Smart (re)conditioning
Deutsche Presse Holtzbrinck is capitalizing on «tabloiditis» and charging for print versions of online content.
Deutsche Presse Holtzbrinck takes advantage of "tabloiditis" and makes the printed Internet chargeable No German newspaper manager is currently acting faster than the operational head of the Stuttgart-based Holtzbrinck Group. And no one learns more consistently from other industries. After the now legendary - and from Süddeutsche Zeitung to Bild copied - boosting of the "side businesses" at the Group's flagship Die Zeit, Michael Grabner has now launched two speedboats within a quarter: 20 Cent and News. Their official mission is to tap into young, internet-savvy readers in the city (News) and the country (20 Cent).
Unofficially, Holtzbrinck is also responding to Welt kompakt, launched in mid-May, which Grabner, of course, rejects out of hand. The quality tabloid from Springer, dubbed "Halb-Welt" by malicious tongues, is merely a "new form of presentation" of content from the parent newspaper, while 20 Cent and above all News are a new, hybrid type of newspaper (see interview).
No self-cannibalization. 20 Cent editor-in-chief Peter Stefan Herbst also put forward this thesis last week at a tabloid conference of the International Newspaper Marketing Association (INMA) in Frankfurt. Visually and in terms of content, his unstitched, 32-page cheap offshoot of the Lausitzer Rundschau, published in Cottbus, offers nothing but printed Internet - and thus hardly anything other than the commuter newspapers that are (still) unknown in Germany. One third each of agency news, lifestyle advice and community building with party photos and a daily singles exchange: with this mix, 20 Cent wants to turn young people who have previously only consumed the Internet and TV into newspaper readers who will hopefully later subscribe to the parent paper.
Herbst wants to prevent the danger of self-cannibalization, such as that posed by the compact version of Die Welt, in two ways. Firstly, through the "completely different topics and target audiences" of the subscription and compact versions.
cheap newspaper; on the other hand, because the 20 Cent, which is available at 1,200 kiosks in Lusatia, can only be subscribed to in combination with the Rundschau. According to Herbst, four times as many of these combined subscriptions have been sold to date than expected. So if the Beiboot concept really works in the East German province, Holtzbrinck will probably soon transfer it to its other regional newspapers.
From toothpaste to newspaperIn contrast, no national roll-out is planned for the urban 20 cent counterpart News, which was launched in mid-September in the greater Frankfurt area, even if it is successful. At least that's what Managing Director Wolfgang Ernd said on the fringes of the INMA event.
However, such statements probably have more to do with appeasing direct competitors - such as Welt kompakt, which recently launched a nationwide presence - than with a real publishing strategy. Firstly, despite extremely low-budget production - for example by paying the 25-strong editorial team below the going rate - News, which consists of secondary exploitation of the national Holtzbrinck newspapers Tagesspiegel and Handelsblatt as well as local in-house services, only pays off when the costly concept is multiplied. And secondly, Grabner & Co. are pursuing a much more fundamental, longer-term and more ambitious goal with their cheaply produced, but nevertheless not free "quick-reads for the iPod generation" (Herbst).
For all their differences, both 20 Cent and News are trying to get their young audiences (re)accustomed to what the print back door has to offer.
Internet: the realization that valid editorial information and services can and must cost something. Grabner justifies this educational measure, which benefits the entire industry and could serve as a model, as an attempt to establish a second, lower price level. The former detergent manager copied his innovative differentiation strategy from the watch and textile industry.
The British Independent recently showed how newspapers can successfully learn from other sectors. Its editor-in-chief had the momentous idea at the sight of a toothpaste display that reversed the quality paper's ten-year downward trend within just ten weeks: a small travel tube lying next to jumbo and family packs inspired the paper maker to switch the Independent completely to tabloid format.
The Europe-wide consequences of this brainwave are well known. And it is not entirely far-fetched that Holtzbrinck's transfer of know-how will also find imitators - perhaps even in the home country of Swatch.
Founder fever: New tabloid titles on the German market.
Oliver Classen
Unofficially, Holtzbrinck is also responding to Welt kompakt, launched in mid-May, which Grabner, of course, rejects out of hand. The quality tabloid from Springer, dubbed "Halb-Welt" by malicious tongues, is merely a "new form of presentation" of content from the parent newspaper, while 20 Cent and above all News are a new, hybrid type of newspaper (see interview).
No self-cannibalization. 20 Cent editor-in-chief Peter Stefan Herbst also put forward this thesis last week at a tabloid conference of the International Newspaper Marketing Association (INMA) in Frankfurt. Visually and in terms of content, his unstitched, 32-page cheap offshoot of the Lausitzer Rundschau, published in Cottbus, offers nothing but printed Internet - and thus hardly anything other than the commuter newspapers that are (still) unknown in Germany. One third each of agency news, lifestyle advice and community building with party photos and a daily singles exchange: with this mix, 20 Cent wants to turn young people who have previously only consumed the Internet and TV into newspaper readers who will hopefully later subscribe to the parent paper.
Herbst wants to prevent the danger of self-cannibalization, such as that posed by the compact version of Die Welt, in two ways. Firstly, through the "completely different topics and target audiences" of the subscription and compact versions.
cheap newspaper; on the other hand, because the 20 Cent, which is available at 1,200 kiosks in Lusatia, can only be subscribed to in combination with the Rundschau. According to Herbst, four times as many of these combined subscriptions have been sold to date than expected. So if the Beiboot concept really works in the East German province, Holtzbrinck will probably soon transfer it to its other regional newspapers.
From toothpaste to newspaperIn contrast, no national roll-out is planned for the urban 20 cent counterpart News, which was launched in mid-September in the greater Frankfurt area, even if it is successful. At least that's what Managing Director Wolfgang Ernd said on the fringes of the INMA event.
However, such statements probably have more to do with appeasing direct competitors - such as Welt kompakt, which recently launched a nationwide presence - than with a real publishing strategy. Firstly, despite extremely low-budget production - for example by paying the 25-strong editorial team below the going rate - News, which consists of secondary exploitation of the national Holtzbrinck newspapers Tagesspiegel and Handelsblatt as well as local in-house services, only pays off when the costly concept is multiplied. And secondly, Grabner & Co. are pursuing a much more fundamental, longer-term and more ambitious goal with their cheaply produced, but nevertheless not free "quick-reads for the iPod generation" (Herbst).
For all their differences, both 20 Cent and News are trying to get their young audiences (re)accustomed to what the print back door has to offer.
Internet: the realization that valid editorial information and services can and must cost something. Grabner justifies this educational measure, which benefits the entire industry and could serve as a model, as an attempt to establish a second, lower price level. The former detergent manager copied his innovative differentiation strategy from the watch and textile industry.
The British Independent recently showed how newspapers can successfully learn from other sectors. Its editor-in-chief had the momentous idea at the sight of a toothpaste display that reversed the quality paper's ten-year downward trend within just ten weeks: a small travel tube lying next to jumbo and family packs inspired the paper maker to switch the Independent completely to tabloid format.
The Europe-wide consequences of this brainwave are well known. And it is not entirely far-fetched that Holtzbrinck's transfer of know-how will also find imitators - perhaps even in the home country of Swatch.
Founder fever: New tabloid titles on the German market.
Oliver Classen
