13, 2003... Business publishing online has suffered a dearth of ad effectiveness research and public case studies that help ad sales teams make a better case with clients for online buys. Sure, the relentless press releases and brand lift studies from the...

ABM Breakfast Club: Times Scribe to Tout Post-Scandal Editorial Integrity.(New York Times business investigative reporter Diana Henriques will speak to an American Business Media crowd)(Brief Article)
October 13, 2003... If you can believe this, a New York Times reporter next week will address an American Business Media crowd on the fine points of editorial integrity. In a breakfast session slated for Wednesday, October 22 at Advanstar's New York offices (One...

B2B People on the Move.(periodical publishing industry personnel news briefs)(Brief Article)
October 13, 2003... Ziff Davis Media promoted Tim Castelli to senior VP/publisher of its PC Magazine Group. Besides the namesake monthly (which has grown to 1.225M circ since Castelli was named publisher in 2001), the unit includes conferences and events, custom...

B2B Stockwatch: Eleven Up in Seven Days.(publishing industry stock prices)(Illustration)
October 13, 2003... Some B2B companies have probably become accustomed to a near-weekly pounding in the stock market recently. But the news can't always be bad, and this Stockwatch review finds all 11 of our B2B players up over the previous week. More...

Despite Busting on the Web, Primedia Reels In High-Tech Media Veteran Conlin for Long-Vacant CEO Slot.
October 20, 2003... A high-profile executive search that takes almost six months in a down economy sometimes suggests that nobody really wants the job. But former International Data Group president/CEO Kelly Conlin on Tuesday (October 21) takes over as new...

B2B Circ Quirks: TechTarget Tosses Quantity, Shifts E-Letters to Qualified Controlled Model.(TechTarget is reducing the rate base on about 100 e-letters)
October 20, 2003... Reaching targeted audiences with purchasing authority is what makes B2B go 'round. But with the mink-like emergence of electronic newsletters where subscriber records often consist of little more than an e-mail address, how do B2B advertisers...

B2B Boxscores--August: Many Publishers Would Kill for Healthcare/Rx Sector's $$$ Gains.(a list of ad page counts and revenue totals for several healthcare/pharmaceutical publications)(Illustration)(Industry Overview)
October 20, 2003... The country's healthcare system may be falling apart, with tens of millions going uninsured, but many of the Healthcare/Pharmaceutical titles that serve this sprawling industry are the picture of advertising health. One key vital sign is the...

Computerworld Chief: Ad-Page Woes Don't Paint the Whole B2B Picture.(Computerworld's Bob Carrigan says ad-pages aren't the only way to judge the success of a publication)
October 20, 2003... They say you can't judge a book by its cover, and, at least in tough times, B2B publishers say you can't judge their books by ad-page performance alone. Anyway, that's the argument of Computerworld president/publisher/CEO Bob Carrigan, who...

B2B Boxscores--August: Best You Can Say Is That It Could Be Worse in Engineering Group.(ad page totals and revenues for engineering periodicals)(Illustration)
October 20, 2003... Publishers who work in the Engineering/Manufacturing sector probably feel little joy in the continuing ad-page/ad-revenue drain in their category. But it may offer some solace to know that it could--and usually is--worse in many other...

Make Mine min: Annual min magazine Taps Most Intriguing B2Bers.(a discussion of the '21 Most Intriguing People' of magazine publishing)(Brief Article)
October 20, 2003... The magazine industry is full of stars, but it takes min magazine to pinpoint the cream-of-the crop. The just-released annual issue of the title, published by min's b2b parent PBI Media, is anchored by the "21 Most Intriguing People." This...

New Media Box Scores (August): Little Rhyme, Reason in B2B Summer Traffic...(a list of the page view totals for several media Web sites)(Illustration)(Industry Overview)
October 20, 2003... There seems to be little rhyme or reason for the very mixed numbers delivered by sites in August, a month traditionally when at-work Web use crumbles beneath vacation time and beach runs. Farmers were coming back to Agriculture.com (+11.63 page...

...But Site Consolidation, Errant "Spiders" Cause Some Snafus.
October 20, 2003... The defense industry audience remains spit polished and consistent. Both of min's b2b parent PBI Media's own properties, AviationToday.com (-7.31% PVs/-14.38% UVs) and DefenseDaily.com (-9.77% PVs/+.2% UVs) were generally off in August. The...

