To drive this change and to focus on online revenue we’ve changed the business mission of our organization away from print. Going forward IDG Communications will define itself as a web centric information company complemented by expos, events and print publications.
This is from a blog blog post by Colin Crawford, Senior Vice President of Online at IDG Publications. It’s a post everyone involved in publishing from editorial through to newsagents ought to read. He steps us through why they have adjusted their mission, shifting focus to online first.
In the US, our online revenue now accounts for over 35% of our total US publishing revenues. Next year, for many brands online revenues will be greater than print revenues, if fact they already are at some of our key brands and by 2009 – approximately 50% of IDG’s US revenues will come from online.
Crawford writes positively about the opportunity of online for the publications in the IDG stable. IT titles are experiencing double-digit sales falls at retail. Consumers are showing from their retail and online behaviour how they want to access IT news and information. IDG saw that and adjusted their mission accordingly.
Unfortunately some publishers are not acting like IDG. Newsagents continue to receive IT titles in quantities as if there has been no downturn. Magazine distributors have an obligation to pull back on these titles regardless of the money they make from the distribution process.
For their part, newsagents need to learn from the IDG approach and adjust their mission to reflect the changing marketplace. This means reducing magazine display space, cutting dead titles and moving into new product categories which drive traffic and sales.
More good writing on this topic:
Louis Gray.
Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine.
Juha Saarinen.