Event Marketing Surpasses Print

In the U.S. business press, business-to-business revenue is rising, in spite of the fact that ad pages are continuing to decline, thanks in large part to events, conferences and trade shows.

Ad pages for b-to-b publications declined 2.8 percent in February, compared to February 2006, according to American Business Media (via MediaPost). The decline was driven by drops in demand in the automotive, aviation, business/advertising/marketing and computer sectors. Restaurants and travel were up sharply for the month.

So-called face-to-face marketing grew at 10 percent and exceeded magazine revenues.