Oct. 29, 2024 // News and Business Intelligence for B2B Media

By Ronn Levine 

In SIIA Media’s 2024 B2B Media Benchmark Report on Revenue and Cost Patterns, print was cited as the fourth-biggest, primary-growth engine behind only digital advertising, events and subscriptions. Rick Schumacher, president and CEO of Baxter Research Center, and Jodie Cook Redwood, the company’s vice president of business development, believe their research can grow print even more.

Beginning in 2003, the two worked together at a small startup called LBM Journal, competing against larger publishers like Hanley Wood and Lebhar-Friedman. Needing insights and ideas to boost ad revenues for the print magazine, they were led to Baxter.

Right away, advertisers became hooked on the quarterly reports they received through the magazine, Schumacher said. “And Jodie was able to sell it really effectively. So we kept growing, grabbing a little bit of market share from our competitors every year.”

In 2017, LBM Journal became the number one book in its market. But right when Covid hit, Schumacher got a call from the owner and founder of Baxter, saying he was going to retire and close the company.

“Though my hands were full with LBM Journal, and I had no interest in getting into the research business, we were averaging a 50% ad sales boost in each Baxter ad study issue (a $200k annual return on an investment of less than $20k),” Schumacher said. “Our advertisers were accustomed to the report data, and Jodie made a convincing case to acquire Baxter. So here we are. LBM Journal is still a client, and Baxter is on a steady growth curve.”

Now Schumacher wants to let B2B media companies know that Baxter can bring about similar profits for their print publications.

“Nowadays everybody immediately calls you and says they want to go digital, and print is dead and blah blah—that kind of thing, especially from lots of young agency buyers,“ said Cook Redwood, in an interview that she and Schumacher did yesterday with SIIA Media Alert. “That isn't true. There are two really great things about the study. One, it gives you a deep dive into the advertising creative itself and how that creative stacks up and resonates with the audience that's reading it.

“But it also looks at the magazine. Not only does it talk about each individual advertiser, it looks at our editorial and talks about how our audience consumes information. [It tells] how many people are reading it in print [vs.] print and digital, and digital only. With LBM Journal, our digital-only crowd hovers in the 15-18% world. So I like to use that and immediately go to these media buyers and say, ‘You can buy digital only. But just recognize that you're only getting, at best, maybe 35-40% of my audience.'”

Baxter’s process refutes the old argument that print yields no metrics, inviting readers to fill out emailed surveys. Subscribers get uploaded into a secure system, and then it randomly starts choosing names. Once that magazine has lived in the field for two weeks, the survey launches—with questions about how the advertising and editorial resonated.

“In a day and age where reader service cards and things like that are ancient history, [the survey] will ask people if they want more information,” Cook Redwood said. “If they say yes, they know that we will pass on that information to the advertiser, and they will be contacted to get more information or to learn more.”

The report also measures editorial metrics for print. Cook Redwood recalled a decking columnist who was “wildly popular, and he was scoring so high in people reading his column that we decided to sell the page across from it as a premium position, and it sold out every year when we had the column from him. So there are certainly [many] ways that you can use this.”

The LBM Journal readers who want their information in print is “remarkably high,” Schumacher said. So instead of being digital first, he’d rather be known as customer first. “LBM Journal now has webinars, podcasts and a daily e-newsletter, so we encourage readers to get both [digital and print]. We just kind of let the company grow organically with what our audience wants. That's what we sell as publishers.”

To track effectiveness of their ads, all the advertisers automatically get a little microsite. Schumacher recalled a time when an advertiser said that his ad wasn’t working in LBM Journal anymore—there must be a problem with the magazine. But survey metrics found that the “creative” in the ad had changed, and it was the new ad that stopped attracting readers.

“They were spending this money not just with us but with other magazines as well,” Schumacher said. “So they were throwing money away. And this way Jodie was able to say, ‘Okay, it looks like your creative isn't connecting with our audience.’ So it helps her become not just the salesperson, but an advisor of sorts.”

