Publishing in the Knowledge Economy - DTI Home Page

Publishing in the knowledge economy
The industry today
constitute the vast bulk of revenue, there is
a significant element from electronic and from
the ‘other’ category.
The range of activities undertaken by
business magazine publishers is shown in
Figure 9.4.
Unlike consumer magazine publishers,
business publishers emphasised the importance
both of the diverse revenue streams and the
extent to which the brand of the magazine
acted as the validating umbrella for the other
activities. Some publishers felt that it was vital
to be present in all areas (magazines, direct
mail, directories, events) in order to offer
advertisers the choice of appropriate ways
to reach their customers:
“We try to have a magazine, directory and
event in every sector. We try to see markets in
the round and offer advertisers exactly the mix
they want – they will best judge whether they
want to use events, direct mail or print for a
campaign and we want to be able to give them
that choice. We can sell these as a package.
We don’t get our divisions to compete with each
other but to collaborate to give the customer
(advertisers) what they’re looking for. The brand
of the magazine is extended and it is the brand
which gives the advertiser the confidence to go
with us, as they know that the prestige of the
magazine brand will be conferred on the other
elements, whether they are exhibitions,
conferences or awards. Because the brand
gives confidence to the (ultimate) consumer, it
gives confidence to the advertiser.”
Others felt that synergies may be overstated:
“There’s lots of talk about the need to have a
directory, show, magazine, etc, in each sector
but I’m not convinced that drives revenues.”
However, that did not undermine the basic
proposition that the brand was crucial and that it
was desirable to have many different revenue
streams, whether electronic, print or eventbased.
Another specialist publisher of
magazines and directories told us:
“Ideally we would like to have a portfolio of
products for each market, but sometimes where
we have a magazine there is already a
Figure 9.4 Activities of business magazine
publishers
100, %
80
60
40
20
0
Websites
Printed directories
Contract publications
List rental/sales
Sponsored publications/
advertorials
Awards/events
Conferences
Exhibitions
Source PPA, B2B Media: Opportunities for growth (2001)
800
600
Table 9.4 Revenue sources, %
1000, £m, current prices
1992
1994
Source The Advertising Association
1996
1998
Newsletters
CD-ROM products
Hard copy subscriptions 17
Display advertising 43
Recruitment advertising 9
Other classified 8
Inserts 4
Electronic 5
Newstrade 3
Other 11
Total 100
Source Business Information Forum: Connecting Business
Figure 9.5 Advertising in directories
2000
56