Wemf: Major daily newspapers lose readers again
Almost all of the major paid daily newspapers in German-speaking Switzerland and the free newspaper 20 Minuten lost readers last year. Not so for Blick: It has seen growth for the first time in four and a half years. This is according to the latest survey by Wemf AG for advertising media research, which was published on Tuesday.
One of the losers in terms of readership is the commuter newspaper 20 Minuten. After years of an upward trend, the free newspaper had already lost 54,000 readers for the first time in the previous period. The current survey now shows a further loss of 47,000 readers. However, this decline can be explained by a deliberate reduction in distributed circulation. 20 Minuten remains the most-read daily newspaper in Switzerland with 1,318,000 readers.
More readers in French-speaking Switzerland
Of the paid-for daily newspapers, Blick remains at the top - it is read by 628,000 people. However, this figure is not methodologically comparable with that of the last survey (613,000), as the tabloid has been published in a different format for around a year and the media figures have therefore been adjusted. The same applies to the free newspaper Blick am Abend. Because its circulation area was expanded a year ago, the current readership figure of 495,000 is not directly comparable with the last survey (401,000).
However, the generally negative trend does not apply to French-speaking Switzerland. Of the titles with the highest circulation, only the Tribune de Genève lost reach - it is still read by 140,000 people (-13,000). Le Matin, 24 Heures and Le Temps, on the other hand, have risen in readership - as have Le Nouvelliste and La Liberté.
> To the overview table daily press
(Illustration: Media Trend Journal)
Mix-ups on Sunday
In the Sunday press, only one newspaper is on the winning side: Sonntagsblick. It is now consumed by 870,000 readers, which corresponds to an increase of 2,000. The other titles all lost ground, with the Sonntagszeitung losing the most. However, its figure of 771,000 readers cannot be compared with that of the last survey (797,000 and therefore a loss of 26,000), as the Wemf survey on the Sunday press was more precise. Apparently, some of the respondents had confused the various Sunday titles in earlier surveys.
Zentralschweiz am Sonntag, which appears in the statistics for the first time, reached 174,000 readers at the first attempt. Among the business publications, all titles suffered losses. Finanz und Wirtschaft, which still has 121,000 readers (-14,000), was hit the hardest.
> To the overview table Sunday press
(Illustration: Media Trend Journal)
Major losses for magazines
The newspapers of the two major distributors are still in the lead among magazines and periodicals. They are also quite stable: while the Coop newspaper lost a few thousand readers and is now read by 2,649,000 people, the Migros magazine gained a few thousand readers. It now reaches 2,315,000 readers.
Ktipp and Beobachter gained the most readers, while Annabelle (new 304,000 readers, minus 42,000) and Schweizer Familie (new 720,000 readers, minus 34,000) lost the most.
For the latest Wemf study, 23,702 people in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein were surveyed, 17,042 of them in German-speaking Switzerland.
