Good news for the spring, media spending in the electronics press is up and we have some encouraging figures for Europe in a couple of the stories in this issue of Publitek Media News. At Publitek we’re seeing substantial growth and we now want to recruit an additional associate director into our PR team to help serve our growing client list. We’re looking for a technically qualified person with extensive experience in marketing communications/PR or technical journalism. The role is based in Bath, UK, but will involve travel throughout Europe and further afield. Please contact me (bob.jones@publitek.com) if you’d like to know more, or take a look at http://www.publitek.com to find out more about us and our team. Onto the news and a Soapbox point-of-view from CMP’s Paul Miller....

According to Reed Electronics Group publisher in Europe, Martin Savery, EPN has reversed the trend of market share loss and grown its share by 8.15% versus Electronics Express Europe (EXE) in the first quarter of 2006, compared with the same period in 2005. EDN Europe has grown market share by 10.5% this year. Both figures are derived from independent Neilson Media Research data, says Martin. The same research indicates that the overall European market for electronics press advertising is up 17% in Q1 2006 compared with the same period in 2005, the UK showing the highest growth at 27%. According to Martin, the drivers for this seem to be a general pick-up in European business tied to global economic growth, coupled with specific semiconductor growth drivers such as mobile/handset/digital cameras, LCD & plasma flat-screen TVs, and LED lighting all moving to mass market applications. This is in addition to traditional Europe growth drivers such as automotive, where Europe is still a major world player and the value of electronics components continues to account for a larger share of the total value of a car year-on-year.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Mike Green, managing editor EPN, mike.green@rbi.co.uk;
Graham Prophet, editor EDN Europe, graham.prophet@rbi.co.uk
Advertising: Nick Walker, EPN, nwalker@reedbusiness.fr;
John Waddell, EDN, jwadds@compuserve.com

Advertising statistics from Mediaskop show that Markt & Technik grew its advertising pagination by 15% in the first in Q1, 2006 over the same period last year in a market that was up by 12.1% overall. Publisher WEKA has also claimed a new record for its elektroniknet.de web site with an average of over 500,000 page impressions per month in Q1, 2006. According to the publisher, the figures are verified by an independent audit body, IVW, and shows a 4.3x lead over nearest rival, elektronikpraxis.de.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Peter Wintermayr, editor-in-chief, Markt & Technik, PWintermayr@markt-technik.de
Advertising: Matthäus Hose, director of marketing and distribution, mhose@elektroniknet.de

CMP Media’s Electronics Group has announced the findings of a global media usage survey, conducted in conjunction with Beacon Technology Partners, a market research firm serving the electronics and computer industries. The survey polled more than 4,000 electronics engineers worldwide, and was issued in eight languages across 30 countries. The survey shows that print remains the leader in providing credible news and analysis, while online resources are most important for immediate access to breaking news and technical how-to information. It also validates the continued role of industry events as networking opportunities. The survey uncovers some cultural differences too. For example, North American engineers are more likely to use print, including industry publications and catalogs, in addition to online media, while Asian and European engineers are apt to rely on online media. Overall, print titles and vendor web sites tied for the top information source (79%), followed closely by search engines (75%) and industry publication web sites (68%). Industry publication email newsletters were the fifth most important source overall (52%), and cited as the preferred source for “news and analysis of what’s happening in the industry,” with particular popularity in Europe. New media such as podcasts and RSS feeds have little toehold, except in China and India.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief, EE Times, bfuller@cmp.com
Sales: Steve Corrick, global sales director, scorrick@cmp.com

Mark Saunderson, publisher of Electronic Design-China, has claimed the the publication’s complementary website has generated almost 600,000 page views from engineers across the region since its launch 4 months ago. He said: “We expect to achieve our target of 750,000 page views by June this year. Significant growth in visitor traffic on ed-china.com indicates the site’s ability to deliver the latest technologies and application methodologies required by China’s design engineers.” Analysis from Marketleap – a San Francisco based Internet marketing firm specializing in search engine optimization – shows that ed-china.com has already reached “player” status, a site with 100,000 or more links on leading search engines. The site currently features over 5,000 articles that provide China-based engineers with detailed project-lead information and technologies required for successful design through 14 design channels and exclusive content. Registered users have 24/7 access to the latest technology and methodologies in embedded systems, mobile communications, portable devices, power management and other major design areas.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Yorbe Zhang, yzhang@globalsources.com
Advertising Asia: Bennie Hui, bennie@globalsources.com
Advertising USA: Brandon Smith, bsmith@globalsources.com
Web: http://www.ed-china.com

