Macworld in Article on Min’s B2B
Macworld Pokes Through a Distressed Computing Segment
Monday, June 20, 2011
Steve Smith
Both the Computing and Developer segments of the b2b print market were under pressure in the first quarter of 2011, according to the latest ad page counts from IMS/The Auditor. The 13 titles we track in Computing showed an overall decline of 6.62% in pages during January – March 2011 compared to the same period in 2010. Nor was the trajectory very strong, as March itself showed a -15.88% negative growth rate as well. As a group, however, IDG’s books fared best, with CIO up 7.38% for the quarter and Computerworld up 2.9%.
The strongest growth in the category came from the consumer and business crossover Macworld, which posted a 20.06% ad page gain for the quarter and 13.22$ growth in March alone. According to Stacy Levy, SVP of sales and marketing Macworld is clearly benefiting from the overall momentum for Apple products in the market. She insists, though, that it is the cross-platform presence that is helping to fuel print gains. “As an integrated brand, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole and drives success across all of the brand. Being one of the few established brands with a print property, not to mention serving the Apple market, has been a great part of the secret sauce. The print advertising increase in Q1 was very healthy.”