Reed Business Information
Reed Business Information is a provider of business information, online data and marketing solutions in multiple formats
Reed Business Information (RBI) provides data services, information and marketing solutions to business professionals in the US, the UK, Continental Europe and Australia. It produces industry critical data services and lead generation tools and over 200 online community and job sites. It publishes over 200 premier business magazines with market leading positions in many sectors.
Total revenues for the year ended 31 December 2009 were £891m. RBI is a global business headquartered in London, with principal operations in London and Sutton in the UK, Amsterdam and Doetinchem in the Netherlands, New York, Los Angeles and Norcross, Georgia in the US as well as Paris, Milan, Bilbao and Sydney. RBI has 6,900 employees worldwide.
Online, RBI’s market-leading products include ICIS, a global information and pricing service for the petrochemicals sector; Bankers Almanac, a leading provider of reference data on the banking industry; Reed Construction Data, a provider of online construction data to the North American construction industry; totaljobs.com, a major UK online recruitment site; and Hotfrog, a global online business directory. Premier publishing brands include Variety in the US, New Scientist in the UK and Elsevier in the Netherlands.
Business-to-business magazines, online lead generation services and community websites provide an effective marketing channel for advertisers to reach target audiences and industry professionals to access valued information. RBI’s leading online data services enable users to enhance productivity through quicker and easier access to insightful and comprehensive industry information.
Market Opportunities
Business-to-business marketing spend has historically been driven by levels of corporate profitability, which itself has followed GDP growth, and business investment. Additionally, growing need for authoritative industry data and information is driving demand for online subscription data services and providing new opportunities.
Strategic Priorities
RBI’s strategic goal is to be the first choice of business professionals for information and decision support in its individual markets, and for business marketing services. Its areas of strategic focus are: developing the data services businesses; restructuring the business magazines and advertising driven portfolio, to develop online services in key markets and support print franchises through brand extensions and redesign; and to realign the cost base to reduced revenue expectations and drive further organisational effectiveness. An immediate priority is to complete the divestiture of the US controlled circulation titles.
Distribution Channels and Competition
In 2009, 47% of RBI’s revenue came from print and online advertising and lead generation, 17% from data services and 36% from other subscription and user services. Data services are typically sold directly on a subscription or transactional basis. Business magazines are distributed on a paid or controlled circulation basis. Advertising and lead generation revenues are sold directly or through agents.
RBI’s titles compete with a number of publishers on a title by title basis, including: UBM, McGraw Hill and Penton in the US; Eden and UBM in the UK; and Wolters Kluwer in the Netherlands. RBI competes for online advertising with other business-to-business websites as well as Monster, Google and other search engines.
