Business Media Matters : June/July 2010
B-to-B Magazines Show Improvement in First Quarter of 2010
April 2010 BIN pages show improvement versus previous three months
B-to-b ad pages declined by 4.7% in April 2010 versus one year ago, while print revenue in April declined by 4.0%. April represents the third monthly period that shows improvement versus 2009. Despite overall losses, certain categories showed revenue growth in the first four months of 2010. These categories include: Aviation, Aerospace & Military (3.5%), Healthcare (9.9%), and Miscellaneous (13.1%). The data, by category, is available here.
During the first quarter of 2010, trade show revenue was down 8.4%; however, in comparison to Q1 2009, the rate of decline has improved significantly (see chart below). After declining last year, digital revenue is up approximately 7.5%. Data numbers are available on a semi-annual basis and will be available at the end of the year’s first half.
| JANUARY | FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL | YEAR TO DATE | |
| PAGES | -15.3% | -9.4% | -5.7% | -4.7% | -8.2% |
| REVENUE | -12.4% | -7.5% | -3.1% | -4.0% | -5.9% |
Q1 REVENUE (in billions)
| 2009 | 2010 | % CHANGE | |
| TRADE SHOWS | $2.4 | $2.2 | -8.4% |
| $1.9 | $1.8 | -6.4% | |
| DIGITAL | $1.0 | $1.1 | +7.5% |
| DATA | N/A | N/A | N/A |
RATE OF DECLINE (Q1 2009 vs. Q1 2010)
| TRADE SHOWS | ||
| Q1 2009 | -26.1% | -19.7% |
| Q1 2010 | -6.4% | -8.4% |
About CEIR (Tradeshows):
For 30 years, CEIR has been highlighting the importance of exhibitions in today's business environment. Its goal is to promote the image, value and growth of exhibitions. This is accomplished through producing primary research studies that prove the effectiveness and efficiency of exhibitions as a marketing medium.
About Inquiry Management Systems (IMS) (Print):
With offices in Toronto, New York and London, IMS has served magazine publishing professionals since 1979. Over 1,400 magazine titles utilize its array of products that help sell additional pages of advertising, increase lead results for advertisers, and produce creative Web solutions.
Digital revenue sources are: ABM members, PricewaterhouseCoopers / IAB, eMarketer, and Outsell Inc.
Apps to Ads: Magazine Publishing 4.0
The Economist recently asked if apps were the future of news. After all, the Internet has proven an obstacle course for publishers trying to make a little digital money, but platforms like the iPad and iPhone offer magazines firm footing to control how and when content is presented to their audiences in the form of applications.
“[The] reason publishers like apps is that they offer a chance to reset the expectations Web users have about publishing schedule (constant) and price (free),” according to The Economist, which went on to say that some publishers are charging audiences more – sometimes double – for iPad applications than for print subscriptions, and more for advertising on those apps, as well.
Whether apps are the future of news is not yet clear, but what is clear is that extending magazine brands with must-have applications creates prime real estate ripe for sponsorship. For example, Time Inc.'s Sports Illustrated recently introduced its iPad app, which debuted with interactive ads from seven advertisers that were sold individually despite some of the advertisers also buying print pages, according to The New York Times' Media Decoder blog.
Here are some of the most popular magazine iPad applications, to illustrate what audiences are after:
- Time magazine's iPad app essentially offers a digital edition of its print issue plus additional content and images from Time.com, and the International and Global Business editions.
- The app for Popular Science shines with high-quality imagery and finger-touch text display.
- The BBC News iPad app translates news into various languages and includes social sharing capabilities.
- The Wall Street Journal app's “Now” issue features updated content throughout the day, customizable market watch list capabilities, and dynamic videos and slide shows.
Take a look at what your content offers your audience and consider what an iPad app could offer them to make their lives easier, entertain them in a unique way, and connect with them on a personal level. It's unlikely that iPad users will pay double for magazines on the iPad forever, so consult your developers and carpe diem.
