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.
Over the past decade, most publishers have struggled to create a coherent web strategy to complement their print products. Online publisher K9 Media was faced with the opposite problem – how to create a successful print brand to complement its thrivi
Rosemary Smith, director of data protection consultancy Opt-4, uses recent research to challenge publishers about permissioning and assesses the impact of increasing opt-out on the magazine business.
All publishers have access to the data with which to create and track key performance indicators (KPIs). Some don’t bother; some pay lip-service to analysis but don’t invest in the data manipulation skills required to present them properly. Some, lik
Consumer publishers have, for many years, paid lip service to the need to develop subs. Now, faced with increasing pressures at the newsstand, some are regretting not taking action earlier. One title which did act is Time Out and it has enjoyed aston
What direction is your magazine headed and is that direction influenced by an informed understanding of its readership? Only by building a complete picture of your readership can your title hope to evolve in sync with its audience, thereby maintainin
Distributors are central to the success, or otherwise, of your title on the newsstand so it is important to select the right one. Peter Johns provides some tips on what to look out for and points out that, whoever you chose, the relationship will onl
If your magazine has strong brand values, then its readers will probably be open to purchasing other products associated with that brand. This can provide incremental revenues, extra publicity for the brand and extra leverage into retail. But tread c
Whereas the traditional newstrade is full to bursting, the N&S route has huge growth potential. Many publishers have shied away from it in the past, unsure of the precise business model and put off by its perceived complexities. James Evelegh talks t
Licensing (with all the associated production costs) used to be a game only the big publishers could play. The digital revolution has now opened up the field and smaller scale titles are beginning to cash in. Here, Bruce Sawford, provides a checklist
Every subscription publisher knows that their business is based on renewals. Why then do so many practitioners neglect this vital dimension of their business model? Simply put, it's human nature. Here, Chris Gregory lists nineteen different aspects o
Faced with a long term decline in newsstand sales and increasing signs of consumer resistance to price increases, what are US publishers doing to make money? Some are successfully looking at the area of supply management to reduce costs, whilst maint
Publishers’ approach to international fulfilment has made great strides in the past decade and they are demanding more and more from their suppliers. Quadrant Subscription Services (QSS) handles the fulfilment for many prominent domestic publishers a
Asked to define advertising, John E Kennedy, a Canadian policeman-turned copywriter, said it was “salesmanship in print”. It’s a phrase that, Andy Maslen believes, points the way to above-average subs copy. Here, he provides a few pointers on the psy
No one could accuse Barbara Cardy of not trying again. Even the realisation that consumers of porn prefer pictures to words has not dampened her enthusiasm. In the last of her series, will Barbara strike gold?
An awareness of what’s gone before makes for better planning and decision making. In direct marketing this is achieved through a culture of testing and documentation. James Evelegh talks to Natmag’s Karen Louth about her knowledge based approach to m
