Hi-Tech Ad Volumes Show Further Deterioration In US, According UBM

UBM said that advertising page volumes during July were down for both the market and CMP. The business-to-business information technology market as a whole decreased by 39.0% in page volumes; by comparison CMP Media’s hi-tech publications saw volumes decline by 27.3%.

However, the company says that the strengthening of CMP’s market share – up again in July to 30.0% – is ‘firm evidence of the strength of CMP’s brands’ and that the business continues to consolidate it longer term position.

In the calendar year to July CMP saw a 16.7% decrease in ad volumes, compared to a 28.0% decrease for the whole market including a 54.2% decrease for the general business/new economy sub-sector. CMP Media’s share of the market was 28.8% compared with 24.9% for the year to July 2000. The General Business/New Economy sub-sector declined from a 20.5% share of the market to a 13.0% share, says UBM.

CMP Media advertising volumes, calendar year to July 2001
	2001 Pages	2000 Pages	% Change	2001 Market Share	2000 Market Share
CMP Media	21,409	25,699	-16.7	28.8	24.9
B2B tech publications	64,753	81,302	-20.4	87.0	78.7
General business/new economy	9,702	21,172	-54.2	13.0	20.5
Discontinued titles	0	881	-100.0	0.0	0.9
Total market	74,455	103,355	-28.0	100.0	100.0
Source: United Business Media

ABN Amro is predicted that CMP Media’s profits will be around 57% lower than last year as a result of the declining hi-tech advertising sector, which last year accounted for approximately 30% of CMP’s profits. The broker has a Reduce rating on UBM.

In the first half an hour’s trading this morning UBM shares were up 5p to 549p.