Trade Mags No Longer Press, Event Revenues Surpass Print

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Trades No Longer Press, Event Revenues Surpass Print
by Joe Mandese
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm? fuseaction=Articles.san&s=58477&Nid=29195&p=204 904

IN A MILESTONE SYMBOLIC OF the shifts taking place across all media, business-to-business media can no longer be described as the "trade press." That's because print advertising now represents a minority of the revenues generated by business-to- business media companies. According to a compilation of 2006 revenue data released Monday by American Business Media, "face-to-face revenue" has surpassed print advertising sales for the first time in the history of the industry. By face-to-face revenues, the ABM means conferences, trade shows and events, which garnered $11.3 billion among ABM members participating in the association's Business Information Network tracking reports. That brings events to a 36% share of B-to-B revenues, nudging out B-to-B print advertising's 35% share for the first time ever.

It's a trend that is not likely to reverse itself. The ABM estimates that events is the third fastest growing source of revenues for B-to-B publishers, surpassed only by the rapid rise of digital (online) advertising sale and custom publishing. Print advertising, by comparison, has been steadily declining.

According to BIN estimates also released Monday, print advertising pages fell 3.1% in January vs. January 2006, while print advertising revenues were down 2.8% for the first month of the year. The worst category fittingly was media, with Movies/Radio/TV/Video trade press ad pages down 10.8% in January.

"As business media companies continue to move into a multiplatform environment, the industry is experiencing growth in three out of four of its major segments: trade shows, custom media and e-Media," ABM President-CEO Gordon Hughes stated, adding, "E-Media has grown a remarkable 22% in revenue over 2005, followed by custom media's 18% growth spurt and trade shows bringing up the rear at a 10% growth variance over 2005. Although ad pages and revenue for January 2007 showed a decline of 3.1% and 2.78% respectively, as predicted, the business media industry now represents $31.1 billion in revenues across all four platforms, making the power of the brand at the heart of everything you do."

Joe Mandese is Editor of MediaPost.