From the boulevard to the living room

 
Tough times for newsstands: loss of sales due to the new Blick early delivery. 
According to Wemf circulation statistics, around 131,000 copies of newspapers are sold daily (excluding Sunday) in German-speaking Switzerland (not including Ticino, French-speaking Switzerland and foreign titles). Ringier's tabloid Blick contributes 87,635 copies a day, i.e. more than half, to this EV volume. Even if part of Blick's EV is generated via boxes and stores, the title plays an important role for newsstands. "Blick is very important among the daily newspapers," confirms Valora spokeswoman Stefania Misteli. Valora operates the k kiosks. Hansluz Nussbaum, President of the Swiss Kiosk Owners' Association SKIV, agrees: "Blick is a frequency generator for us: Blick buyers often buy something else as well." Some of the 300 SKIV members therefore estimate their business success according to the number of copies of Blick sold, says Nussbaum.
However, it is also clear that Blick was already more important for the newsstands. In 1996, for example, 160,000 copies were sold daily via the EV channel. Since then, not only has the total circulation of Blick fallen by a quarter, but the EV share has also fallen from 50.2 to 36.6 percent. And it will continue to fall. This is because Ringier is shifting the sales channel for its tabloid from the street to the living room with the Blick early delivery service from the beginning of March. The publisher is thus catering to the ageing Blick readership and setting itself apart from the commuter papers that literally dominate the tabloids today.
Both Misteli and Nussbaum therefore anticipate further declines in sales. However, Valora is still hoping that the new Blick concept will strengthen the paper to such an extent that "all sales channels will benefit". And anyway: despite early delivery, there will also be a lot going on at the POS, says Misteli. "Ringier and we are working together on various concepts to promote sales."
Markus Knöpfli