After the decision by EE Times Group (formerly TechInsights) to hold on to ESD Europe, rather than include it in the recent sale of EE Times Europe and Microwave Engineering Europe, I was disappointed to see the recent decision to move to all-digital distribution and cut frequency. Initially a 10-issue 2010 editorial calendar was produced, then an announcement was posted on Embedded.com/Europe and a new media pack issued telling of the change of strategy.

The European website www.embedded-europe.com has been closed, with all content integrated into www.embedded.com. Although I can see the logic of this move it’s disappointing that European visitors to the site will have to search for local content rather than the site using geo-targeting to highlight European stories along with the global content, nor is the site offering a URL with a European-orientated feed of news. I’m told we can expect this to be added in the future.

The magazine has also switched from 10 issues to 5 issues in 2010, with entirely digital circulation, although I’m told that the editorial content will be specific to the European edition with minimal re-use of material from the US ESD. The layout will be changed completely, moving to a screen-optimised format on the Nxtbook platform similar to recent EE Times special editions. The layout is nice – similar to ED Europe in some ways, but offering full page adverts as well as leaderboard and MPU fractional ads. It’s great to see a publisher recognise the need to optimise the layout for the readers, whilst allowing advertisers to use familiar formats with high visual impact. We’re also promised special editions, which will be driven by sponsors.

The digital magazine circulation is a little confusing. The new media pack promises:

The digital issue goes to over 100,000 subscribers and will be seen by over 50,000 European web users.

25,000 ESD global digital subscribers via email link.
30,000 ESD Europe subscribers via email link.
50,000 EETimes and TechOnline European subscribers via email link.
50,000 unique European visitors to Embedded.com every month.

So in addition to the European subscribers, anyone currently receiving the digital version of the US title who is based outside of Europe and the US will get ESD Europe – i.e. they’ll get both the US and European digital issues. The EE Times and TechOnline European database will also be used to deliver unrequested copies, and there will be links to the digital title on Embedded.com.

So what circulation should we assume for the title? To me the circulation we can be sure is really valuable are just the 30K requested European subscribers. Although there may be other high-quality recipients, at this stage they’ve not requested the title and it remains to be seen whether the move to a large headline circulation is clever move, or whether it will just dilute the quality of the existing ESD Europe database.

ESD Europe has also quietly slipped in a rate increase (full page rates were $2100 last year, and are now $3000: an increase of about 40%). The extra circulation might go some way to justifying this increase, and there are no surcharges for flash or video adverts, but most advertisers I know value digital magazine less highly than print.

The European Embedded email newsletters will increase in frequency, appearing twice a week, which will hopefully increase loyalty to the brand, as well as ensuring the database is well maintained.

It will be interesting to see the success of the new publication. In merging ESDE and ESE, It’s not clear to me why there is value in circulating a European title outside of Europe, but if the format is as good as the EE Times specials, and with Colin Holland remaining in the role of Editor in Chief, I believe that the quality of the editorial and the easy-to-read layout will ensure good readership. From the advertising viewpoint, TechInsights acquired a significant number of UK-orientated advertisers who presumably will be unenthusiastic about the broader reach of the title, and may choose other UK, whilst global advertisers might question why they need to advertise in both the US and European brands to reach people outside of these two geographies. As a believer in the eventual move of most magazines in our industry from print to digital, however, I’m hopeful that ESD Europe will be a successful title.

Tags: Advertising, CMP, Digital Magazines, ED Europe, EE Times, Electronics, Email, ESD, ESE, Europe, IET, Newsletters, Online, TechInsights, UK, Video

Huson International Media, who impressively claim to be “the World’s largest independent representative of technology medea” has opened an office in Munich, Germany. The company already has offices in the UK as well as on the East and West Coast of the USA.

The new German office will be headed by industry heavyweight Christian Hoelscher, who previously was CMP-WEKA Director of International Sales,

Tags: CMP, EPE, ESE, Germany, Misc Marketing, UK, USA, Weka

Popular veteran editor John Walko is to retire from TechInsights at the end of this month. John has amassed many achievements during his time as a technology journalist, spend 33 years at UBM (owners of TechInsights), 24 ofthem covering the electronics industry.

John started with UBM writing for chemistry and chemical engineering related titles (Manufacturing Chemist, Process Engineering) after which he joined The Engineer, where be began covering electronics. John then moved to the recently launched Electronics Times as News Editor, moving up to Deputy Editor and finally Editor of the title. He has launched Communications Systems Worldwide as well as CommsDesign.com, and also worked on EE Times as part of the CMP US organization. Most recently John has covered communications, writing articles that have been published throughout the global EE Times network, as well as continuing his work on CommsDesign.com.

It sounds like John is unlikely to have a quiet retirement as he tells me that there is a long list of places that he and his wife plan to visit. At Napier we’ve enjoyed working with John over the years and would like to wish him a fun and enjoyable retirement.

Tags: CMP, EE Times, Electronics, IET, TechInsights

Tech Insight’s Green Supply Line has been relaunched. When launched in 2005, the aim was to provide news and information about RoHS and WEEE, but with the transition to the new legal regime now history, the site has refocussed to concentrate on the high growth “cleantech” and green engineering markets, particularly the renewable energy industry. This is an obvious move to give a site that had completed its mission a new lease of life, and we’d expect the new editoral focus to drive content for much longer than RoHS and WEEE.

Tags: CMP, Online, TechInsights

It has been announced that Wolfgang Patelay is leaving EPN to write for CMP. He’ll be editing one of the online DesignLines publications, as well as contributing to EE Times. Mike Green is now left to edit EPN on his own, and will have to pursue his painting and book writing careers in even less spare time, although we’re sure that the EPN editorial team will soon be strengthened.

Tags: CMP, Editors, EE Times, EPN

CMP has launched Industrial Control DesignLine Europe and Analog DesignLine Europe (they still can’t resist the American spelling, even in articles written by English editors!). It’s interesting to see the European badge attached to these sites, as industrial control and analogue design are pretty global applications. Even so I’m pleased to see that CMP sees the value of having editors around the globe and more specifically that Europe is recognised as a centre of excellence for contol and analogue.

Perhaps the best thing about the new sites from my point of view was the guide to RS485 for engineers new to the technology on the Industrial Control DesignLine, which brought back memories of developing an RS485-based control system for printing machines many years ago during my engineering career.

Tags: CMP, Online

CMP Media is to split into four separate companies, providing greater focus to specific markets. TechInsights, under CEO Paul Miller, will include EETimes and the other CMP semiconductor/electronics brands, meaning there will be little change for our industry. I’m always far more concerned about the media products than the company structure, but if you are interested, you can find a more complete analysis of the changes on Brian Fuller’s blog.

Tags: CMP, EE Times