FOLIO: Wire | 12.14.06

By Marrecca Fiore & Linda Zebian

Summit Business Media Buys Judy Diamond Associates

Summit Business Media announced today it has acquired Judy Diamond Associates, a provider of information and database tools for the insurance and financial services industries. The company's products include the American Directory of Group Insurance Plans, The King of Pension Funds and the Employer Identification Number Finder. "This is a very logical extension of our insurance data, employee benefit reference publishing and magazine brands,"said Andy Goodenough, president of Summit unit Highline Media, in a statement.

Zinio Launches Digital Gift Subsription Service

New Track Media Buys American Woodworker from Reader's Digest Association

Blackwell to Publish Journal of Public Health Dentistry

Boston-based Blackwell Publishing, in a partnership with the American Association of Public Healthy Dentistry, will begin publishing the Journal of Public Health Dentistry starting with the 67th volume in March 2007.

The quarterly title targets advancement of public health dentistry and has been published by the AAPHD since its establishment in 1940. In addition, the journal's entire collection of back issues will become available in digital form. The journal will also be made available online, via Blackwell's Synergy resource.

Alert Global Media Acquired by Technology Provider

Miami, Florida-based Alert Global Media, the publisher behind a number of money laundering properties including a Web site and conference, has been acquired by Fortent, a company specializing in anti-money laundering and fraud detection technology. The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. handled the transaction on behalf of Alert Global.

The deal includes the sale of the company's Web sites, which include moneylaunchering.com and the Spanish-language site, lavadodinero.com, as well as a monthly newsletter, Money Laundering Alert. The deal also includes Alert Global's conferences and training programs, which include The Annual International Money Laundering Conference and Exhibition.

Stratton Publishing Snags to Publish Two New Association Mags

Alexandria, Virginia-based Stratton Publishing & Marketing Inc., has been hired to provide publishing services to two association clients which include The Appraisal Institute and Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Stratton will publish Valuation Insights and Perspectives for the Appraisal Institute, a quarterly titles with a circulation of 80,000. For CHADD, Stratton will provide desing and production services to its bimonthly magazine Attention!

Sports Illustrated Teams Up with Online High School Sports Site

Sports Illustrated and TAKKLE, Inc. have formed a partnership that will allow the magazine to reach more high-school aged readers. The partnership involves SI's established Face in the Crowd franchise-a popular section of the magazine-and will establish a weekly feature on the TAKKLE site called "Sports Illustrated - Video Faces in the Crowd." TAKKLE visitors can upload and view user-generated video highlights of high school athletes and each week, SI editors will select one candidate to appear in the section of the magazine as well as in a video on the TAKKLE Web site.

Ad Revenue Up, Pages Down Slightly for November

According to Publishers Information Bureau, total magazine rate-card-reported revenue for the month of November increased two percent compared to the same month last year, while ad pages were down 2.6 percent for the month. Revenue closed at just under $2.5 billion while pages slowed down to about 24,500. For the first 11 months of the year, PIB revenue is up by 3.9 percent, totaling $21.8 billion, while ad pages show insignificant growth over 2005, gaining only 0.1 percent.

The Drugs & Remedies category continued its reign as the strongest category for the fifth time this year, and has posted PIB ad revenue and page increases every month in 2006. Other strong categories included Food & Food Products; Direct Response; and Retail. For January through November, the top three magazine ad categories by revenue are Drugs & Remedies, Toiletries & Cosmetics and Automotive. The top three categories by pages are Apparel & Accessories, Automotive, and Toiletries & Cosmetics.

New CFO Named for Prism/Penton Merger

Eric Lundberg, vice president and chief financial officer of ALM, will become the CFO of the combined Prism Business Media and Penton Media company - to be called Penton - once Prism's acquisition of Penton closes in the first half of next year. Lundberg joined ALM in 1995 and has held various positions, including corporate controller and director of financial planning, over the past 11 years.

Last week, Prism said its CEO, John French, would stay on to run the newly combined media company, while Penton CEO David Nussbaum will leave to pursue other opportunities.

ABC Releases Sponsored-Sales Guidelines in Anticipation of January Rule Change

The Audit Bureau of Circulations has released new guidelines to help publishers address the new rules requiring them to identify sponsors of third-party magazine sales. The new rule takes effect January 1 and requires publishers to notify recipients of sponsored copies who the purchaser is.

Publishers will be given a "transition period" to comply with the new guidelines through the first half of 2007, during which time reasonable action should be taken to "provide recipient notification from time-to-time," ABC says in the guidelines. One-hundred-percent compliance is required beginning July 1.

The guidelines posted this week on ABC's Web site provide detailed information on individual, public place, on-site and event distribution.

Under the rule modifications adopted by ABC this year, new sponsored-sales programs must inform the recipient who the sponsor/purchaser of the subscription is, sales-agent invoices must detail purchase quantities and payment by publications, and each sponsor must outline how the purchase promotes its business and how the copies will be used. The transition period applies only to new programs that begin in 2007; current sponsored-sales programs are not subject to the new rule.

1105 Media to Acquire Post Newsweek Tech Media

Post Comment / Discuss This Story - Info/Rules