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Inside Jupitermedia
While Alan Meckler publicly rants about the future of technology trade shows, a "brain trust" of editors, analysts and IT professionals quietly builds an online media powerhouse.
By Cathy Chatfield-Taylor
If Alan Meckler's Web log produced a sound, it would very likely be that of his own horn blowing. But then, he's the first to admit, he likes to make noise.
In a typical post on Nov. 5, 2003, two weeks before the debut of cdXpo, Nov. 17-20 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Jupitermedia's chairman and CEO predicted the future of information technology (IT) trade shows, writing, "The future is cdXpo (now called Enterprise IT Week) and not the possible continuation of Tumbleweed shows (Comdex, CeBIT and Techx-PC Expo). This Tumbleweed trio are not long for this earth."
The day after cdXpo closed with a disappointing turnout of 4,300 attendees and 54 exhibiting companies, Meckler was contrite. "I was provocative in my comments about the ownership of Comdex and what they were doing, and some people in the industry got offended by it," Meckler says. "Too many people got caught up in that. Enterprise IT Week was an experiment. It's not the company."
The real story, he says, is Jupitermedia's global reach -- 21 million unique visitors to the company's internet.com network in a typical month, with nearly 35 percent from outside the United States. "That gets lost in the noise I make on the blogging," he says. "We're a powerful news organization that has this great reach around the world."
The Darien, CT, company employs 285 very smart people to run the internet.com, EarthWeb.com, DevX.com and ArtToday.com networks, which generate more than 275 million page views monthly. A cadre of editors and freelancers refreshes the online content daily and publishes nearly 200 e-mail newsletters, fueled by expert field reporting from IT professionals and Jupiter Research's 40 analysts in 14 vertical markets.
Jupiter Events spins off conferences and expos that bring these online communities face to face. As the hands-on manager of this division, Meckler exercises his true talent: identifying the next big thing. He has a knack for spotting growth markets with rapid change -- a combination that's perfect for a growth trade show.
"You have to go into it with the idea that 50-60 companies participating, if you get the right ones, would be a blowout success," he says. "The thing is, focus is the key."
Jupitermedia's willingness to test ideas in vertical markets has helped the company survive and thrive. Projecting $59 million in revenues for 2004, a 28 percent increase over 2003, the company is positioned to be a player.
"We have a group of people, called the 'brain trust,' in editorial, technology, research and trade shows," says President and COO Chris Cardell, who's been with Meckler since 1993. "We triangulate around new ideas. We discuss new technologies. The folks we have here have heard about it first and know more about it than most others in publishing."
Despite a three-year nosedive, the $870 billion IT space is hotly contended by major media, event and research companies, including International Data Group, MediaLive International, CNET.com, Ziff Davis Media, Forrester Research and Gartner. With IT spending projected to grow 5 percent in 2004, competition for marketing dollars will only heat up.
The company with the best model will win.
Excerpt from "Inside Jupitermedia," EXPO, February 2004. Copyright 2004 EXPO Magazine, Overland Park, Kan. |
