BtoB Media Business - February 2008 - (Page 8)

COVER STORY The Internet has changed the way consumers of media, in b-to-b and elsewhere, get their information, and it has enabled all sorts of new behaviors. Some of those behaviors have been fostered by new competitors born of the Internet: Google and other search engines, lead generation-driven media, bloggers, usergenerated content and marketers themselves, which can now communicate directly with audiences via the Internet. “We interview advertisers annually,” said Chuck Richard, VP-lead analyst for Outsell. “When we asked them last year where the marketing and advertising spending is going, if you bundle the two, they told us 58% was on their own site. That, in effect, is competition to the publisher.” Rich Gordon, associate professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and chairman of its new media program, calls online media a disruptive technology that’s fundamentally challenging the advertising-supported media model. “According to the history of disruptive innovation, the norm is to fail,” he said. “The path to success does not mean tweaking things around the margins. It requires going back to zero and evaluating everything. If you think it’s hard, you’re right. Most companies will struggle mightily, and many will fail to make the transition.” A report, “The E-Media Organization: One Year Wiser,” Issued in December by Outsell and Cara Erickson, managing partner of NewCoordinates, made the bold statement, “Publishers that are not yet implementing an organizational game plan that addresses the shift to e-media are operating in default mode and likely to fail.” The report was based on surveys and in-depth interviews of CEOs and e-media leaders at b-to-b media and newspaper companies and followed a similar study By Marie Griffin conducted in late 2006. Although the 2007 report found “industry executives the t’s not about the medium. Electronic media is superior to print in are more grounded” as far as acceptingobchallenge of transformation, it also many ways as a delivery channel for information and even more so served: “Most of the executives we suras a conduit for bringing buyers and sellers together. ¶ It’s about the veyed still only ‘somewhat’ agree that money. ¶ Just 15 years ago, print was the primary information channel they have the right organizational framework in place.” that brought together business buyers and sellers. That powerful posi- Outsell predicts that online will overtion entitled publishers to charge a premium. But those days are gone. take print as the dominant revenue source Rob Brooks/Images.com Choosing a digital path I B-to-b media companies know future revenue gains will come from online, and they’ve chosen a variety of ways to structure their organizations to maximize that growth. Here’s how four companies assessed their online needs and made their choices. 8 | Media Business | February 2008 | mediabusinessonline.com http://mediabusinessonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BtoB Media Business - February 2008

BtoB Media Business - February 2008
Contents
Upfront
Cover Story
Feature
Sales & Marketing
Events
Online
Production
Circulation
People
Benchmarks
Endnote

BtoB Media Business - February 2008