The online magazine Republik takes positive stock after one year
One year after its launch, the team behind the Swiss online magazine Republik is reporting positive results. More than half of the approximately 16,000 original subscribers have since renewed their subscriptions, as the magazine notes on its website.
"Otherwise it would have been tight," co-founder Christof Moser told news agency DPA. The Republic was launched on January 14, 2018 as an ad-free magazine with around three articles per day. More than 6,000 additional readers had taken out subscriptions over the course of the year.
The Republic founders had raised around 3.4 million francs in the 2017 crowdfunding campaign, four times as much as they had hoped. In total, the project had 7.7 million francs at the start, thanks to contributions from investors. At the time, it was said that this would secure operations for at least two years.
More subscribers needed
In the long term, the magazine needs more than 25,000 subscribers. It is also looking for another investor. "We will now invest more in marketing and cut about ten percent of costs," Moser tells DPA. "It's a difficult, rocky road we have ahead of us."
In the fall, no less than four members of the management Republic leave: Of the original founding team, only Constantin Seibt, Christof Moser and Clara Vuillemin will be on board in the future.
The departures had simple reasons, wrote the Republic at the time. The Herculean task of building up the company had been completed, and now a new generation was needed. In short: less founder-era romanticism and less pioneering spirit, but more day-to-day business and better organization.
Financially, Republic did as expected in its first year: it posted a loss. The consolidated loss was 2.85 million francs, according to the annual report published in the fall. The largest expense item, at 3.5 million francs, was personnel expenses.
36 full-time positions
The Republic has 50 employees in 36 full-time positions. It could also imagine expanding abroad. "We would like to expand into Germany," Moser said in this regard.
But there are no concrete plans. The media landscape in Germany is different from that in Switzerland. While practically three large houses dominate the Swiss market, there are more publishers with quality products on the market in Germany. (SDA)
