• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 25, 2005

The rate of ad page erosion for the U.S. business press moderated in May, decline only 0.2 percent from May 2004, according to estimates released Friday by trade group American Business Media. That represents and improvement from April, when business-to-business ad pages fell 3 percent. Through the first five months of the year, B-to-B ad pages are down 2 percent from the same period in 2004.

However, ABM President-CEO Gordon Hughes noted May was the fifth consecutive month in which ad revenues rose for the business press, suggesting a the average cost per ad page has been inflating during 2005. Ad revenues rose nearly 4 percent in May, while the first five months are a little more than 4 percent over the same periods in 2004.

"These figures show that the print aspect of our business continues to gain strength," stated Hughes.

Despite some marginal improvement in the rate of B-to-B ad page erosion, a major media agency last week revised its U.S. outlook for the B-to-B marketplace, projecting it would come in flat for 2005.

"Business-to-business ad spending continues to lack improvement despite efforts by publishers to develop both their websites and marketing program offers," warned ZenithOptimedia Group.

If that proves to be the case, it would be a devastating development for the B-to-B marketplace, as publishers have been moving aggressively to develop alternative revenue streams to supplement eroding print sales, especially online advertising sales and event marketing. While the ABM's Business Information Network database tracks only ad pages, the ABM's Hughes said, "all business-to-business platforms are trending upwards."