What Does The Future Hold For Magazines In Construction?

The publishing industry has been hit particularly hard with this recession. Drops in subscriptions and advertisers have hit construction publications particularly hard. McGraw Hill, publisher of several construction related publications, reported 2nd quarter earnings were down 23%. McGraw Hill's media unit, which includes Engineering News Record and its Regional Construction publications saw a drop in profit of 42%. Just two weeks ago, the company announce 125 positions were being eliminated from its media unit.

Just a few months ago, Reed Publications shut down all of its regional construction publications. They also recently announced they were putting several assets on the block and their CEO resigned. So what does the future hold for construction media? In a world where people want news and information instantaneously, the future is bleak for traditional print publications serving construction. Their business model is broken. They have been slow to embrace the change and technology that has swept across the publishing industry. I believe there will be a continued shift to digital publications and eNews products, with specialty and association-related publications being the remaining print assets. For marketers in construction, this also represents a shift in media and public relations strategies to digital and social media. Construction firms will have to focus on alternative means of disseminating their news and influencing their target audiences.

Shift Coming in Digital Ads, But How Will it Impact the AEC Industry

At a recent Advertising 2.0 Conference in New York, Barry Diller, chairman of IAC/InterActive Corp. suggested that the next frontier of internet ads is coming as web content and internet ads are set to change. According to an article on BtoBOnline.com, Diller said that the current ad formats are obsolete and Internet users have come to ignore ad in their "commoditized" state. I agree that we are on the verge of the "next thing" in internet ads. Overall, branded experiences and sponsorships are clearly more effective. For the most part, AEC web advertising is dominated by material and equipment suppliers. Not many contractors, engineers, or architects have extensive web campaigns. Which I see as a tremendous opportunity. The bar is not high, and it is easy to see easily a well planned and executed campaign could easily have an impact.

In addition, Diller believes that more publishers will be moving to a paid content model. My belief is that most publishers will struggle to move to such a model. For this shift to occur, there must be compelling content. So much content is simply regurgitated and linked from site to site. The drop in advertising revenue for publishers has resulted in reductions in editorial staff. This in turn has resulted in less original content. Publishers have struggled to find ways to make publishing their content profitable.

How does this relate to the AEC industry? For the most part, the publishing models in the AEC industry are pretty stale. Other than assets like McGraw Hill's construction.com and ENR.com, the AEC news sites are fairly fragmented. In addition, construction.com and ENR.com have so much content, it is challenging for them to deliver a good experience. On their ENR.com site, the news and content is fairly stale. Feature stories are only updated once a week. They've recently tried to leverage blogs and video content. On the print side, ENR has lost its position as the bible for the construction industry. The page count is only a fraction of what it once was. McGraw Hill is rumored to be considering divesting of its non-core assets so it can focus on its text book and financial services business. As traditional publishers struggle with both their print and on-line assets, advertisers are going to look other options such as paid searches and social media. In the AEC industry, publishers have a long way to go before visitors are willing to pay for content.

Reed Business Announces Closing of 13 Construction Pubs

The economy claimed 13 of 14 of Reed Business’s construction publications. Reed announced on Tuesday that it was ceasing publication of the regional construction titles published under Associated Construction Publications.

Reed will continue to publish Construction Equipment and Minnesota Construction Bulletin, as well as several websites.

Advertising in construction trade publications has steadily declined over the last several years. ACP’s regional construction publications and McGraw Hill’s publication have been significantly impacted as more people are seeking their information from the internet and other sources.