• by adam.m , Michael Deibert , August 25, 2005

In recognition of the growing consensus that business-to-business media is no longer confined to selling printed ad pages, the Business Information Network (BIN) of American Business Media (ABM) announced on Wednesday that its report would be expanded to include the latest data available on revenue and attendance figures for trade shows and exhibitions.

The decision to bring out the new report--dubbed T-BIN--comes after the release this week of the 2005 edition of investment banker Veronis Suhler Stevenson's annual Communications Industry Forecast, which for the first time documented the growth of non-traditional B-to-B revenue sources.

While business-to-business magazine media spending is projected to grow a modest 2.7 percent in 2005--and between 3.1 percent and 3.8 percent over the next four years--trade shows and exhibitions made a marked gain of 6.1 percent this year, with Veronis Suhler projecting growth set to seesaw between 5.5 percent and 6 percent over the same time period.

"The ABM uses the BIN to go out and talk about the health of the business-to-business industry," says Timothy Kelsay, Associate Marketing Director with Fairchild Publications. "And some of that is shifting towards the trade shows and e-media. There's been a revue shift there."

"As travel budgets and overall business information budgets increased over the past two years, trade show organizers have been able to amplify vendor-related costs without much backlash," the Veronis Suhler report noted.

Figures cited by ABM when announcing their decision to expand their publication--provided by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR)--showed that in the first quarter of 2005, trade shows registered a 5 percent growth beyond what they experienced over the same time period in 2004. This year's total came in at $2.78 billion, the CEIR report said--up from $2.65 billion last year.