Practical, Cross-Platform Custom Media How-Tos in Just Three Weeks!
Full-day program offers research, case studies,
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Join ABM, Junta42 and the Custom Content Council on July 28 in New York City for Custom Media Day 2010, a full-day program featuring a special panel on mobile and digital magazine software solutions, a discussion on the latest marketing trends from Wired.com's resident expert Jim Hopkinson, and a look at Xerox's content strategy with its VP of Marketing Operations and Sales Enablement, Jeannine Rossignol.
Also explore highlights from the latest content marketing research by Junta42 and MarketingProfs, learn Web content strategy tips from Ian Alexander, VP of Content at Eat Media, and much more.
This unique workshop will offer tangible solutions that you can implement immediately to expand your custom media business. Click here for more information or to register.
Custom Media Day 2010 is sponsored by Nxtbook Media.
Email Marketers See 50% Increase in CTRs with Social Sharing
Email marketing provider GetResponse announced the results of its “Email Marketing and Social Media Integration Report,” revealing that their customers' email messages enjoyed significantly greater click-through rates when including at least one social media sharing component.
The study reported that including one social sharing option yielded 30 percent more click-throughs than messages without any social media sharing options; including three or more social media sharing components generated a 55 percent higher rate, and emails with an option to share on Twitter returned more than 40 percent more, “indicating the benefits of sharing may be vastly underestimated.”
“It's not enough to integrate campaigns with social media networks – the power is in sharing,” said GetResponse founder Simon Grabowski. “The best part is that there's no added cost to include social media sharing, so it's pure ROI.”
But more than 80 percent of marketers engaging consumers on social media platforms are not measuring ROI for programs, according to a recent study. If this opportunity does indeed offer “pure ROI” as Grabowski suggests, integrating a measurement process into marketing workflow would make sense.
Most of GetResponse's respondents (67 percent) include the option to share with the Twitter network in emails, with nearly 63 percent choosing Facebook. MySpace and LinkedIn each were chosen by nearly nine percent of respondents, and only one percent link to Digg.
‘B-to-B Marketing Leadership Study’ Currently in Field
Results to be presented next month
ABM previously announced that it had joined forces with the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) and Booz & Company to conduct a major b-to-b research study. The study’s objective is to determine what sets marketing leaders apart across industry sectors, based on their marketing objectives, their spend priorities, and the focus of their capability-building efforts.
The “B-to-B Marketing Leadership Study” will address key gaps that marketers must address in order to enhance performance; evaluate the role of integrated marketing campaigns as part of a broader marketing mix; and identify roles that b-to-b media companies can play to support marketers’ efforts.
The study is currently in the field, and results will be delivered to the ANA and ABM memberships during the week of August 16. ANA members will benefit from the study’s insight into spending priorities, capability assessments of b-to-b marketers, and the definition of best practices. The study will provide for ABM members critical insight into advertiser priorities for marketing solutions they can provide to increase service levels and build new revenue streams.
Stay tuned to Business Media Matters as developments continue to unfold.
BEHAVIORAL ADVERTISING UPDATE
ABM Submits Comments, Works with Congress on Privacy Legislation
ABM recently provided detailed comments (here) on omnibus federal privacy legislation in a letter to Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), and in a meeting with key House Energy and Commerce Committee offices, urging policy makers to modify the bill and prevent it from impeding b-to-b communications and activities.
In its letter and meeting with Congressional offices, ABM expressed support for the broad outlines of the privacy bill that Rep. Boucher initially disclosed at ABM's Annual Conference on May 3, but expressed concerns about some overbroad elements of the draft legislation. In particular, ABM, as representative of the b-to-b industry, noted, as the Supreme Court has recognized, that individuals have differing privacy expectations depending on whether they are acting in their private capacities or in their business and professional capacities.
In its comments, ABM recommended that offline collection of basic information from persons acting in clear business capacities should be exempted under the bill. For example, collection of basic information such as is found on business cards should not be subject to opt-in rules or other special requirements when collected offline.
