Opportunities in the (time) gaps

Column Media have to radically adapt to their customers. And they have become radically mobile, with two thirds of people saying they
regularly use several media simultaneously. They therefore admit that they
need newspapers and magazines, otherwise they would have been on television
nothing clever to read ... This is just proof of the
omnipresent fact: We are confronted with radically changed
forms of use. The one that strikes me most at the moment is
selective use - and the conspicuous success that has been achieved in certain
time gaps.

We no longer see more and more media users as regular guests who
order and consume the menu, but as transient visitors to a
Buffets. Sometimes they arrive already full and take a bite out of desire or
courtesy only an olive or a caviar roll. Accordingly
The chefs behind the buffet have to work harder.

The "media chefs" have to amplify the stimuli in order to still be able to
attract the attention of the target group. Visual and typographic
Artifice is becoming increasingly important to get people to read.
seduce. The spoiled eyes (they constantly "zap" without realizing it)
inne) must be introduced to the texts. The
The interaction between image and text is crucial to the game. The
useful life for the individual print media decreases, the variety
(expressed in terms of the number of "consumed", i.e. only
or only partially used print media) is increasing. As the
price sensitivity continues to exist, by the way, those who live on the
The high price segment is dangerous. In the selection process
readers are also increasingly differentiating between "need to have" and
"nice to have". What is not in any sector number 1 or
is indispensable risks being cut sooner or later.

While we have a strong position in traditional print media (daily and
weekly newspapers, magazines) are seeing saturated markets, the
Print objects that specifically manage a time window: the
Commuter newspapers (with their 20-minute slots in the morning on the S-Bahn)
and the Sunday newspapers, which are the relaxed Sunday
reading situation between bed and breakfast table. Both genres have taught us that media must radically focus on their
customers, and this clientele has become radically mobile.

In Japan, where commuting takes up to twice two hours a day
Asahi Shimbun, one of the largest daily newspapers in the world, has been operating
for a long time with a wide range of mobile products: Since the beginning of
In 1999, readers will receive messages on their cell phones and PDAs.
supplied. Since January 2000, fee-based services have been available for
network-enabled mobile devices, the number of which has increased sevenfold since then.
Today, there are 77 million such mobile devices (keitais) in Japan.
on the move. These devices are particularly popular with young people.
popular.

There has been a clear shift in media use from the
printed newspaper to the keitai. Accordingly, the
Usage times and expenditure in the private media budget. Feat -
The Japanese company based in a large urban agglomeration
The average employee works from 8 a.m. at the latest until late at night.
Evening no longer available for the printed media. The
Interestingly, Asahi Shimbun's counter-strategy is not directed
not only to the young, but also explicitly to the older generation,
because there is enough time for media consumption.

The basis for this is the change from product strategy to
channel strategy. In other words, there is a shift in the
Use: The young generation (up to and including 30-39 year olds) is increasingly using
the mobile network service, the older generation the printed newspaper.
Now the clever Japanese have asked themselves which divisions are affected by
are particularly in demand by the individual generations - and they have
e-mail and value-added services with sports content are offered at very low prices.
low prices, as an additional product to the newspaper subscription. This gives
They immediately became the price and market leader in this new channel
and now they are exploiting this by selling music downloads,
offer video news streams and the like, event-related of course:
Olympic Games, Football World Cup, important sumo wrestling matches, etc.

This is another trend that cultural critics will scourge and that it
nevertheless: Information mixes with entertainment - in the
The focus is on the needs of the commuting person who is in
bored with his suburban train. And they change depending on the situation.
If you can't find a seat to read, at least watch the hit parade
can hear ...

Karl Lüönd is a freelance journalist and was until recently head of the Media Institute.