B2B publishing has quietly become one of the healthier parts of the industry. The trade press that once lived on display and recruitment advertising now earns more of its money from subscriptions, data, events and membership, and private equity has noticed.
The shift meant giving up some old habits. Controlled circulation made sense in print, but open websites gave away what the magazine kept for qualified readers, and the publishers doing best have taken back control of their audiences through registration and paywalls. The Lawyer moved from an advertising-led business to one where paid content brings in over 40 per cent of revenue.
Don’t delude yourself because the barriers to entry in publishing are now non-existent.
Amanda Barnes B2B media
Specialist knowledge is the defence. AI makes generic information close to worthless, so the value lies in proprietary data, tools readers rely on in their daily work and journalism only a specialist could produce, as Computer Weekly's Post Office investigation showed. Print hasn't vanished either. Some publishers now sell it alongside digital at the same price and let readers choose.
Below you'll find some of our best feature articles on B2B and trade media, from subscriptions and data products to events, print, consolidation and specialist journalism, alongside our latest news and industry commentary.
We asked Amanda Barnes, chief executive of Faversham House, what does best practice publishing look like in B2B media? This is what she said…
Rory Brown has enjoyed great success in business media. Having last year sold AgriBriefing and now following new paths in the B2B space, he takes some time out to tell us what he has learned on his journey so far…
Print is certainly not dead, says Chairman Mark Allen. However, you need to offer readers choice and be neutral and agnostic about the outcome.
The Lawyer has been on quite a journey, successfully transitioning from a controlled circulation ad-driven model to a high value enterprise subs one. Andy Baker talks Meg Carter through the key stages and what they’ve learnt along the way.
In the first of our new ‘Digital Horizons’ series, Tom Lake, director of product and technology at Infopro Digital, looks at the tech opportunities and challenges facing his company and the wider B2B sector.
The future of B2B lies in serving your sector in three connected ways: information, intelligence and events.
John Barnes, chief digital officer, William Reed Business Media, tells Ciar Byrne about how the B2B media sector is managing the digital transformation journey.
Computer Weekly deserves much credit for its role in investigating the Horizon IT scandal. Dickon Ross looks at what lessons other B2B journalists can take from their work.
The general expectation is that the buying and selling of media brands is going to increase significantly in 2025. A number of companies have been quietly building up their war-chests during a wobbly 2024, reports Jim Bilton.
If you’re thinking of setting up a membership scheme, be prepared to play the long game because success doesn’t come overnight.
Canvasflow has launched version 2.0 of its HTML5 authoring platform, for creating rich, responsive content without the need for developers. Version 2.0 provides deeper integration with the Twixl Digital Publishing Platform.
Centaur Media Plc, the business to business information, insight and events group, last week published its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2016.
dmg events - Middle East, Asia and Africa, a leading international exhibitions company, has established an office in Qatar to support the growth of the country’s exhibition industry and to launch some of its most successful brands into the high-value
Incisive Media has sold its Insight division, which includes the Risk.net and Insurance Post brands, to French business-to-business (B2B) publisher Infopro Digital.
Akabo Media, the B2B publisher, has started to use Beeline Data Services’ data management services.
Haymarket Media Group, the international online and magazine publisher, yesterday announced a £50 million expansion of its consumer automotive operations by creating a new division, Haymarket Automotive, to capitalise on the success of titles includi
The Media Services Group has announced that the Hemming Group has recently gone live on the Élan media platform.
As publishers seek to reinvent their business models, it’s a good idea to play to existing strengths. In the case of Time Inc UK, this meant focusing on the beauty market, where their editorial and commercial expertise has helped underpin two excitin
They’ve now got their loyalty cards, their BOGOFs and their home shopping. But the big supermarkets haven’t forgotten their own magazines, and are increasingly to be found in digital media too. Alan Geere sees if there are any unexpected items in the
The recent past of global news brand Newsweek has been chequered to say the least. Variously, sold, merged, redesigned, closed and then relaunched by new owners IBT Media, it’s been back on our shelves for the past couple of years. As chief operating
We all know the advantages of digital, because we’re told them often enough. But who’s banging the drum for print? One person who is, is Paul McNamee, editor of The Big Issue, who says that there is nothing to beat the sheer magic of reading somethin
For B2B publishers, the big money is increasingly to be found in the provision of high value data products and services. The approach and skills required are very different to the traditional publishing model, but, writes Carolyn Morgan, the potentia
The Subscription Economy is growing and extending well beyond media and entertainment. The Recurring Revenue Model (RRM) is now an accepted part of a range of both consumer and B2B markets. Yet, writes Jim Bilton, that brings new challenges for publi
Publishers love the killer insight – that nugget of knowledge that propels a step-change in performance. As James Ormiston, managing director of subscriptions bureau Circdata, tells James Evelegh, having the data infrastructure and analysts in place
David Hepworth on magazines and beyond
