Ziff Davis Enterprise Launches Sweeping Mobile Portfolio of its Brands

NEW YORK, Oct. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ziff Davis Enterprise, the leader in innovative products and services for engaging the IT buyer, announces the launch of the most comprehensive mobile content strategy in B2B media. In November, Ziff Davis Enterprise's eWEEK, CIO Insight, Baseline and Channel Insider brands will roll out a full suite of optimized sites and native apps for every popular Smartphone and tablet in the market. At launch, the offering will include mobile versions for the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, and Symbian/Nokia-powered smart phones, as well as iPad, RIM Playbook, and Android-powered tablets.

Ziff Davis Enterprise will connect these mobile and tablet platforms to its current digital engagement solutions – websites, webcasts, personalized whitepapers, social, and video – bridging all the resources that buyers use into a holistic environment called OmniDigital.

"The future of engagement is mobile, it is social and it is entirely digital," said Steve Weitzner, Ziff Davis Enterprise CEO. "We intend to drive the digital marketing standard for B2B tech media and accelerate the 'anywhere and everywhere' consumption of content by exploiting the rapid adoption of mobile and tablet devices in the IT community. We are focused on providing a comprehensive and tightly integrated digital engagement portfolio to help technology vendors with their toughest marketing tasks by facilitating interaction with buyers throughout the purchase process."

To focus its resources on the future of digital engagement and on the creation of frequent and robust content across all the most relevant platforms, Ziff Davis Enterprise will discontinue printing its magazines – eWEEK, Baseline, and CIO Insight, beginning in January 2012. While eliminating the use of paper, Ziff Davis Enterprise will increase the frequency of its digital magazines, and will begin increasing—rather than reducing—audience reach. And Ziff Davis Enterprise will continue its strategy of supporting audience segments with specialized magazines and targeted content, publishing digital editions of eWEEK, CIO Insight, and Baseline for the technical, strategic, and business buyers of information technology, respectively. These enhancements defy major trends of the past decade in which IT print publishers have reduced qualified circulation, reduced publishing frequency and even eliminated popular titles.

Changing the rules of magazine publishing

Those readers who prefer a magazine format will continue to have access to the same fine, carefully crafted, selected and edited content they have enjoyed in the print editions for decades in Ziff Davis Enterprise's digital editions. In every case, the frequency of those magazines will increase in 2012—both Baseline and CIO Insight will return to monthly publication from just 4 times per year, and eWEEK will move back up to bi-weekly publication from its reduced schedule of 19 issues. In addition, readers will benefit from a host of digital connections that will enrich their experience.

Of course, the websites associated with these brands, which will also evolve throughout 2012, will continue to publish 24/7 featuring the latest news, reviews, commentary, research, and features for their respective audiences.

While accelerating the trend of distributing content for anytime/anywhere consumption through the OmniDigital strategy, Ziff Davis Enterprise is also changing the mechanism by which it identifies and qualifies its audience, replacing outdated and infrequently-updated qualification cards with real-time digital capture. It is a transformative and market-leading event in Ziff Davis Enterprise history.

The Most Complete Content Approach
But this strategy is about much more than delivering magazines digitally. OmniDigital covers every level of technology purchase decision maker – regardless of the media platform or type of content they prefer. The websites and digital editions will be surrounded by a complete tablet and mobile content engagement experience that features news alerts and curated content, interactivity, social sharing, and more. And the interactivity and cross-platform content stream will create increased value for the audience from content that is purpose-built and configured for each platform.

• Mobile: Mobile Optimized Web (m. sites) and native smart phone applications
• Touch: Tablet Optimized Web (t. sites) and native tablet applications
• Web: Traditional Websites
• Digital Magazine: Digital editions

To provide the most comprehensive engagement suite reaching the largest possible audience of qualified IT professionals, Ziff Davis Enterprise will provide access to editorial, peer, and vendor content on every popular digital device, including all smart phones and tablets. This unparalleled commitment to mobility acknowledges a sea change in media consumption and the mass acceptance among the IT and channel communities of mobile devices as primary access points to content. It also supports the immediacy of access to vital information that enterprise IT decision makers expect to help them in their jobs and buying process, as discovered in Ziff Davis Enterprise's AssetTrak reader research.

Impact on Marketers

More content on more platforms creates a better buyer research experience that meets the needs of a progressive technology audience. To be effective in a multi-device world and engage buyers at every stage of the purchase process, marketers must deploy their campaigns on the widest possible range of devices.

The importance of this strategy was emphasized by Dan Mahowald, Vice President, North America, Enterprise Mobility, SAP Americas: "Mobility is central to our SAP strategy, and it is an essential part of our customers' (strategy). All organizations, large and small, are putting tremendous pressure on their CIOs, their LOB leads and their IT organizations to provide a mobile experience in their professional environments that's similar to the one they enjoy in their personal and consumer lives. As we are increasingly looking for improved and innovative ways to fulfill this market need, we are pleased to be a charter sponsor of Ziff Davis Enterprise's OmniDigital launch, providing expansive access to essential content on their device of choice, wherever and whenever they choose." In addition to SAP, OmniDigital charter sponsors include Brocade, CompTIA, IBM, HP, and Verizon.

"We have created compelling programs for our marketing partners to take advantage of this unique access to our IT audiences in 2012," said Jeff Strief, President of Enterprise Business, Ziff Davis Enterprise. "Our programs are designed to help high-tech marketers accelerate their adoption of mobility into their marketing mix. At the same time, we want to thank our print advertisers for their loyalty and create an incentive to expand their relationship with us next year."

"The evolution of our key brands means that advertising and promotion will integrate seamlessly as never before with our social and demand generation offerings, from eSeminars and lead generation to scoring and nurturing and other marketing services. This has been a big undertaking for our editorial and technology teams, and we are proud to say that our all-digital suite, OmniDigital, is open for business now," Weitzner added.

For more information, visit http://www.ziffdavisenterprise.com/OmniDgital.

About Ziff Davis Enterprise, Inc.:

Ziff Davis Enterprise, Inc. is B2B technology's trusted information resource. Millions of technology buyers rely on our brands – including eWEEK, Baseline, CIO Insight, Channel Insider, WebBuyersGuide.com, and the DevShed Network – for relevant, objective content to identify the right solutions for their organizations. Over 300 technology companies, from industry giants to emerging start-ups, rely on our contextual content, marketing, and audience development expertise to compress sales cycles and lower their go-to-market costs. Ziff Davis Enterprise has proven marketing solutions for branding, demand generation and digital engagement. Products include digital magazines, mobile and tablet advertising, online advertising and engagement solutions, content syndication, lead management, digital and face-to-face events, and custom media services. Ziff Davis Enterprise has a global database of 5.5 million users representing an unparalleled community of business and technology professionals, developers, and the channel. www.ziffdavisenterprise.com.

SOURCE Ziff Davis Enterprise