Hypocritical tariff zero round

We can hardly budget for next year," was a complaint that was heard several times at the Publimedia Forum on Tuesday. In order not to put any more obstacles in the way of this, many publishers have decided to reduce the rates of their titles to zero - a "real" zero increase, as Publimedia CEO Otto Meier emphasized. However, a question mark should be placed behind this, as "no" price increase can actually be a price increase due to reader losses. Moreover, at least among the major titles, there are even more that are increasing their rates in absolute terms than those that are leaving them at this year's level, including Tages-Anzeiger, Basler Zeitung, Mittelland Zeitung, HandelsZeitung, Facts, Brigitte, Geo and Le Temps. Berner Zeitung, St.Galler Tagblatt, Südostschweiz, Nouvelliste and Schweizer Illustrierte have added up to 0.9%. Swisspool is also in this league, as almost all members are raising their prices (see page 22). Blick, Bund, Neue Luzerner Zeitung, Walliser Bote, SonntagsZeitung, NZZ, 24 Heures, La Liberté, Tribune de Genève and Le Matin semaine are charging one to two percent more. NZZ am Sonntag (+5 to 6%), Il Caffè (+4%) due to 12,000 new readers, SonntagsBlick (+3 to 4% only for SW advertisements), Landbote, Winterthur (+3.2%), Thurgauer Zeitung (+3%) and Le Matin dimanche (+2.2%) dare to post even higher increases. NZZ am Sonntag attributes the increase to the positive Wemf interim evaluation, Il Caffè and Le Matin to newly acquired readers, Landbote and Thurgauer Zeitung to larger circulations (mk).