As print advertising dries up and digital revenue struggles to move from dimes to dollars, events have been an area of sustained growth for b-to-b media.

Companies are using face-to-face in very different ways though, according to a recent study by ABM’s Events Council.

Overall, events drive 45 percent of the industry’s total revenue, with trade shows—both with and without conference components—accounting for 55 percent of that. The picture changes dramatically when broken down by company size though.

Mid-Sized B-to-B Publishers Way Behind in Events

While businesses with more than $25 million in event revenue are in line with the overall industry figures, mid-sized companies (those with event revenue between $5 and $25 million) only generate about 14 percent of their earnings from trade shows. Companies falling under the $5 million threshold go in the opposite direction-—almost two-thirds of their revenue comes from trade shows.

“It is a mistake to think of “business events” as a monolith,” the report says. “Even a broad characterization of events as ‘conferences’ and ‘trade shows’ fails to distinguish among the many kinds of events.”

Hybrid conferences are next on the list for both large and mid-sized companies; hosted buyer events play a central role for small businesses.