“Sleeping Giant” Awakes?

Established weekly industry trade journal Coach & Bus Week has a new publisher/owner. This can only be good news for the industry.

When the former CBW editor left to start his brand new weekly competitor routeONE, it was widely rumoured that he did so because CBW’s publishers EMAP showed little interest in product development. In just over two years, routeONE on the other hand, has gone from strength to strength. And, unlike CBW, routeONE’s for free.

Now, things are set to change. On top of a thorough and modern redesign, CBW aims to become the brand leader. Of CBW, its new publisher Rouncy Media says "I think it has latterly been a sleeping giant in a big market."

Comparing this week’s CBW and routeONE, we see that overall routeONE has over twice as much display advertising and classifieds as CBW. The editorial content is about the same, though routeONE has more news stories and features. Upstart routeONE weighs in at 56 pages compared to CBW’s 40.

As CBW awakes with more resources promised, the balance may start to shift.