Can B2B Print Media Avoid the Fate of the Dinosaurs?
No. Their ever shrinking content reduces them from ‘must read’ to ‘why bother?’
For centuries, print magazines and newspapers had a publishing information monopoly.
Even when the consumer universe began to rely more on radio and TV, the business to business media was the only route to the industrial buyer. This was true for both public relations and advertising campaigns. If you wanted to get to the folks who bought business products and services, you had to use print media to reach them.
This virtual monopoly persisted unchallenged until the late 1990s when the internet intervened in a very big way. Unfortunately, most business-to-business publishers first ignored and then mishandled the online opportunity. Too many of them thought like the railroad companies who mistakenly defined themselves as the railroads rather than as transportation providers. In the same way, print publishing companies, run by smart people who knew how to build powerful print properties, failed to think of themselves as being in the information business. The print mentality was tattooed on their psyche
But, while they hung back, the buying behavior of their print readers changed dramatically. Their customers were moving to the Internet in search of solutions. This change in behavior will not reverse itself no matter what the print attempt.
Eventually, even those media companies late to the game figured out that a strong Internet presence was vital to their survival. And, for while, there was still plenty of print advertising revenue to support the critical mass of print content that made business publications relevant to their readers. For a brief shining moment, they could have the best of both worlds–print and online. In the spring of 2009 that is no longer true.
Sadly, once proud giants like Penton Media, are making financially driven decisions to shrink content to save money. Folio Magazine online recently printed a memo from Penton’s CEO, Sharon Rowlands, to employees that attempted to justify the content destruction:
"So we have to balance short and long term decisions in times like these. Some of these are really the right decisions for the businesses – like resizing audiences and identifying more efficient ways of doing things. Others may seem counter to what we want to accomplish long-term – like dramatically reducing the sizes of magazines or the amount of content. After all, if our content is so valuable, wouldn’t our readers need MORE of it right now? Sure, but remember that one of our Achilles heels is that we are mostly supported by advertising which has collapsed."
Unfortunately, Rowlands shows that she is impossibly far behind the curve. Their print publications have already reduced the amount of content dramatically. In fact, if you compare the number of editorial pages in the typical Penton publication from 1999 to 2009, you would see a dramatic reduction that paralleled a dramatic reduction in the size of editorial staffs. This phenomenon is replicated throughout the business-to-business media industry.
It seems as though she is expecting some kind of an advertising turnaround which would then enable an increase in the amount of print content. I believe that the business-to-business media industry has changed forever. Print as we knew and loved it across a host of niche publications will never return to the way it was. In fact, smart media companies like IDG set out more than five years ago to generate the vast majority of their revenues from their online information products. They knew then what too many of their other business-to-business peers refuse to acknowledge about the print business press: “It has fallen and it can’t get up."
I hesitate to write a premature obituary for an industry in which I spent almost 30 years. I know that smart media companies will survive, but I believe that they will survive primarily, if not exclusively, based on their online success. Those media companies which cannot make that wrenching online transformation will go the way of the dinosaurs.
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Whoa is me, i too am a lover of print and have made a career out of it. Ink is in my blood, but I have seen the writing on the wall for many years. I graduated from the Art Institute of Philadelphia in 1989 and the internet was not even a subject or a lecture on the radar. Now I am 41 years old and have to take classes to catch up. What a difference 20 years makes. I’ve seen the print industry shrink before my eyes, always having to invest major dollars to stay on top of new technology. The world is a whole new place. I’m glad I’ve had my eyes open but I feel bad for many of my colleagues that are going to have to find new careers. I’ve seen Camera men disappear, 4 color strippers are no more, Press press folks are hanging on by a thread, now where will the Press man go? It’s sad but true. Another billion dollar industry full of Artisans and craftsman who are highly skilled, gone only to live on in museums next to the dinosaurs in the Smithsonian.
Newt, I’ve been out of b2b media for 8 years so I’m a little rusty in what’s going on. But Penton strikes me as being like a lot of companies that relied on “controlled circulation.” Goodness knows my former employers Ziff and CMP argued convincingly that our readers were just as good as those of paid circulation magazines — even better — because they had to complete circulation questionnaires annually detailing their purchasing authority. We all said it, but did we believe it? That the information on those forms was true? That giving a magazine away to someone provided as valuable a reader than one who pays? It was one of those arguments that was possible in the ’80s and ’90s, but has now collapsed. Even paid circulation is in deep trouble. The only answer may be raising subscription prices to something that is close to the value the reader gets. I am reaching across my bedside table for the New Yorker. I don’t even know what the over price is, or what I pay for a subscription every 3 years. I think about $70 a year. Hang on…..The cover price is $4.99! So I think I get about a 75% discount off the cover price. If I am right, that’s nuts. I would pay a lot more. Advertising in the New Yorker isn’t going up. So they are going to have to get the extra money from me. i think that’s the new print magazine model of the next few years.
