SDA is doing better again after low points

 The SDA news agency has struggled with financial difficulties in recent years. "Things are now looking up again," editor-in-chief Bernard Maissen told Werbewoche. "Last year we were able to report more pleasing figures, and things don't look bad for 2007 either. But we also have two massive cost-cutting programs behind us." SDA's good customers are the growing number of free newspapers. "They are customers that we value highly, but we always have to position ourselves in such a way that we can manage without a particular customer," says Maissen. Blick and Sonntagsblick canceled their subscriptions in 2005, but the news agency has now recovered. Nevertheless, times are not all rosy for SDA: the falling circulation figures for newspapers are causing it problems, as the remuneration for services is also based on circulation. "The free newspapers act as a positive counterbalance here, but they do not account for the lion's share of sales," said Maissen. He sees the media's online offerings as having a promising future. SDA has already been offering online services together with Keystone. Thanks to the acquisition of the minority stake in the picture agency, SDA will probably expand its offering in this area (see ).