No longer an afterthought,
profitable online events are
becoming cornerstone revenue
sources for media companies
BY CHARLOTTE WOOLARD
Jeff Killeen believes that virtual events have the power to transform publishing business models. The GlobalSpec CEO went to his company’s board in late 2008 to make the case for
investment in the emerging medium. Even
in a raging recession, he said, the digital
media company needed to develop an online events business.
“The technology and application envi-
ronment is there,” Killeen said. “The eco-
nomic environment calls out for new effi-
ciencies. There is an enormous inflection
point that we are right on the cusp of.”
The company did invest. GlobalSpec
seeded its first virtual trade show last year,
inviting about a dozen exhibitors to host
booths for free. The company began to po-
sition its rate card at a second show, and a
third event turned a profit. About 20 virtu-
al events have been slated for this year and
40 are scheduled for next year.
“I have never seen an embracement of a
media concept take off as fast as this did,”
said Killeen, whose company’s digital-only
portfolio includes vertical search engines
and e-newsletters for the engineering,
manufacturing and related technical and
scientific markets. “We see this as a third
leg to our strategy.”
He isn’t alone in his enthusiasm. Event
organizers have discovered that a virtual en-
vironment can feed exhibitors’ hunger for
data while also offering an event new brand-
extension and revenue opportunities. More-
over, the loaded databases and content ex-
pertise found at most media companies,
combined with potential staffing synergies,
uniquely position publishers to take advan-
tage of the growing online events business.
Market Research Media, one of the first
Otto Steininger/Stock Illustration Source
research firms to throw a number at the potential of the virtual events market, forecast
in February a compound annual growth
rate of 56% that would yield an $18.6 billion industry between 2010 and 2015.
Killeen plans to capture his share of that
business. GlobalSpec built an in-house production studio to work with a third-party
platform provider. The company hired
event producers and engaged its current
editorial staff in the identification and development of content areas.
Killeen declined to talk about specific
profit margins but called the economics of
virtual events “compelling.”
Other media executives were not so
shy. Tom Cintorino, exec VP-digital media
at Northstar Travel Media said virtual
events increase the level of engagement the
midsize media company has with its ex-
hibitors and audience, reinforce the brand
and have the potential to deliver profit
margins between 30% and 60%.
Peter Goldstone, president of Hanley
Wood offered this: “It depends on how
much you want to invest in content and in
the bells and whistles to deliver that con-
tent. I’d be happy if we did 50 of these and
they delivered a 35% margin.”
Hanley Wood has accelerated its invest-
ment in virtual events because economic
pressures that hindered travel among its
construction audience coincided with mar-
ket-shifting trends like the green building
movement—trends that drive the need for
education, Goldstone said.