Cook Redwood emphasized that it’s a two-way street. If an advertiser isn’t doing well with the ads, then it will stop running them. “So this is a mutually beneficial relationship that we have to have here... If your message isn't resonating with [readers], then we need to figure out why.”

Elsewhere…

Keir Starmer: AI companies should pay publishers for content

UK’s prime minister said both AI and the media were “central” to the government’s growth goals and he hoped to “rebalance” the relationship between platforms and publishers using the Digital Markets and Consumers Act.

Read on. (Press Gazette)

Questex Hospitality expands team

Cathy LaClair joins as senior business development manager, where she will oversee sales for The Hospitality Show and Hotel Management across the Southwest and West Coast regions—and play a pivotal role in expanding World Tea Expo.

Read on. (citybiz)

Crain Communications' Automotive News unveils redesign

“Our new site brings together our award-winning journalism from the U.S., Europe, Canada and China into one easy-to-navigate and mobile-friendly experience.”

Read on. (tbn)

As I mentioned earlier, events was cited as the second-biggest primary growth engine for publishers, according to our 2024 Media Benchmark Report —rising from 43% of respondents in 2022 to 50% in 2023. The popularity of events for B2B media companies has only gone up more this year, and that has led to an increase in M&A activity.

Just yesterday, event organizer Hyve, the UK-based, independent media company owned by PE firms Providence and Searchlight, acquired HLTH Inc., a community for international health innovators. The acquisition vaults Hyve into a brand-new growth sector, while bolstering its global brands and U.S. presence. “HLTH’s commitment to reshaping healthcare aligns perfectly with our purpose of delivering game-changing impact across industries,” said Hyve CEO Mark Shashoua.

HLTH Inc. was founded in 2018 by entrepreneur Jonathan Weiner. Its flagship event, HLTH USA, just concluded in Las Vegas, attracting over 12,000 attendees—36% C-suite—and speakers like Jill Biden and leaders from Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, and Google. Weiner also co-founded Money20/20, acquired by Informa earlier this year as part of the $1.5 billion Ascential deal, and Shoptalk, acquired by Hyve Group in December 2019. Weiner will continue to lead HLTH.

In addition, Clarion Events, Inc. announced the acquisition of Information Forecast, Inc., thus adding Infocast’s events for the renewable energy sector. "The acquisition of Infocast is a substantial move which strategically aligns both businesses’ strengths and cultures while fortifying our market presence,” said Liz Irving, president of Clarion Events North America. Industry veteran and Clarion Events North America Chief Commercial Officer Desiree Hanson will continue to lead the North America portfolio.

Also interesting there is that Reuters recently reported that Blackstone Group was exploring options for Clarion Events, including a sale, “that could value the [London-based] business at up to $2.6 billion, as appetite for event organizers continues to recover after the pandemic.” Informal talks with private equity funds including CVC and KKR were held, and an auction process could be staged next year.

Adam Shaw, global managing director, corporate finance, for Collingwood, showed me a chart today from the company’s Media Acquisition Report 2024 reflecting how M&A activity in events has risen about 25% in 2024—reaching its highest number in the last three years. (We’ll have more from my discussion with Shaw in an upcoming newsletter.) Among the many reasons for the surge in events, Shaw said, is their lower barrier for entry. Thus you see more starting up—and eventually acquired.

“Events are places where brand strength and less competition (no Google, Meta, Amazon, etc.) provide opportunities for B2B companies to grow,” Prescott Shibles, CEO of Farm Journal, told us for the Media Benchmark Report. “In a post-COVID world, there is a stronger need to connect face-to-face. There’s also serious Zoom fatigue.”

Reports Collingwood: “Events businesses remain of appeal to both Trade and PE buyers. Some of the most active acquirers in the space are PE-backed, with Clarion Events, CloserStill Media, and Hyve Group having collectively delivered seven deals in the past 12 months.” Make that nine.