Publishers Final Word - May 2010
I am sure many of you reading this will be delighted to see that Business Travel Monthly has returned to hard-copy format. I think it appropriate that I should explain why we have made this decision and what will be required to continue publishing the hard-copy version.
As many of our readers might recall, in October 2007 I announced our decision to cease publishing in hard-copy and move to a new digital format, using the Realview Technologies format, whereby we design the magazine in the usual way, but with viewers only able to read it while online. The decision to move to this new technology was driven by hard economics and the desire to be at the forefront of technological changes to the publishing industry.
While many of our readers happily embraced the change, there were a large number who did not! I can’t recall quite how many such emails I received, but over the last couple of years I have been contacted by numerous readers asking whether there was any way that they could still get a hard-copy of the magazine. I would frequently hear from people who told me that they missed being able to slip their copy of BTM in their bag to read on the train or plane while on their way to or from work or to business meetings. I even had one email from a reader who said they liked to read it before they went to sleep, but didn’t like taking their laptop to bed. Dedication indeed! (I’m still not sure if this person was winding me up or not – I suspect their example was just to prove a point).
While I listened to this feedback, for a long time I could not see a way to justify financially, returning the magazine to hard-copy. Publications such as Business Travel Monthly rely primarily on advertising revenue to be viable. BTM’s pool of advertisers had shrunk considerably over the years due to industry consolidation and there simply weren’t the dollars available to support publishing a high quality magazine six times a year. However, the call to make the switch back to hard-copy did not go away.
Consequently, I decided to look again at the model and examine what we might need to do to make it viable. I considered the publishing frequency and also had a closer look at who was receiving the magazine.
Returning to hard-copy
I reached two conclusions. We could improve our chances of commanding sufficient advertising revenue if we reduced the frequency of the publication to being quarterly instead of bi-monthly (who remembers the halcyon days when were actually monthly, as the title suggests?). The second conclusion was that we had to stop providing the magazine on a complimentary basis to people within the industry, in order to reduce costs. Over the years, we had built up a large mailing list of people within the industry who were receiving the magazine on a complimentary basis. These people were of little interest to our advertisers, who wished to promote their message to genuine buyers of business travel.
The nett effect of these two conclusions is what you are holding in your hand now. We are happy to provide BTM on a complimentary basis to genuine buyers of business travel, but can not justify doing the same for those on the other side of the fence, the suppliers to the sector. If you are a supplier and wish to receive the magazine, you will need to subscribe. There are two options available, one that gives you full access to BTTB services, the other that provides you only with your hard-copy magazine. For full information please visit www.bttbonline.com
Nigel Wardropper
Publisher
Business Travel Monthly
