Heading unit to repurpose edit from myriad outlets

By Gabriel Spitzer
   
    Mention Steve Brill and what often comes to mind, besides his contentious personality, is some of the most daring media startups of the past two decades. 
   First there was American Lawyer, a magazine based on the notion that lawyers could and would read. Then there was Court TV, built on the idea that Americans would tune in to sit through lengthy live TV trials.
     Most recently was Brill's Content, launched in the belief that the reading public would find journalists as interesting as they found themselves.
     Now Brill is set to take on what may prove his most daring challenge yet: Figuring out how to integrate and repurpose editorial for Primedia's diverse outlets, print and online, that cover the many segments of the media industry.
    The notion of recycling editorial has been around for decades, long before the internet made it fashionable, but no one has figured out how to do it, and a number, Primedia included, have lost millions of dollars trying.
    Primedia is forming a new entity within its B2B group, called Media Central. 
   Under it will fall 172 of its magazines, web sites and other media-related properties formerly scattered throughout the company. Brill will head up the division.
     Among others, the group will include properties it garnered through its recent acquisition of Kagan World Media, magazines such as Cable World and Catalog Age, and all related web properties, including MediaCentral.com, one of the very first online media trades.
    The aim is plain: to integrate, mesh and smooth over disparate properties that for years have functioned as discrete islands within the Primedia empire.
   As part of the deal, announced yesterday, Primedia also is acquiring a 49 percent stake in Brill Media Holdings, the company that controls Brill’s Content magazine and Contentville, Brill’s e-commerce venture. 
    Brill in turn is receiving a minority stake in Primedia, the size of which was not disclosed. Neither side opened its wallet for the deal.
    Orchestrating the sharing of content and talent across platforms will be Brill’s primary duty.
    "In the past the titles might have been well positioned in their own vertical segments, but even across titles in one sector there was very little sharing of content. That’s just the way it was, but that’s rapidly changing," says David Ferm, president and CEO of Primedia’s B2B group, which includes Intertec, the company’s trade magazine division, and now Media Central in addition to a handful of other B2B groups.
     Brill will report to Ferm.
   "Frankly, the way the organization was structured, most of the products were handled as individual entities and silos," says Ferm. "This is one of the reasons these changes are occurring, and why [Primedia chairman] Tom Rogers is voicing the mantra of integration."
   According to Ferm, examples of that integration might include giving a respected Kagan analyst like Sharon Armbrust a column in Cable World or a speaking date at a conference arranged by Primedia’s trade show division.
    Brill’s properties would also be drawn into the synergies.
   "To take an obvious example, the magazine is always interested in explaining how the decisions book publishers make affect books that ultimately end up in bookstores for consumers to buy…Now, we'll be able to call on the expertise of the journalists who produce the newsletter Book Publishing Report to help us with the Books Section of Brill's Content," said Brill in a press release.
    The integration will also enable cross-platform ad deals that may have been possible before but were rarely exercised. Media Central will now be able to offer research, advertising and sponsorships that span multiple titles.
   In Brill, the company believes it has a visionary talent and a proven industry leader at the helm of its new operation.
   "Here’s a very creative, imaginative guy with a proven track record, content skills and certainly strong editorial integrity. A lot of these products need to be refreshed or repositioned, and he’s the guy to do it," says Ferm.
    Though Brill’s various ventures seldom proved money-makers, he continues to command respect for a certain editorial brilliance.
   The reputations of Brill and MediaCentral.com will give Media Central a recognizable brand.
   "He’s a name and that doesn’t hurt. You’ve got a name and a web site that is very useful for promotion to the media industry," says one media analyst.
    The web site has taken on a rather neglected look in recent years, containing mostly Reuters wire reports and features culled from Primedia’s trades. But Ferm promises that the site will be revived and will soon include more original editorial, as well as becoming the online hub for Media Central’s properties.
    "I think Steve’s desire is, with all the research reports from Simba and Kagan, to charge for premium content on the site. There will certainly be a front porch with free content, but if you want to go deep into a subject there will be either a pay-per-view or a subscription model, depending on your needs," says Ferm.
    One group of people who are not yet entirely clear about what the "integration" will mean is the magazine staffs.
    In Primedia’s press release, Brill suggested that one of the driving synergies among the new properties would be content-sharing and having writers produce material for various publications, as well as contributing original material to MediaCentral.com.
   Some staffers at Brill’s Content have reportedly expressed concern that they will soon be asked to write for Primedia’s trade magazines, though they were assured at a staff meeting that this would not happen.
   Writers at Primedia’s titles express similar concerns.
    "No one really knows how the writers will contribute across the properties, and we don’t know where some of this internet content is going to go," said one trade magazine staffer.

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