Newsletter publishers continue to diversify by creating new information products and services.

Perhaps the recession at the end of the last century began the process, but stagnant direct mail response rates and subscription bases continue to force newsletter and specialized information publishers to find creative ways to expand their offerings (and revenues). Advertising, once proudly shunned by independent subscription newsletter publishers, is now commonplace both in print and online. Add to that audio conferences, teleconferences, site licenses, magazines, and an explosion of special reports--and you have a profile of a greatly diversified industry.

Consider these two recent developments (plus Dow Jones' new interactive service on page 3, which may be a sign of things to come):

* Media Industry Newsletter, commonly called min, has launched a monthly supplement called min's Advertising Report, taglined "Uncovering the Brands, Ad Agencies and Power of Print Media." The four-page report is prepared by the min editorial staff and edited by Ann Cooper, former editor at Adweek and founder of Advertising Age's Creativity Magazine.

It will provide "ad statistics, interviews with leading ad agency executives and media planner and corporate marketers, and coverage of brands and the people on the radar and under the radar."

One striking thing about the report is its appearance. It's multi-colored, illustrated, and printed on a heavy glossy stock--in contrast to the "traditional" look of min itself. Another is that each issue is sponsored in the form of a full-page ad. The March 2004 issue features a bright red, green, blue, yellow and black ad for TV Guide.

PBI Media, the publisher, says that min's Advertising Report is not yet online and that it eventually may be spun off on its own.

PBI Media, 1201 Seven Locks Road, Potomac, MD 20854, 301-340-2000, www.PBIMedia.com

* In an interview last September, Peter Yessne at Staffing Industry Analysts Inc. told NL/NL that he's moved from 1990 revenue derived 100 percent from newsletters to 2003 revenue "probably 25 percent newsletters, 25 percent conferences, 35 percent ads, and 15 or so percent research" (NL/NL 9/30/03).

He projected that in 2004, with a new magazine, "I expect advertising revenues will reach 40 percent of our total and by 2005 traditional newsletter services will be under 20 percent of our total."

Staffing Industry Analysts has now launched that magazine, Contingent Workforce Strategies, and if the inaugural issue is any indication, the company's ad revenues are healthy indeed. The glossy, full-color 38-page publication carries no fewer than seven full-page ads and four half-page ads--plus a full-page ad for Staffing Industry Report and a full-page touting the company's Staffing Industry Sourcebook.

The inaugural issue was mailed to a controlled circulation of 15,00 qualified readers, senior executives as well as managers responsible for using, managing, or procuring contingent or temporary staff.

Contingent Workforce Strategies features interviews with key thinkers and corporate leaders and offers case studies and reports of best practices, strategies, tools, analyses, metrics, and new research exploring the effective use of a contingent workforce.

Ron Mester is publisher and Alan S. Kay is managing editor.

Staffing Industry Analysts, 881 Fremont Ave., Los Altos, CA 94024, 650-948-9303, fax [phone], www.staffingindustry.com