June 27, 2005

According to a new survey of 21 B2B publishers in the UK, Internet advertising has greatly impacted printed B2B publications and the trend could soon become even worse.

The survey, conducted by Sift, found that one in three B2B publishers said the online channel generates more than 30% of their turnover but 61% expect that the online channel will generate more than 30% of their total revenue, within two years.

Sift’s survey aims to build on the UK Association of Online Publishers research project commissioned earlier this year, which found B2B websites had overtaken printed media as a preferred source of work-related information.

The AOP found 82% of business decision makers use B2B websites regularly and spend an average of one hour per day viewing them.

The Sift research also found that one in five businesses were “fully prepared” to take advantage of a shift towards online B2B publishing and a further 67% were “prepared but still had some work to do”.

Alexandra White, director of AOP, said: “Sift’s findings verify a genuine appetite amongst publishers to make online happen.”

Far from ringing the death of B2B printed media, only 16% of the publishers believed that online would replace printed titles and that print and online media would be used equally.

Helen Trim, sales and marketing director at Sift, said: “It is clear that online publishing is an accepted business model in the B2B space, with many publishers already rising to the challenge.”

Source: MediaWeek.co.uk