Common login for all news portals to stand up to Google & Co.
Joining forces against overwhelming competition from overseas: Publishers aim to win over the advertising market with a shared login.
At the end of the panel discussion at this year's Swiss Media Forum in Lucerne, the heads of the major publishers announced a cross-industry project: In the future, readers will be able to log in to all major Swiss news portals with a single login. According to Ringier CEO Marc Walder, this should increase usability because one password is easier to remember than several.
How the Switzerland at the weekend writes, the main aim of the alliance is to stop the outflow of advertising money to Facebook and, above all, Google. The U.S. giants dominate the advertising market in this country, too, thanks to their comprehensive data collection. Google alone is expected to generate more advertising revenue in 2018 than all other media combined.
The networking of customer accounts should now mean that Swiss publishers can also provide advertisers with more precise data on readership and thus avoid wastage.
According to Switzerland at the weekend not only the media represented at the "elephant round" are sitting at the negotiating table, but also AZ Medien and Somedia. However, it is said to be still open who will actually participate in the end.
The schedule is pressing, because the competition is getting stronger. The foundations should therefore be in place by the end of the year and the project launched at the beginning of 2019, according to Pietro Supino. "We shouldn't ask what chances we are giving the project, we just have to do it," says the Tamedia publisher. And NZZ CEO Felix Graf also notes that the time horizon "should not be years" - if you do something, you have to adapt to the speed of the market environment. (hae)
