Ziff's new operating system - Ziff-Communications Co. Ziff-Davis Publishing Co

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March 1, 1994 by Paul McDougall

CMP built much of its business by advancing on Ziff-Davis' undefended flanks, using gains there as a base from which to attack its core markets. In 1987, for instance, CMP launched VARBusiness, a monthly aimed at system integrators who customize hardware and software for specific industries. It's a niche in which Ziff-Davis, whose publications generally focus on end users, has little presence and where, as a result, CMP has made big gains. In 1992, VARBusiness posted total revenues of more than $19 million, placing it a notch ahead of The Atlantic on the FOLIO: 500 list of the magazine industry's top earners.

"It's a market that Ziff-Davis claims doesn't exist, but obviously it does," says Leeds--who, like William Ziff Jr., is a second-generation publisher. Advertising relationships built through VARBusiness helped CMP's 1990 acquisition of Windows Magazine, which now competes head to head on the newsstand with the Ziff-Davis flagship, PC Magazine.

CMP is targeting more than Ziff-Davis' advertising. While applicants with gilded resumes are routinely turned away by consumer magazines, technology publishers say there is a dearth of candidates possessing both solid journalistic skills and a subtle understanding of computers. "It's a tall order to ask people to be technical experts and good journalists," says Ronni Sonnenberg, president of Ziff-Davis' Business Media Group.

Thus it was no small coup when CMP lured PC Magazine editor Joel Dreyfuss to Information Week in December 1993. Dreyfuss, whose resume includes stints at Forbes, USA Today and Black Enterprise, says he left PC Magazine "because Information Week is closer to my background as a journalist."

Clearly, then, and in spite of past success, Hippeau and company cannot be complacent. To help keep some daylight between itself and would-be challengers, Ziff-Davis in recent months:

* Has produced Personal Computing, a 64-page special advertising insert for major Sunday newspapers.

* Formed a new division under J. Scott Briggs to coordinate its forays into the consumer market.

* Acquired youth and family titles Computer Gaming World and Kids & Computers from Golden Empire Publications.

* Developed Interchange, an online computer network that will feature its own information products as well as those of competitors like Info World.

New titles aimed at consumers

The company is also launching two home computer titles this year. About one, Ziff-Davis executives are mum, except to say it will be edited by veteran technology journalist John Dickinson. The other is FamilyPC, a joint venture with Disney launching this fall. "The computer is entering into a phase where people will use it for activities other than business," says Hippeau. "As our vendors enter into the nonbusiness world, it is only natural for us to follow them."

FamilyPC will compete directly with HomePC, which will also launch later in the year and is CMP's entry into the consumer market. Hippeau is confident that the Disney connection will give Ziff the edge. "CMP is a good publisher, and I'm sure they'll come up with a good magazine. But we decided that in order to market ourselves quickly, an association with Disney would be beneficial." Perhaps. But media watchers say penetrating homes with high-tech offerings may not be easy--for Ziff-Davis or any other publisher. Product cycles are down to less than 12 months and prices fluctuate wildly, making agencies reluctant to commit to long-term campaigns. And because the mass computing market is so new, there is little data on how consumers make purchasing decisions. "To what extent there is going to be significant advertising in the home market has yet to be determined," says David Yoder, media director at Anderson & Lembke in San Francisco. "Consumers want to buy computers, but do they want to read about them? We're not so sure."