Tsüri.ch proves: Local journalism can be profitable - Elio Donauer with Reto Lipp on ComSumCast

Is it still possible to found a journalistic start-up today and earn money with it? Elio Donauer, project and co-managing director of Tsüri.ch, gives a clear answer in the latest ComSumCast: Yes. After more than ten years, the digital Zurich city magazine has developed into a profitable SME. In an interview with presenter Reto Lipp, the social and political science graduate explains how this has been achieved.

The centerpiece is the daily "Tsüri Briefing", a curated newsletter that reaches around 32,000 subscribers every morning at 6 a.m. - with an open rate of 60 percent. The briefing delivers the most important news from Zurich, regardless of whether the most relevant story is on SRF, the Tages-Anzeiger or on its own platform. Target by the end of 2026: 40,000 subscribers.

Three pillars instead of one model

Tsüri.ch has deliberately diversified: one third of revenue comes from advertising, one third from memberships and one third from events with sponsors. The 3,200 members voluntarily pay from eight francs per month - without a paywall. Zurich alone would have been too small for a reach model, and a subscription model would have led to irrelevance. So a third niche was created, supported by a community that pays because it wants Tsüri.ch to continue to exist. Behind this is a consistent community concept: Tsüri.ch sees itself as a platform on which the city's debates are not only depicted, but actively conducted - during city walks, workshops or a lottery evening for which 700 people registered for 110 places.

Cultural gap filled, print attempt buried

When the Tages-Anzeiger gave up the "Züri-Tipp", Tsüri.ch raised 40,000 to 50,000 francs within days via crowdfunding and launched its own cultural format. A print experiment was less successful: an election brochure failed due to distribution logistics. Donauer's conclusion: Tsüri.ch no longer prints anything. The DNA is digital.

Expansion with a sense of proportion

In Winterthur, Tsüri.ch and a local group launched the sister magazine Wnti - 150,000 francs crowdfunding, almost 90 percent membership renewal rate after one year. There are no plans to expand throughout Switzerland. Tsüri.ch is also testing the 6i Letter a national newsletter format: Editor Peter Aeschlimann curates the most important Swiss news - from Tokyo. Already 15,000 subscriptions.

AI and SRG: No threat to the local community

Donauer's position is clear: AI is hardly a threat to local journalism because Tsüri.ch does not process agency reports, but conducts its research locally. And with regard to SRG, he disagrees with the theory that less public media creates more space for private media - on the contrary, he says, they benefit from research that would not take place without SRG resources.

Twenty people, a profitable SME

Tsüri.ch employs just under twenty people, seven to eight of them in the editorial department, with a standard salary of CHF 6,000 and a four-day week. The message Donauer leaves behind in the ComSumCast is one of the most optimistic in the Swiss media industry: digital business models for journalism can be established in urban areas. Not because the crisis is over - but because the local offers something that neither large publishers nor AI can replace: Proximity, relevance and a community willing to pay.

The podcast episode on Spotify

Journalist and presenter Reto Lipp talks to pioneering minds from the Swiss media and communications industry in the ComSumCast. The ComSumCast is a joint production of ZPV (Zürcher Presseverein) and ZPRG (Zürcher PR-Gesellschaft). The ComSumCast is available in video and audio versions on Spotify and YouTube as well as in audio version on Apple Podcasts and on the largest other podcast platforms. Produced by Castalavista / Christoph Soltmannowski / Soltmannowski Kommunikation GmbH. www.solt.ch