Study: Business-to-Business Media Shows Three-Year Decline

The slumping economy and ongoing reader and advertiser shift to online sources continue to impact business-to-business media, which held their revenue flat from 2005 to 2007, according to American Business Media’s “ABM Financial Trend Report, Three-Year Analysis, 2005-2007.”

All three measured revenue streams showed declines over the three-year period. The report, by The Jordan, Edmiston Group Inc., was based on data provided by 18 B2B media companies representing 118 publications. Key findings were presented at ABM’s Top Management Meeting, held last month in Chicago.

The biggest of the three revenue streams, advertising, declined at a compound annual rate of 0.5 percent to $4.1 million for the average publication.

Circ revenue declined 2.2 percent to $480,000 on the same basis as the expansion of online information eroded readers’ need for paid subscriptions to print magazines. Meanwhile, high-margin ancillary revenue, from sources like licenses, collateral products and list rentals, slipped 5.8 percent to $361,000.

On the cost side, expenses rose at a 2 percent compound annual growth rate over the period, with lower ancillary and production expenses offset by higher postal and editorial costs.