Subscription figures are falling almost everywhere

 
Subscriptions In many publishing houses, the heyday of subscription renewals is over. Werbewoche therefore asked how loyal the subscribers still were. 
Publishers send out heaps of subscription invoices at the turn of the year. Late payers receive payment reminders in February. For many publishers, this phase is a kind of early warning system, a first concrete indication of what went well or wrong in terms of marketing in the past year. It gives them an indication of whether a competitor has been able to steal subscribers or how a change of concept or a Sunday edition is being received by subscribers, which is why Werbewoche asked around in six combat zones. Specifically, on the left bank of Lake Zurich, where the Tages-Anzeiger launched a regional edition two years ago, as well as in the other three rural regions of Zurich, where the Tagi launched further splits a year ago. The Solothurn region is also a contested area, where the Solothurner Tagblatt has been trying to steal subscribers from the Solothurner Zeitung since the end of 2001. Finally, north-western Switzerland has also been a battle zone since 2006, when the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung joined the MittellandZeitung (MZ), which the Basler Zeitung Medien took as a declaration of war. Werbewoche also wanted to know from MZ how the seventh edition of Sonntag, which was launched in September with a compulsory subscription, was being received by subscribers.

However, the publishers in question are reluctant to talk about this topic at the moment. Information - even approximate information - on the current number of subscriptions or the subscription renewal rate is such a hot potato in many places that information is refused altogether. For example, the Tages-Anzeiger, Solothurner Tagblatt (Berner Zeitung) and AZ Medien were simply unable to provide any useful information - or referred to later.
Elsewhere, trends were at least revealed. Erland Herkenrath, Managing Director of the Zürichsee-Zeitung (ZSZ) and Zürcher Unterländer (ZU), announced that the paid circulation of his titles was "slightly down, but the subscription rate has not increased compared to the previous year". This probably means that the Tagi has not been able to do much to harm the ZU and the ZSZ. This is also indicated by the decline in subscriptions that the Tagi has (provisionally) reported on the left bank of Lake Zurich in recent years. However, the integration of the Neues Bülacher Tagblatt two years ago apparently only benefited the ZU in the short term.
Hans Tobler, Head of Subscriptions at Zürcher Oberländer, also sees a "downward trend". 2.5 percent of subscribers who received an invoice at the end of the year had canceled - the same number as in the last ten years. "We haven't noticed much of the Tagi split, but we are feeling the effects of the free newspapers," Tobler adds.
Publisher Mathis Lüdin is somewhat disappointed at the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (bz) in Liestal. He had hoped that the connection to the MZ would bring the bz more new subscriptions than cancellations. Now he is expecting a decrease of 200 to 500 subscriptions compared to the previous year. "For some, the MZ mantle and Sonntag are too Aargauish, for others too extensive and for others, the so-called compulsory subscriptions are causing complaints," says Lüdin. But the low point should now have been reached. "Thanks to the Sonntags-bz, we will gain new subscribers over the next few months and still manage to reverse the trend," Lüdin is convinced.
Markus Jörin, Head of Reader Market at bz competitor Basler Zeitung, is also confident. "Our trend is pointing upwards, we have gained around 300 net subscriptions," he says. But he's still not one to cheer. "We are cautious because we don't yet know what effect our new free paper News will have," he says.
And what about the Solothurner Zeitung (SZ)? Vogt-Schild CEO Christian Müller clarifies that only a quarter of all SZ subscriptions were up for renewal at the turn of the year. Of these, "a good 90 percent" had paid the bill of 397 francs (including Sunday). Others could only have been kept on board with a certain amount of concessions. Overall, however, the trend at SZ also seems to be pointing slightly downwards.
Markus Knöpfli
Delayed subscription figuresSince publishers and Wemf three years ago
As the deadline for circulation and subscription certification was moved to July 1, Wemf will not be able to publish the verified figures online until the end of November. This means that the subscription figures will be published almost a year after the main renewal phase - and shortly before the next one is due. (mk)