B2B People on the Move.(publishing industry personnel news)(Brief Article)
October 20, 2003... After a nine-year absence, Tim Tobeck has returned to Tulsa, Okla.-based PennWell as VP/group publisher of its flagship Oil & Gas Journal, a new position. Most recently, he spent nine years as VP/publishing director of Reed Business...

B2B Stockwatch: No Repeat Sweep in the Cards, But B2B Fares Better Than the Cubs.(publishing industry stock prices)(Illustration)
October 20, 2003... Getting 11 out of 11 B2B winners in the same week--as we did last week--was unlikely enough, but repeating the feat for a second week running was about as unlikely as the Chicago Cubs ending their World Series drought and returning to the Fall...

ABM: Canning Spam May Look Like a Slam Dunk, But Beware of Unintended Consequences.(American Business Media believes unsolicited e-mail should be allowed)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Hardly anyone likes e-mail spam, and last Thursday's unanimous Senate vote in support of the CAN-SPAM Act should surprise no one. Politicians are often blind, but they can always spot a winning horse. However, just because unsolicited and...

B2B Launchpad: With Defense Doldrums Long Gone, McGraw-Hill Will Debut NetDefense Weekly.
October 27, 2003... War may be hell, but it can also sometimes be very good for business. With the Bush Administration spending an estimated $1B/week on military operations in Iraq alone, there is obviously a lot of contracts being let for assorted military...

Alternate Revenue Streams (I): ZD Reaches First Base With New Baseline ROI Unit.(Ziff Davis Media)
October 27, 2003... A month after re-entering the business events business (min's b2b, 9/29/03), Ziff Davis Media is now eying another source of ancillary revenue: custom return-on-investment (ROI) selling tools that help technology suppliers--or users--hone...

Alternate Revenue Streams (II): Are Bad Times Good for B2B Awards Shows?(a discussion of B2B awards shows)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... B2B awards shows may seem like they're a dime a dozen, but they are becoming an integral part of many publishers' bottom lines. Not only can such events abound with paid sponsorship opportunities, but they often produce significant...

B2B Boxscores--August: Top Foodservice Titles Belly-Up to Ad Bounty.(a list of the ad pages and revneues for several food service magazines)(Illustration)(Industry Overview)
October 27, 2003... Stop the presses! In an exceedingly rare feat in a generally down B2B economy, the Foodservice group turned in an all-up August, meaning that, category-wide, both ad pages and revenues improved in both month-to-month and year-to-date...

B2B Research Report: WebTrends Survey: Sales Leads Outweigh e-Commerce as Top Site Success Yardstick.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
October 27, 2003... Just because e-commerce hasn't always panned out the way many Web site operators had hoped doesn't mean online operations aren't paying off. Indeed, a new survey of about 1,000 Web users, conducted by San Jose, CA-based NetIQ's WebTrends unit,...

B2B Boxscores--August: Banking/Finance Tallies Less of a Loss.(a list of ad pages and revenues for banking and finance publications)(Illustration)(Industry Overview)
October 27, 2003... For many, August is a month of rest and leisurely inactivity; even though many banking and financial types were away on holiday, the dog days were actually a slight improvement for the Banking/Finance magazine sector. Although the -12.89% YTD...

New Media Report: Eye-Catching Consumer Ad Strategies Hold Key for B2B...(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... It comes as little surprise that more trade sites are now adopting consumer-side ad strategies. The IT sector online was among the first to embrace complex, oversized rich- media ad units two years ago because they allowed for much deeper...

...As Forbes.com Takes on Print Giants in Us-Versus-Them Ad Campaign.(Forbes Inc.'s Web unit launches a new ad campaign)
October 27, 2003... The Forbes Inc. Web unit sharpens its fang in its latest print and online ad campaign comparing the value of advertising on its site specifically against buying space in Dow Jones' Wall Street Journal. The ad argues that an attempt to reach...

B2B People on the Move.(publishing industry personnel news)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Tom Flynn last Thursday (October 23) joined newly-minted National Underwriter parent Highline Media as CFO. He had been senior VP/finance for Primedia's Overland Park, Kansas-based B2B unit....Crain Communications has tapped 20-year Wall...

B2B Stockwatch: Fame Is Fleeting in the Market's Fickle Fate.(stock prices for several publishing firms)(Illustration)
October 27, 2003... Two weeks ago, we had a rare across-the-board sweep, with all 11 of our publicly-held B2B companies in the plus column for the trading week. Then last week, eight in our group posted gains after a good trading week. But fate--and the...