Great analysis, Newt. And right on target. An interesting contradiction: While you quote Rowlands and make it seem as though she is waiting for an advertising turnaround, she has already gone on record as saying no such turnaround is coming. So she seem to want it both ways. If media companies are in the information business, you can’t justify reducing content at any time; nor can you justify ‘rightsizing’ audiences. Two things need to happen: 1) Media companies need to detach themselves from the way content is created and distributed — finding more economical ways to do both; and 2) they need to face the fact that the audience has NEVER paid for the content, and when asked to do so generally declines in large numbers. So if they can’t sell to the audience and the advertiser no longer wants to support the business model, the biggest question is whether media is producing information that anybody really wants all that much. My reluctant and regrettable conclusion is, no, they are not.
I would agree that print media will never return to glory days of yester year. Content is still extremely important today but readers are finding it online.
I cannot totally agree with the demise of print. There have been millions invested in online media with no profits coming in while the print vehicles pay the bills. The economy is a major factor in declining ad sales. In recessionary times any business that cheapens it product will end up losing customers. Content is king for sure, and the whole industry is morphing into the new media model, but I think the folks in Britain have predicted the future of magazines best at this link. http://www.journalism.co.uk/2/articles/534325.php Quality magazines are in many ways more convenient, comfortable and relaxing as I read about the topics I am interested in. I cannot stayed glued to the computer or TV screen all day and night. In fact in a 2007 BIGresearch survey magazines were shown to lead all media in triggering an online search by age and gender. Now that ought to be a benefit to many.
I work for Penton Media (since 1997) and prior to Penton was at Chilton Company since 1984 – - and find it infuriating that everyone is so quick to put a dagger in the heart of Penton and in print, in general. Yes, we’re having our share of troubles just like EVERY other media/publishing company.
To address a few points above:
1) We haven’t intentionally decreased the amount of content provided in print – - Edit pages are based on Ad Pages – the Ad:Edit ratio – - about 65% ads; 35% edit. If we’re not supported by Ad Pages, we don’t have Edit pages (content). Period.
2) I agree with Mitchell above and have been suggesting this model for the past couple of years – that in order for print to make a stab at succeeding, I think we need to start working with Paid Circulation instead of the old Controlled model. We may lose some subscribers, but the ones who remain will be the ones who truly wish to engage in the magazine.
3) Engagement and Readership – I represent three technical engineering publications/audiences – and have the opportunity to meet our readers in person. These readers exclaim about how much they value and rely on our publications to help them in their jobs. The engineers who are left (after downsizing and acquisitions during the past number of years) doing the work are multidisciplinary – and cannot begin to know everything there is to know about engineering. Now more than ever, they depend on educational content – in print and online – not fluff. That is Penton’s core competency – outstanding, technical and knowledgeable editors who know how to write for and deliver USEFUL information to technical audiences.
4) “rightsizing” – has to happen. When I started in the engineering space 25 years ago, there were around 700,000 engineers in the U.S. – - now, due to downsizing, there are aroudn 350,000 or so. Every day, even I as a salesperson, receive emails asking for engineers to be removed from the circulation because they are no longer there. It’s a fact of life – fewer engineers out there – and our circulation is going to be rightsized to reflect that.
5) “People don’t want to read print” – mullarkey. First, I ask all of you out there to consider the magazines you personally enjoy reading at home. Mitchell, above, mentioned the New Yorker. Readers/subscribers have RELATIONSHIPS with their magazines- and many of us still like the touch and feel of relaxing at home, holding and reading a magazine. Further, studies have been done about the brain synapses: reading in print is more “digestable” than reading online – especially when you’re talking TECHNICAL content. I agree that if you’re just looking for brief news tidbits or product updates, those are readable online. But try reading a 10 page article with charts, graphs, algorithms, math, ONLINE – it’s pretty tough.
Unfortunately, many media buy decisions are being made by (sweeping generalization here) 25 year olds who spend half their life on Facebook, having A.D.D. as they skulk around the internet or use the latest “app” on their I-Phone….they themselves don’t read print at all (kind of scary – these are the people who will be taking care of me in the nursing home). And these 25 year olds have to justify their ad spend to CEO’s who are just bean-counters and really don’t understand or believe in marketing at all. They don’t stop to consider how THEIR customers (our readers/subscribers) are doing their jobs. At the end of the day, it is all about delivering useful and educational content to audiences – whether it’s in print, online or through customized content venues – webinars, eBooks – - and publishing companies have what marketers need – - content develpoment through highly skilled and capable editors and content distribution to real audiences who desire and devour our content.
Print media is very important. Whether it’s paper, the kindle, or PDF. The written word is a great form of B2b communication. The written word is the most precise form of communication which is why it’s often the choice medium when communicating an idea between educated individuals.
best,
Chris Ott
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