Executive Summary
The UK business press is an important part of the economy and faces
continuing market growth for the rest of the decade. The business press is
sometimes described as the trade and professional press or the
business-to-business press. Business press titles serve two functions:
firstly, to keep readers in touch with professional issues, and secondly to
communicate new developments in the industry and its markets, which will have a
bearing on the reader's organisation. Most titles are distributed free of
charge, which means that advertising is of paramount importance to business
press publishers.
The value of the market in 1995 was around £1.7bn. In October 1995, there
were just over 5,300 business titles out of a combined total of 8,000 consumer
and business magazines. The total circulation of business titles was 284
million. Although some business titles are in newspaper format, they tend to be
classified as part of the UK magazine market.
The three strongest sectors in 1995 were electronics, catering and travel,
while the three weakest were building/architecture, medical and financial
services. The strong sectors are generally those that are serving the healthy
and dynamic sectors of the UK economy, that are experiencing steady or rising
advertising revenues and which have stable or growing circulations.
One noticeable feature of the industry is that the major groups are combining
publishing with exhibitions and seminars. Key Note sees this trend developing
and strengthening during 1996 and 1997. There is clearly a natural crossover in
markets between trade exhibitions and trade, i.e. business publishing.
Moreover, the profits from exhibitions and seminars can support publishing
business titles on-line. This is unlikely to supplant the printed copy.
However, it will expand the opportunities for business press publishers; it
should also serve to extend the shelf-life of individual titles since titles
that are on-line can easily be indexed and, therefore, accessed long after
publication.
Over the next 3 years, Key Note expects further mergers, acquisitions and
disposal of titles to take place.
Ninth Edition 1996
Edited by Simon Howitt
ISBN 1-85765-509-5
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