Content Marketing Today

Sad Irony: Web 2.0 Likely to Kill Business 2.0

Time Warner’s Business 2.0 launched at the early peak of the dot com frenzy in 2000, will probably bite the dust. The NY Times reports that dramatically falling ad revenues–down 38% in the first six months of 2007–spell doom. Although the drop was probably sharpened by the classically short-sighted move to eliminate B2.0’s dedicated sales force, it reflects the shift of ad dollars to the web.

Interestingly, the Times noted that reader interest was still high as reflected by a steady circulation of 600,000. This counters the ongoing drop in newspaper readership. The steady circ level is particularly impressive because TW was most certainly not investing extra dollars in propping up B2.0’s numbers.

Hopefully Business 2.0 will survive online where it’s doing some pretty good stuff. It’s print loss might be your gain. Here’s the opportunity for content marketers:

Business executives need an edgier, more outside the box perspective than they are likely to get in Business Week or Fortune. If your customers fit the B20 reader profile, you could cherry pick ideal buyers from your list and others–and then deliver a terrific magazine to an affordable group of executives who need the content you will be providing. Go get ‘em.