Nikkei Electronics, hailed as Japan’s number one Electronics title for engineers and managers, celebrates 35 years of publishing with a special anniversary supplement to be published on 17 July. Publishing for over three decades first as a monthly and then fortnightly title, Nikkei Electronics has served a readership within the Japanese electronics sector reporting on new technology, industry trends and new product information. The anniversary supplement will be a 100 page review of the electronics industry throughout the last 35 years with quotes and articles from many of the 26 strong editorial team who have worked on the title from its inception. Approximately 50,000 issues will be printed with the issue of NE and there will also be extra distribution at forthcoming shows such as CEATEC Japan in October this year, says the publisher. Yosuke Mochizuki, editor-in-chief,of Nikkei Electronics, said “Nikkei Electronics entered the scene in 1971, right at the dawn of the new era that was the 1970s. Enjoying the overwhelming support of professional engineers, it has continued to provide information via the 100,000 editorial pages it has published through today. It has maintained a consistent editorial policy through all of these years: forecasting technical trends and focusing on issues that need to be addressed”.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Kouta Murayama, editor-in-chief, kmurayam@nikkeibp.co.jp
Advertising: Matt Edgar, edgar@nikkeibp.co.uk

The IET (previously the IEE) has issued a call for papers relating to the design and manufacture of mm-wave electronics. Papers will be presented at their conference on 16th November 2006 at IET headquarters in London. The event will cover recent advances in all aspects of mm-wave technology including MMICs, MCMs, sub-systems, packaging, processing and complete product or system development. Contributions are sought from prospective authors, who should submit a summary (one side of A4 plus supporting figures) by Friday 28th July 2006.

CONTACTS
Submissions: L.M.Devlin, lmd@plextek.co.uk
Web: http://www.iee.org/events

We’ve been notified of two events by the IET (previously the IEE). The IET Training Course on EMC for Functional Safety and Reliability will run on 6th June 2006; a conference entitled RF for DVB-H/DMB Mobile Broadcast: Handset and Infrastructure Challenges will be held on 30th June 2006. Both are to be held at the IET, Savoy Place, London, UK.

CONTACTS
Web: http://www.iee.org/events

In today’s fast moving integrated media environment, the notion of independently audited circulation seems to have become a relic. The audit shows advertisers how a publication, website and event invest in obtaining and managing the database of people that advertisers are paying to reach. Nowadays, the BPA Audit is rarely requested or discussed in advertiser meetings. It’s expected, but eyes roll and Blackberry’s are covertly checked when the green certificate is brought out of the briefcase onto the negotiating table. However, a few minutes spent with a BPA Audit can provide a great deal of information to the advertiser. Why does a publication seemingly struggle to attract engineers in China for instance? Why does a publication have 2 and 3 year-old names on its list? How many copies are sent out digitally and is anyone opening them? Why does a website have no audit at all? Can everyone be involved in design and development? What are the renewal rates and when is the list updated? Who attended the event last month? There was a time that advertisers demanded independent auditing of publication circulation and would refuse to support products that did not subscribe to the notion of having its claims verified by a third party. Today, some websites continue to sell with no independent audit at all and some of the print audits leave a lot to be desired. In these highly disruptive times in the media world, has the BPA Audit lost its relevance? As we can now follow our audience from where they come into a website to what they do when they’re here and where they go, is the annual print audit simply quaint? Maybe, but there is still much to be gained from a few hours with the green document – after all, it’s the advertisers’ dollars that are invested into the editorial magnet. The audience that is attracted, and how those dollars are invested, is key to who is engaging with advertisers’ messages and who is not.