B2B print advertising revenues remained below 2011 levels in July, as they have every month this year, per the latest Business Information Network report from the Association of Business Media (ABM). July’s ad sales totaled $557.5 million, down 4.5% year-over-year. That’s actually an improvement from May and June, which saw ad sales down by more than 7% and 8%, respectively. For the year-to-date, total spending has dropped by 4.1%, from roughly $4.5 billion to $4.3 billion.
Still, it’s worth noting that despite falling ad sales, print still commands roughly 30% share of the total B2B media market. And the news isn’t all bad: a recent study from Godengo+Texterity found that three-quarters of B2B publishers (primarily magazine publishers) report hiked (41%) or steady (34%) print revenues.
Fast Movers: Aviation Up, Healthcare Down
Looking further at July’s BIN data, some categories stand out in their spending patterns. Defying the overall drop, the aviation, aerospace and military category more than doubled revenues year-over-year to $19.1 million. Also showing rapid growth was the travel, business conventions and meetings category, up 39% to $30.2 million. The biggest decline was in the largest category, healthcare, which saw a 24% drop in revenues to $81.4 million. Government (-23%) and pharmaceuticals (-22%) also saw revenues fall by a significant amount.
For the year-to-date, the computing, software, and telecommunications category has seen the fastest decline, down 22%, while healthcare category revenues have fallen by 14%. Agriculture remains the only category to experience a double-digit rise in revenues, up 12%.
