Thomas Industrial Media and European Business Press have got together to launch a new French title, Electronique C&I (Electronique Composant & Instrumentation). This is the second title in the electronics sector that has been launched since the closure of EPN France and the merging of Electronique and Electronique International (following the launch of ElectronicSpecifier France).

The new title will be edited by Alain Dieul – previously the editor or EPN France – and has a promised circulation of 10070 print readers and 3510 digital readers, exceeding the circulation of the market leading title ElectroniqueS by about 1/3. We’re promised three issues this year – May/June, Sept/Oct and Nov/Dec, and the title should have a quarterly frequency in the future.

Of course there is also a publication website, although this has a somewhat different brand of www.electronicselect.com. The brand is builds upon Thomas’ other “select” site for the industrial market.

The rate card is very similar to that of ElectroniqueS, with pages coming in slightly cheaper, but ElectroniqueS generally offering lower cost for fractionals. Of course Electronique C&I will offer a lower cost-per-thousand by virtue of its larger circulation. At this stage, all online ads are offered in a simple RoS CPM basis (apart from welcome ads, of course), although as traffic builds I’d hope to see some more innovation.

It will be interesting to see how the editorial content develops, although the publication is likely to be clearly placed in the “product book” category. It’s interesting that – despite many predictions – product books are still clinging to life (and represent the majority of publications in France). Whilst I do believe that there is – and always will be – a value in having new product coverage, I’m not convinced that another product book in France is the right thing for the market. My concern is that the success of the product book is primarily down to the much lower editorial cost, rather than a desire to meet the needs of the readers, and it will be interesting to see if both ElectronicSpecifier France and Electronique C&I will prosper in the long term.

Tags: Digital Magazines and Print Publications, electronicspecifier, Electronique C&I, ElectroniqueS, France

François Gauthier has been named as Editor in Chief of the new publication Electroniques, which was formed by merging Electronique and Electronique International. His responsibilities start with the first issue of 2009, due to be published on 20th January.

At the same time, Pascal Coutance has been named Editor in Chief “délégué”, responsible for the development of the Electronique.biz website. Pascal has been charged with development of other online channels, such as mobile and introducing new advertising formats. Interesting he will also define a strategy for for new products that are either chargeable as premium content or reserved for magazine subscribers. We’re promised an updated site will be launched at the start of 2010.

It’s taken a little while to get these two editorial positions confirmed, although I don’t read anything into this delay. I am, however, interested that there are clear plans to put some kind of paywall around content on the web, and wonder how easily this can be done. By limiting people who can access content, you’re going to limit page – and therefore advertising – impressions, so any such move must be made with care, otherwise it could end up reducing, rather than increasing overall revenue. Keep checking back at www.NapierNews.eu for more information on how this project develops!

Tags: Advertising, DATE, Digital Magazines and Print Publications, Editors, Electronique, ElectroniqueS, ESE, France, Online

In a widely-expected move, Electronique and Electronique International are to merge, forming a new title, ElectroniqueS. Given the state of the advertising market, and other factors specific to France, the move is a logical one, with the new title resembling a relaunched Electronique, although the editorial content will be bolstered with material to appeal to management, purchasing and other non-design engineer readers.

The good news is that the frequency will be higher than Electronique, with “at least” three specials enhancing the basic 11 issues per year. The publishers also promise a free digital version, and I wonder whether this might be a route to expand the circulation beyond the relatively modest 10,000 that are planned for the launch.

In the French market it’s no surprise that ElectroniqueS is not going with an aggressively low-priced rate card. In fact advertising rates are higher than Electronique both in terms of the page rate and the cost per thousand.

The website electronique.biz is already a single port of call for everyone in the French electronics industry, so there are only a few changes such as the addition of white papers.

Online display advertising continues to be offered on a sponsorship, rather than cost-per-impression, basis.  Disappointingly the online rates have also increased, whilst traffic growth appears to have slowed – May and June both showed a increase of less than 10% over the previous year, much lower than the previous few months.

The new white paper service offers a guaranteed number of downloads, with the contacts that download provided as leads., It’s great to see that there is a guarantee of a minimum number of leads, although at around €100 per lead, the cost is higher than many in the electronics industry are willing to pay.

The daily and weekly news emails will continue, and new vertical newsletters will be launched. Embedded and Display will both have monthly newsletters, whilst quarterly emails will be issued about automation and telecom/RFID.

Overall I think that the print and online offering looks good. It will be sad to see France drop to just two mainstream titles, with no news title, which must offer great opportunities for someone to launch an online-only title in the country. I’ve seen this happen in the French IT press, so it would not surprise me if we see some new launches. It’s disappointing to see the prices edge up, and arguably value for money drop when measured in terms of cost per impression. ElectroniqueS will doubtless be the premier title in the market with a strong editorial team, and so I’m sure it will be a success. The high rates, however, may present an opportunity for an aggressive push for market share from EPN France.

We are still waiting for the editorial team to be finalised – check back at Napier News for all the latest!

Tags: Advertising, Digital Magazines and Print Publications, Electronics, Electronique, ElectroniqueS, Email, EPN, ESE, France, Newsletters, Online, USA