Streaming media's frame: Web-only pays

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Jan, 2002

Last summer--coming off a couple months of less-than-stellar ad revenues--Greg Frame, editor in chief of Penton Media's Streaming Media, knew he had to make some important strategic decisions concerning the future of his b-to-b publication. After looking over the book's financials with another executive, Frame formulated a plan: They would discontinue the print version of Streaming Media and concentrate solely on the Web edition until the market picked up.

An unconventional solution to an altogether common problem in the current magazine market, perhaps, but it worked. Today, Streaming Media exists on the Internet only; as of the September/October 2001 issue, the print version went "on hiatus." And now, because of the disappearance of manufacturing costs like paper, printing and ink, revenues aren't nearly as scarce as they used to be. "Advertising in the first few issues of the magazine was great, but then in March last year things started to drop off," explains Frame. "But our audience is there on the Web--and as far as we're concerned, we're format neutral, so it just seemed to make Sense."

Since the print edition of Streaming Media was put on hold, the staff has also been able to concentrate on building other revenue streams. For instance, it's selling exclusive print reports--like a popular streaming media cost benchmark report--for $100 to $1,000. The research component, though "significant" and growing, is not a huge part of revenue. But it does demonstrate that the demand for Streaming Media offline is strong.