Several ABM representatives, including ABM lobbyist Tom Carpenter of Wexler & Walker, and representatives of several ABM members, Ryan Work of The McGraw-Hill Companies and Fabio Bertoni of ALM Media Properties, recently met with key offices involved in crafting the legislation to discuss and explore the positions set forth in ABM's June 4, 2010 letter.
ABM's letter expressed support for the proposed bill's handling of collection and use of non-sensitive information by first parties and their service providers and affiliates. Such activities would be subject to an opt-out rule, a rule that, in ABM's view, correctly recognizes that once consumers provide information to a trusted party such as business publisher, they should be adequately protected by an ability to opt-out of further uses of that information (as is currently the practice).
ABM expressed concern about imposition of an opt-in rule concerning data transfer to third parties to the extent that it would limit business acquisition of new customers, reduce the effectiveness of direct marketing and list rental revenue, and adversely affect the database industry. ABM's comments pointed out the difficulties of requiring opt-in consent from all individuals whose information appears in existing databases, and suggested that individuals acting in their business capacities (for example, as attendees at trade shows) understand and expect that their registration information will be used for future marketing.
In its letter, ABM also suggested clarifications regarding the opt-out rule applicable to contextual and first party advertising, the safe harbor exemption for certain third party advertising, and various requirements and terms in the proposed bill.
Power Eye to Offer Self-Regulation Solution
Though ABM is acting on behalf of the b-to-b media community by working with Congress on shaping federal privacy legislation, the first line of defense is a cohesive effort to self-regulate as an industry. Now, Power Eye – a self-policing system for online marketers – is poised to be implemented by major players, including AT&T, American Express, and Microsoft, reported Advertising Age.
The system will possibly pave a smoother avenue for behavioral advertising best practices, along with the recent release by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Network Advertising Initiative of ad notice technical specifications, a set of common technical standards enabling enhanced notice in online ads (click here for more information).
Power Eye – created by Better Advertising – will manifest as a small icon at the upper right-hand corner of a participating online ad that, when moused over, will reveal “all the data that was used to target the ad, as well as the option to opt-out of future targeting by those companies,” according to Ad Age. Several other self-regulating systems are currently vying for industry-wide acceptance, but insiders report that Power Eye is a frontrunner as a possible way to allow consumers to opt-out of individual ads on any Web site.
Key Online Marketing Takeaways from ABM's Boston Regional Program
More than 60 ABM members and b-to-b media professionals gathered in “The Cradle of Liberty” on June 3 for ABM's Boston Regional Program to learn from new media and marketing thought leaders, including Tom Cintorino, EVP of digital media at Northstar Travel Media, W2 Group Chairman Larry Weber, and Janice McCallum, managing director at InfoCommerce Group. The agenda focused on digital media's impact on the transforming marketing space, including social marketing and mobile opportunities.
According to McCallum, who moderated the panel “How Content Marketing is Shifting the Role of B-to-B Publishers” and later posted an item to InfoCommerce Group's Health Content Advisors blog describing her experience at the event, takeaways from the sessions were:
- Marketers have to be content creators;
- Content first, then transactions; and
- The Web is becoming more mobile, more emotive, more experiential.
So how can marketers leverage this information? According to McCallum, key recommendations from the event included:
- Listen to your customers. This may seem obvious, but most industry publishers aren’t using social media and the interactive nature of the Web to its full extent to gain understanding of the characteristics and needs of their buyer and seller audiences.
- Facilitate communications between audience members to create a community. Prospects and buyers are more likely to exchange views on a neutral publisher’s site than on an individual vendor company’s Web site.
- Once you have an engaged community, consider live events that enable the community members to interact in-person. The quality of the event is enhanced when attendees have already interacted online.
Click here to read more recommendations in McCallum's full post. For more information about ABM's regional events, contact Megan Andrews.
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