Is ‘Trending Now’ the future of B2B news?

Sixty years ago, the Moog Synthesiser scared to death musicians who thought it would replace them. Now, the once revolutionary system is an integral part of music production. Concerns about the ethics of such ‘simulation’ and of the imperilled future of musicians are long forgotten. Is that what’s going to happen to AI’s role in news and information?

A Brit marketing-turned-techie Joe Newton thinks so and, as someone who has rapidly built a 1mn audience for an AI-produced B2B portfolio, he is busy proving the point with a custom-built platform.

It is almost three years since Newton launched Trending Now which self-describes as “an AI-powered digital publication business delivering the top trending industry news to key decision makers”.

His plan was spurred by Industry Dive whose portfolio of 27 specialist B2B newsletters across 20 industry verticals was acquired for some $500mn (15x EBITDA) by Informa in 2022. That was a landmark deal because the stylish Industry Dive derived almost all its revenue not from readers but marketeers – and yet the pe multiple was similar to those frequently paid for subscription media businesses.

While its subsequent incorporation into the Informa-controlled TechTarget might imply the UK information and events business had over-paid for Industry Dive, the deal helped to highlight the value of a committed, regular readership – whether they were paying subscribers or not. Its success was in the curation, presentation, reliability and tone – almost the B2B version of Axios, Morning Brew and Business Insider, which have built brands people wanted to “own”. They all have what Axel Springer’s Mathias Döpfner, now owner of the latter two US-based brands, has described as “business content with a smile on its face”. They also, of course, demonstrate the power of the inbox.

It’s easy to see why the digitally-immersed Newton was inspired. Armed with some £200k from his father Lee Newton (founder of Media 10, the UK-based events organiser – deeply involved in the construction and design markets), he set out to build an agile, low-cost portfolio of B2B vertical media.

Like Industry Dive, the fledgling Trending Now publishes agenda setting, punchy news via neat, standardised newsletters and website. It’s also carving out a niche as a builder of communities and generator of sales leads.

It currently publishes 26 newsletters across six B2B verticals with frequency ranging from daily to weekly. All give logos and links to the publications from which the digest are produced, which helps the founder placate B2B publishers with the reassurance that he is helping to promote them. Mmm.

Some 900k of Trending Now’s claimed 1mn non-paying subscribers (87% in the UK) are in Construction (where it publishes 12 niche newsletters and websites) and Architecture & Design (5 newsletters). Most of the audience is claimed to open the newsletters at least weekly. The insistence on providing niche newsletters within each of the broad verticals of Construction, Design, Transportation and Technology (rather than a single horizontal brand) may explain the strength of the audience which – for example – includes 45k architects, more than 80% of the whole UK market.

You can’t guess that the content on the site and in the newsletters is largely produced by AI and merely “reviewed” by two “product” people. But the fact that the company employs just 10 people (including majority shareholder Newton), generated £500k revenue in 2024 (with just three sales people) and is forecast to do £1mn and have 2mn signups in 2025, tells you everything you need to know about the potential of AI to deliver great aggregation.

The founder’s family interests make events a no-brainer for Trending Now, but he’s also closely studied the conference-rich playbooks of Axios, Semafor and, of course, Industry Dive. Before then, Joe Newton is considering whether/ when to raise investment to accelerate his progress.

Later this month, he will be speaking at SIIA’s three-day BIMS conference in New Orleans (at the suggestion of one Sean Griffey) and US B2B publishers are already waving at him. Perhaps they realise that achieving anything like the £1mn revenue/ £300k projection for 2025 might give this breathless startup a valuation in the double-digit millions, especially if a JV/collaboration enables Trending Now to cross the Atlantic while still expanding in the UK.

For all the magic of AI, however, Newton knows he eventually has to do more to pre-empt would-be competitors, aware that the tech is getting easier and cheaper all the time. It’s all about IP, of course, and the need to “own” something distinctive and not just be standing still as a smart aggregator. Events can help but Trending Now might need to develop some real exclusivity, perhaps Billboard-like charts of major news developments, people and companies. Or data on new product or business trends. A partner might accelerate that too.

That content progression is, arguably, the kind of human intervention that helped the Moog Synthesiser eventually to complement musicians and become an integral part of music production, an insurgent no longer. It’s different, of course, but AI too may become the catalyst for successful new business models. Look at Trending Now.

Have you booked for the B2B event of the year?

Twenty-three industry leaders from global events and information companies will be participating in ‘Monetising B2B’, in London on 20 May. It’s an event of fireside chats, interviews and insightful panel discussions with an emphasis on learning and networking. Delegates will receive an exclusive eBook of case studies and reference data to help them engage with the companies featured. With 11 weeks to go and fewer than 50 tickets left to sell, there’s still time to book your place by clicking here.

‘Monetising B2B Information & Events’ is a presentation of Flashes & Flames. It takes place at the historic Stationers’ Hall, in Central London, on Tuesday 20 May.