Who's first to go...all digital?

I just spent the day with some agency folks in the dental industry and came across this interesting data point: there are 12 "serious" publications serving the dental industry right now. For a market this size, that's alot of paper. It got me to thinking that there will be inevitable shakeout, maybe some consolidation, but most likely...someone will fold a print book and take their business to the web. Higher margins, no PPP, and possibly a more nimble approach are all benefits. In fact, considering the shakeout in newspapers, we could see a national title go all digital any day now. But, as we all know, B2B is not the consumer media world--there are still media people in our business who consider the internet a fad. We are also always on the whipping end of the long tail when a shakeout comes in revenue and advertising spend due to the fundamental differences between consumer and B2B.

The interesting thing to me is that B2B is really the perfect place for a well-crafted web strategy that delivers exactly what a professional is looking for and has the potential to educate and inform. It's my belief that there will actually be a tremendous move forward in the next 2 years in the way B2B publishers begin communicating with their audiences, which will mean only a few dominant print vehicles and multiple online offerings.

The age of "me too" publications with weak circ and re-tread editorial is coming to an end...even in dental. But, how does that account for the recent spate of print launches? From the outside it would appear that the print market is healthier than ever. Nope. Friends, this is a last gasp. Instead of improving core books, staying on ratecard and embracing new media, some publishers are launching new titles in hopes of staunching the total revenue bleed--going horizontal by launching Hygiene books etc, and making deals. Overall this erodes margins, and makes a business less sustainable with less money to invest in readership and editorial. Which gets us back to the question of what all these books are actually providing to their advertisers. It's going to be a serious question this fall when savvy marketers will begin asking uncomfortable questions.