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February 27, 2009
Business Magazines: Advertising Down, Credibility Up
Business magazines have had a difficult time in the past few years, as declines in advertising have forced reductions in journalist ranks. But in our 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer, we found that business magazines and analyst reports were the most credible sources of information about companies. This dissonance led me to sit down yesterday with Steve Adler, editor of BusinessWeek, for a discussion about his magazine. Here are some of the important points:
1) BusinessWeek aims to be a business information brand, not just a magazine. “Our various channels support each other,” Adler said. The positioning statement for the enterprise is, “Global leaders rely on BusinessWeek to make smarter decisions in their businesses, careers and investments. We move business forward.”
2) Readership has increased substantially because of the web. The print circulation is 933,000 paid and a total of 4.7 million with the five times pass along. The digital product gets 9.5 million unique visitors a month and 50 million page views. The digital numbers have doubled in the past four years.
3) The focus is business to business topics. There are no more lifestyle stories on wine or travel. “We want our readers to have actionable insights,” Adler said. This contrasts with competitors ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Portfolio which are taking the broader, B to B and B to C approach. “Our pieces are forward looking and useful; essential business information that you can use.”
4) Breaking news is covered, but in a different way than a wire service. “Our take is more analytical. We have an on-line news desk which coordinates feeds from various members of staff filing on a broad subject, such as the Obama budget proposal. We will include blogs from reporters and video from one of our senior staff,” Adler noted.
5) Business Exchange is a new social media place that aggregates business story topics suggested by readers. This was launched as a beta in September, 2008 and traffic has been rising steadily. It is a combination of Linkedin, Digg and Google News. “We aggregate any content that is free, from blogs to mainstream media. We provide users the ability to track developments and give them ownership,” Adler said. Users can read, save or add content on the topic network.
The three leading business magazines are taking profoundly different courses in seeking a profitable way forward. Forbes has opened its walled garden through Forbes.com, aggregating content from over a hundred other mainstream media sources from trades to wire services, creating vertical categories of interest (technology, office equipment). Fortune continues to be a convener, with conferences on technology and environment that attract C-suite players for substantive discussions. BusinessWeek has taken the most radical step of recognizing that the audience now seeks to be on the field and to control its own destiny. Given the very high credibility rankings of business magazines, we need to make them first port of call for important stories. We also must recognize that this category now requires more than the old pitch and catch approach for public relations.
Posted by Edelman at February 27, 2009 4:53 PM |
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Comments
The conundrum business magazines and newspapers face is that their readership is increasing online yet their revenues are falling. Usually both rise. The problem they face is that online advertising fetches less money because advertising itself is not very effective. In the print world it was difficult to measure the effectiveness of advertising. Everyone knew that half of their advertising spend wasn't working but it was difficult to determine which half was which. Online it is very easy to determine which half isn't working. That reduces overall advertising spend for a company. And it can also mean that it is more effective to advertise next to a search box, such as Google's than next to a column of journalism. If you are on Google, you are looking to buy or find something. If you are reading a column of journalism you are likely not looking to buy.
Advertising in business magazines online or offline will in most cases be less effective than advertising on search sites, or other types of sites. And this broader competition for ad dollars online means prices will always be low for ads. So then what will support the work of journalists? It'll have to be subscriptions.
In terms of PR, more bang for the buck may come from social media, blogs, etc. Having an article in Business Week may yield less potential revenue for a client than astute targeting of social media and blogs. But that takes a lot more work and there are many in the PR world that chafe at having to do more for the same amount of money.
Posted by: Tom Foremski at March 1, 2009 4:08 PM