Future of Business Media Shaping Up as an Odyssey
A Darwinian shakeout among b-to-b print magazines. Monetizing social media. A more liberal use of online video. And, oh, yes, developing events — a lot more — that target vertical markets.
These are just some of the issues business-media companies will grapple with next year, which is expected to be particularly tough on b-to-b publishers because of the ongoing erosion in media and marketing budgets.
Yet despite the dire economy — and the specter of additional layoffs throughout media precincts — business-media players are forging ahead, according to several business-media executives I spoke with paidcontent.org’s Future of Business Media conference in New York City last month.
Take David Levin, CEO of United Business Media (UBM), who said UBM will continue to make “big bets” on events. (Since taking the helm of UBM in 2005, Levin has steered roughly 60 acquisitions, many of them from the events space.) Levin added that the proliferation in b-to-b events is a function of the growing influence the Web is having on the workplace, and the subsequent move among managers to get out into the field to press the flesh.
Jim Spanfeller, president-CEO of Forbes.com, said he’s bullish on online video (and costs associated with streaming video should come down as high-bandwidth becomes more widely available). Although there’s a consensus that more b-to-b print titles will get weeded out next year because of the downward trend in media spending, both Spanfeller and Bob Carrigan, CEO of IDG Communications Worldwide, insist that print will continue to play an important role in media amid the digital lurch. Spanfeller and Carrigan had a (very) different take on the wisdom of online ad networks. Spanfeller described his thoughts about large, horizontal networks while Carrigan discussed IDG’s smaller, tech focused network.
Regardless of the target market(s), business publishers will need to push ahead with integrated communications among print, online and live events (and other channels that are gradually emerging as viable media vehicles, namely mobile). Attracting digital talent and making social media a “must-have” rather than a “nice to have” also will atop business publishers’ agenda.
In addition to video interviews with Carrigan, Levin and Spanfeller I also spoke with Gordon Hughes, president-CEO of American Business Media, about what’s in store for his constituents.
Matthew Schwartz is Senior Editor of ScribeMedia.org and host of the WebTV series, From Print to Digital.
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