We have been discussing the business model of TechTarget and disagreed on many aspects. Trying to get some more information, I found this statement from Alan Meckler - and it leans towards my viewpoint.

TechTarget received funds of 120 Mio. USD. They do not talk about turnover (according to Folio: about 80 Mio. USD in 2004, but incl. Bitpipe closed 2005) and profit, but a lot about growth and awards - and I admit, they have good (but not exclusive) information.

See what Alan Meckler said:

TechTarget is an interesting and newsworthy trade publishing company that is blending online with actual print magazine launches. TechTarget has received lots of press as it periodically produces press releases citing record revenue growth.

TechTarget put itself up for sale. Apparently, several media companies bid, but none of the bids was to the liking (HEM: above, or close to 600 Mio. USD) of TechTarget. Last week TechTarget announced that it was withdrawing from a sale and instead would pursue an IPO in 2006.

Some observations: I have always questioned why TechTarget would run magazines. I presume an IPO prospectus will tell us about their magazine business, but I cannot see Wall Street getting excited about a trade magazine company in the tech space. I am fairly certain that in the coming years there is no place for tech trade magazines. They are doomed by costs of production and distribution and by the fact that tech information is needed 'yesterday' and not in a week or a month .

Alan's Full Statement on TechTarget

Folio: Tech Target Buys White Paper Distributor for $40 Million

More from Folio: about TechTarget

Dr. Joe Webb has released a strong comment on the latest ad page report of ABM and Magazine.org. He wrote on his blog:

American Business Media released September ad pages data. Compared to 2004, pages were up 1.96%. For the year, they are up 2.12%. Both rates are less that real GDP growth, so ad pages are lagging the economy growth rate by about a third. In terms of current dollars, because ABM does not adjust for inflation, their growth rate of 4.6% must be compared to a current dollar GDP growth of about 6.5%, also lagging by about one third.

While November data for consumer magazines will be out in the next week, taking a look at October numbers shows a decline compared to 2004 for the month of -2.1%, up for the year at 0.6%. The trend is not getting better, and it may be in decline for the year by the time November and December data are reported.

ABM BIN September

Magazine.org Report November 2005

Dr. Joe Webb Report

After the The Cluetrain and We the Media manifest it is high-time for the The Social Customer Manifesto. It is not complete and Christopher Carfi invites you to develop it. Here the Manifesto is and it is all about participation on fair and equal terms:

1. I want to have a say.

2. I don't want to do business with idiots.

3. I want to know when something is wrong, and what you're going to do to fix it.

4. I want to help shape things that I'll find useful.

5. I want to connect with others who are working on similar problems.

6. I don't want to be called by another salesperson. Ever. (Unless they have something useful. Then I want it yesterday.)

7. I want to buy things on my schedule, not yours. I don't care if it's the end of your quarter.

8. I want to know your selling process.

9. I want to tell you when you're screwing up. Conversely, I'm happy to tell you the things that you are doing well. I may even tell you what your competitors are doing.

10. I want to do business with companies that act in a transparent and ethical manner.

11. I want to know what's next. We're in partnership.where should we go?

The Social Customer Manifesto

About Christopher Carfi

Dorian Benkoil reported on paidcontent.org from the Digital Magazine Forum:

Bob Carrigan, president of publishers IDG, says that for his B2B publications, an online user is worth more than in print, because the 'effective CPM' is much higher. They make a lot from lead generation, as much as $100-$200, and charge in tiers depending on how qualified the lead is (for example, whether it converts, how much info there is, how well the information integrates automatically with the marketer's sales system, and so on). He's not calculating how much it costs to produce the content - in some cases, it was produced for a magazine like PC World or MacWorld, or by their print staffs and then put online.

Nevertheless, he said, part of why his B2B users are worth so much online is that because inventory for his tech-oriented publications online is so tight, he's able to charge phenomenal CPMs online, from $50 on up.

He also said there are more online advertisers than in print, though the aggregate online advertising dollars are not as high because advertisers can buy a smaller, targeted slice online than in print.

What's the Circulation?
Just because circulation is 'verifiable' online, doesn't mean there's no controversy. Folks at the conference today are talking about what qualifies as a verified audit and how it applies to the offline world. For example, if you've subscribed to the online edition of a magazine, and get an e-mail notification that it's available, that can according to auditors' rules be counted as 'delivery' so the advertiser can be charged for ads. More .

Dorian Reports on the Digital Magazine Forum: B2B Users 'Worth More'

Digital Magazine Forum: Audit or Money?

Digital Magazine Forum: What's the Circulation?

The front pages of major Web portals have been sold out of their prime real estate for months and even years on end. Ad buyers are complaining that bookings on Yahoo, AOL, and MSN are placed so far in advance their campaigns run the risk of no longer being relevant once the time comes to post the ads. Full article on WSJ (paid subscription required)

Mediapost reports on WSJ article: Sorry, we're Sold Out

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If this sounds new to you - we are happy to get you started!

Blog Hype oder PR Hype?

Think Tank for A Newspaper Transformation Plan

Podcasting Takes Off in China

The B2B Digital Marketing Shift

Lessons for Newspapers and Magazines

Girls are Better than Boys

China Internet User Exceeded 103 Million

Internet in China: Usage and Impact

Out Of Sync

Google Publication Ads in Chicago Newspaper

US Magazine Health Watch

Do and Don'ts if You Want Your Journalist to Blog

An intro on this tools and what they can do and not do for the Publisher, their Readers/Users and for B2B communities. This presentation was prepared for a training session in Kyiv last week (and is one of the reason why this newsletter is late).

The New Digital Tools - Blogs, Podcasts, RSS, Social Software and Social Networks (PDF 2, 79 MB)

New Comparison Platform Wiki Software

We mentioned 'Webinar's as a business opportunity and revenue stream for publisher, which works well in US (e.g. Penton, PennWell)

MarketingSherpa's Publication ContentBiz has a Special Report on the subject, sharing experience, samples and some links for additional resources:

Special Report Part 1:
How to Sell Sponsored Webinar's

Carlotta Mast from The Kelsey Group wrote a white paper on 'Mobil Local search and Directory: Understanding the Opportunity'

"The explosive growth in the number of wireless devices worldwide has created a sense that it is only a matter of time before most local commercial searches are conducted from a mobile device, using a voice interface, miniature Web browser or some other interface ..."

The Kelsey Group forecasts that annual local search volume could exceed 20 billion searches in 2006, making a share of 20 % of all search requests

More about the White paper

The White paper download (PDF) Subscription only!

The Kelsey Group: Prognosis annual local search volume 2006

According to Robert Scoble and Shel Israe, blogs offer businesses something that has long been lacking in their communication with customers- meaningful dialogue. Devoid of corporate-speak and empty promises, business blogs can humanize communication, bringing companies and their constituencies together in a way that improves both image and bottom line.

More on Naked Conversations - the Blog

Pre-ordering on Amazon.com

Pre-ordering on Amazon.de

The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the world's largest annual tradeshow for consumer technology and America's largest annual tradeshow of any kind.

Information and Registration at