The media landscape has changed significantly over the past two decades. Despite that, investigative journalism has arguably never been more necessary in holding those in power to account. Luckily, it’s still being published, although not always by the titles you might immediately expect.
One often overlooked and underappreciated section of the media is B2B trade press, an increasingly vital cog in the media machine that allows future national journalists to hone their craft while providing brands an opportunity to target niche audiences.
It was therefore promising to see trade titles strongly represented at this year’s British Society of Magazine Editors Awards - with the New Editor Award going to Olivia Midgley at Farmers Guardian, while the Editor’s Editor of the Year was Bryan Glick at Computer Weekly. The latter being a particularly prestigious award that’s been won by editors at the likes of Vogue, Private Eye, Cosmopolitan and The Economist.
It goes to show just how highly regarded trade press is within the industry and rightly so, it’s one of the few constants in the ever-evolving media landscape.
What does the data say?
- Ofcom data shows 79% of UK adults consume news online, compared to just 20% who still rely on print newspapers as their primary source.
- Media database Roxhill highlights the existence of 5,361 B2B trade publications in November 2021 - that accounts for 52% of all written word media outlets in the UK.
- Data from the Content Marketing Institute shows 77% of B2B marketers cite audience relevance as a key factor for media success.
So while the data highlights the importance of trade titles in being a platform for B2B brands to target specific audiences, they have a very important role in ensuring journalistic integrity too. Many will be shocked to find out some of the biggest scandals of recent times were first uncovered by B2B journalists.
You might assume an investigative reporter at one of the broadsheets would have been the first to break the Post Office IT scandal story, which has more recently been depicted in award-winning IT drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office. In fact, it was Computer Weekly back in May 2009, when it gave sub-postmasters a platform to tell their stories. In comparison, the Telegraph’s first piece of coverage came more than a decade later, in March 2020.
In no way should that be seen as questioning the journalists at any of the national newspapers. Far from it. Instead, it highlights why trade media is so vitally important. Journalists at ‘niche’ publications have the specific industry knowledge, contacts and remit to investigate stories and potential scandals when they’re in their infancy. Given the sheer number of potential scandals happening at any one time, it’s impossible for the nationals to uncover absolutely every stone in the vast news agenda they’re responsible for.
There are plenty of other examples out there too. Food industry publications like The Grocer were reporting concerns around horse meat infiltrating the supply chain before the nationals began covering the scandal. Construction titles like Building and Constriction News uncovered financial irregularities at Carillion before it went into liquidation in 2018, and the same is true of Travel Weekly prior to the collapse of Thomas Cook a year later.
This, alongside the sheer quantity of jobs B2B media provides journalists across the UK highlights just how important this sub-section of the industry is. So much so, it is often central to our media strategies for our clients as Antidote is a strong believer in not just securing coverage for the sake of coverage. Instead, we aim to provide results with clear value, and securing articles in trade titles that speak directly to senior decision makers in the industries our clients are most active in achieves exactly that.
Come back for next week’s Your Weekly Antidote, another dose of data-driven news analysis on one of the biggest stories of the week from your favourite comms tech agency.
