Even trade magazines are feeling the squeeze in the recession

While newsprint was suffering, many of the magazines that service small, and often prosperous, sectors did appear to be doing much better than both papers and consumer magazines. Then the recession began to bite and the story changed rapidly.

In fact, as long ago as June last year, Lord Heseltine - chairman of one of the most vibrant groups, Haymarket - was warning of tough times ahead. Despite a 5% increase in pre-tax profits to £31.7 million for the previous year, the publisher of magazines such as Campaign and PRWeek was urging caution.

By autumn, Heseltine's prediction was proved correct. In November, in response to the worsening market conditions, Haymarket announcing the axing of some 50 jobs, about 3% of the company's then 1600 UK staff. These were voluntary redundancies, affecting both editorial and advertising teams, and were something of a shock, given that Haymarket is widely regarded as a well-run private company.

But that can be seen as a relatively modest response compared with recent decisions by other B2B publishers. Incisive Media, the publisher of Computing and Accountancy Age, has just asked its 2000 staff to take a week's unpaid leave.

That came within days of a similar initiative by Euromoney, owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. Euro-money, publisher of about 100 titles mostly in the finance sector, announced that staff earning more than £25,000 would be required to take seven days' unpaid leave over the 2009 Christmas period, during which the company intends to close its offices.

Managing director Richard Ensor told employees what they surely know, since most of them are involved in reporting on the recession. "The company is going through extremely testing times," he wrote in a memo. "It remains in good health, but to keep it so we have had to make a number of redundancies across our businesses."

Emap Inform - owner of titles such as Retail Week, Nursing Times and Construction News - decided on a different tactic to reduce costs. It has not only axed 10% of its staff but has also cut down the size of all of its titles to A4 and changed its print dates. The company is jointly owned by Guardian Media Group and the private-equity firm Apax Partners.

Centaur Media, publisher of Marketing Week, The Lawyer and The Engineer plus a host of trade titles, last month reported an 88% year-on-year drop in profits for the second half of 2008. Now it has reduced the free distribution of its weekly magazine, Mortgage Strategy, by 13%. That is hardly a surprise, of course, given the plunge in the property market. But that decision also provides another clue to the difficulties being faced in the B2B sector. Titles that are distributed free of charge to a controlled audience of subscribers are finding times much tougher than those with a cover price.

Most publishers realised long ago that their titles' previous hold on recruitment advertising in their specific niche was loosening. Companies now prefer to advertise online and they do not necessarily choose to do so on the magazines' websites.

Now that display advertising is also beginning to decline as companies tighten up on their promotional budgets it is clear why magazine publishers are feeling the pinch.

It does vary from sector to sector. For example, Newsquest's title Insurance Times is prospering because insurance - unlike finance, banking and property - is not suffering from the worst of the recession. The Insurance Times story is not simply about resilience, but says a great deal more about the way profits can be gleaned from innovation. Its online offshoot, Insurance Agenda, shows the success of segmenting even a small market. Similarly, both Newsquest and Haymarket have illustrated the value of leveraging their magazine brands into other lucrative areas, such as events and exhibitions. "You would be surprised how profitable it can be to host a business breakfast," said one magazine staffer.

Claire Beale, editor of Haymarket's Campaign, the weekly business magazine for advertising, says: "There are many ways in which we have been creative, with bespoke editorial, providing supplements tailored to the needs of advertisers, hosting sponsored events and so on. There are commercial revenue streams to exploit even in the face of declining advertising and even in the face of the slippage in circulation."

As with other magazine editors, she also points to the multi-platform element. The web can be seen as an enemy, encroaching on territory once ruled by print, or it can become a friend, acting as a complement to the editorial provided in print form. There are no hard and fast rules about what should go on one platform rather than another. It varies with the particular niche. Some accept that news, like ads, will inevitably feature only on the web. But that allows for longer analytical pieces to be carried in print.

It does mean that B2B magazine publishers and editors, if they hope to ride out the storm, must be just as creative as their newspaper colleagues, maybe more so. When the recession recedes, though it is largely accepted that there will not be a certain return to the previous status quo, the B2B sector is more likely to return in ruder health than newspapers.

It is facile to say that it is a simple matter for them because they all have captive audiences. They still need to ensure that they serve those readers well with appropriate editorial.

But it is clear, despite the cutbacks, that the trade magazines are also displaying the kind of innovation that will stand them in good stead in future.