Four-week program
Vierwaldstätter Verlag aims to shake up the Swiss program booklet market
Vierwaldstätter Verlag wants to shake up the Swiss program guide marketBy Daniel SchifferleSince the beginning of March, the new program guide TVvier has been trying its luck in the Swiss market. With virtually no editorial supplements, the magazine delivers pure program information for an entire month, lean and mean. TVvier aims to sell at least 15,000 subscriptions by the end of the year.
The model for TVvier comes from Berlin and is called nurTV, a four-week program guide that is content with a lot of program information but only very brief editorial content. Rüdiger Hahn, the editor of TVvier, took the concept for the Swiss magazine from nurTV. Until the end of last year, he worked with his brother, who has been publishing nurTV since 1999.
Last year, it was decided to offer a magazine with the same concept on the Swiss market. To this end, Hahn founded Vierwaldstätter Verlag GmbH, based in Horw LU, in March. Legally, the German and Swiss companies are independent of each other. The two magazines also have no synergies in terms of content.
At a price of four Swiss francs, the magazine provides over 130 pages of pure program information. Only two double pages per issue are reserved for actual editorial content. Written in large print, they do not suggest much in-depth information. A program booklet that is clearly not made for bookworms.
TVdaily and suspected
Switch buyers in our sights
The Swiss program guide market was analyzed intensively in advance and various weaknesses were identified, says Hahn. "TVtäglich, which is enclosed with six Swiss newspapers and magazines, is being used less and less. It's a throwaway product." Another Hahn insight: "Many Swiss people are not committed, they buy sometimes this and sometimes that program guide." Hahn is counting primarily on these switchers, who don't yet have a regular TV guide.
But he also sees opportunities for TVtäglich. Various smaller publishers have already approached him and inquired about the conditions for TVvier. Their reasoning: It would be simpler to include TVvier only once a month than to include TVtäglich four times in the same period. Whether or not to go down this route will be decided before the summer, says Hahn.
Ads are still thin on the ground in the Swiss magazine
At the moment, TVvier is printed with a circulation of 300000 copies. 50000 of these go to the newsstands. The remaining 250000 copies are distributed, with each issue serving a specific area in German-speaking Switzerland. TVvier aims to gain 15000 subscribers by the end of the year. Hahn is convinced that this goal will already be reached with the third issue.
The advertising page in TVvier costs a uniform 14350 Swiss francs. However, the ads in the first two issues were thin on the ground. There were mainly ads from countertrade deals, for example with Weltwoche and Beobachter. In addition, it was mainly direct marketing companies that advertised in the new magazine.
The model for TVvier comes from Berlin and is called nurTV, a four-week program guide that is content with a lot of program information but only very brief editorial content. Rüdiger Hahn, the editor of TVvier, took the concept for the Swiss magazine from nurTV. Until the end of last year, he worked with his brother, who has been publishing nurTV since 1999.
Last year, it was decided to offer a magazine with the same concept on the Swiss market. To this end, Hahn founded Vierwaldstätter Verlag GmbH, based in Horw LU, in March. Legally, the German and Swiss companies are independent of each other. The two magazines also have no synergies in terms of content.
At a price of four Swiss francs, the magazine provides over 130 pages of pure program information. Only two double pages per issue are reserved for actual editorial content. Written in large print, they do not suggest much in-depth information. A program booklet that is clearly not made for bookworms.
TVdaily and suspected
Switch buyers in our sights
The Swiss program guide market was analyzed intensively in advance and various weaknesses were identified, says Hahn. "TVtäglich, which is enclosed with six Swiss newspapers and magazines, is being used less and less. It's a throwaway product." Another Hahn insight: "Many Swiss people are not committed, they buy sometimes this and sometimes that program guide." Hahn is counting primarily on these switchers, who don't yet have a regular TV guide.
But he also sees opportunities for TVtäglich. Various smaller publishers have already approached him and inquired about the conditions for TVvier. Their reasoning: It would be simpler to include TVvier only once a month than to include TVtäglich four times in the same period. Whether or not to go down this route will be decided before the summer, says Hahn.
Ads are still thin on the ground in the Swiss magazine
At the moment, TVvier is printed with a circulation of 300000 copies. 50000 of these go to the newsstands. The remaining 250000 copies are distributed, with each issue serving a specific area in German-speaking Switzerland. TVvier aims to gain 15000 subscribers by the end of the year. Hahn is convinced that this goal will already be reached with the third issue.
The advertising page in TVvier costs a uniform 14350 Swiss francs. However, the ads in the first two issues were thin on the ground. There were mainly ads from countertrade deals, for example with Weltwoche and Beobachter. In addition, it was mainly direct marketing companies that advertised in the new magazine.
