The Telegraph reports that UBM has put its data division up for sale, as it continues to move its focus away from magazine publishing. This could potentially include the electronics titles, although the Telegraph speculates that the real interest will be around the healthcare data business.
Perhaps more interestingly, UBM is focusing on events and PR Newswire. It wasn’t long ago when there was huge excitement about how the internet would remove the need to travel to physical events, and also disintermediate the newswire services. Yet these businesses are doing well. I still think we’re a long way away from being able to simulate all the subtle benefits of meeting a large number of people face-to-face at an event in virtual reality, and UBM’s focus on sectors and geographies that are growing should guarantee success.
PR Newswire, however, is more interesting. Although the division has other services, UBM is saying that it’s more profitable to distribute news without any editorial input than it is to create publications that are written and curated by expert journalists. Let’s hope that other publishers continue to prove that great, insightful writing will continue to generate profits.