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.
Take all the challenges of domestic dm and multiply them by the number of overseas markets you wish to serve and what do you get? A headache? Sara Howers takes us through just some of the many things you need to consider for your international title.
How goes the US publishing industry in 2006? A big part of the answer lies in realising that referring to the ‘publishing’ industry has begun to have a rather anachronistic ring. The more pertinent query, says Karlene Lukovitz, would go something lik
Inserts can be a cost effective way of generating subscription orders. Yet, says Jenny Moseley, marketers could achieve far better results from their insert campaigns if they were more adventurous – both in their creative execution and in the selecti
Renewal rates are an obsession for most publishers, but great care should be taken over their calculation and interpretation. Misreading the analysis can lead to incorrect conclusions, and harmful action plans drawn up for non-existent problems. Greg
It always pays to get the maths right, especially when setting your annual subs promotion budget. A proper analysis of the key indicators will help you avoid making costly and far reaching mistakes. Laurie Wedd talks us through the logic.
For the many publishers that entrust the management of their subscriber and controlled lists to bureaux, the bureau represents the front line in their marketing efforts and the public face of their title. A productive, mutually beneficial relationshi
Few copywriters study enough. And many who commission copy study even less. So the partially-sighted serve the blind. No wonder, says Drayton Bird, most subscription copy isn’t very good.
The big brands of the magazine world all have one thing in common. They are all underpinned by a coherent set of values, articulated, nurtured and adhered to by the whole publishing team. Brand building, says Peter Genower, is a collective responsibi
A chance conversation in the office led Peter Johns to do some thinking about the longevity of magazine titles, and the results are this light-hearted look at magazine launch history. Peter doesn't claim that the analysis is rigorous but it reveals s
Customer insight is considered a prerequisite in most sales environments. The more you know about your customers, the easier it is to sell to them. It kind of makes sense. Yet many UK publishers have not invested the necessary time and resource to ge
Ask any publisher what they associate with Holland, and a vibrant magazine market may not end up high on the list. Tulips definitely, windmills possibly, the Red Light District - obviously, but magazines ... well possibly not. But, as COMAG’s Paride
Major US fulfilment houses have been busily enhancing their service offering. The question, says Karlene Lukovitz, is whether hard nosed publishers will be prepared to pay for them.
One of the highlights of the 2005 PPA Subscriptions Conference was the keynote speech by Peter Phippen, in which he outlined how he saw the relationship between publisher and reader evolving in the years ahead, and the central role that subscription
What does a subscriptions copywriter actually write about? The answer is almost anything apart from your publication. Peter Hobday explains why copywriters and food critics have much in common, and presents a twelve-part list to distinguish good copy
The rapidly changing needs of the scientific community has led publishers, like IOPP, to rethink their product offering, with a greater emphasis on electronic access and the slicing and dicing of content. When IOPP found that their existing print ori
