• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 2, 2006

Demand for business-to-business media inched up in March, after a rough start during the first two months of 2006. Ad pages in the U.S. business press rose 0.7 percent to 82,476 in March, marking the first expansion of page sales reported so far this year by the Business Information Network, a service of American Business Media. The growth follows declines in January and March, and the year-to-date total is now down only 0.1 percent.

Last month ABM President-CEO Gordon Hughes predicted demand for B-to-B media would begin to pick up, and on Thursday he issued a new statement confirming that the data is "beginning to trend upwards."

The growth nonetheless is moderate and represents a downturn from 2005 when the B-to-B marketplace experienced a healthy turnaround. The instability in the business press mirrors the inconsistent demand for consumer magazines in recent months.

The ABM, however, noted that total revenues are actually up 0.3 percent through the first three months of 2006, and that some key categories are showing even healthier gains.

Ad page volume grew by 13.6 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively, for the agriculture and banking/financial/insurance categories.