Basler Tageswoche: Successful after one year, but still unprofitable
After its first year, the Basler Tageswoche is on track: With a print run of 22,600 copies, the weekly edition is twice as large as initially hoped. The TaWo website has received nearly one million page views. The response has been positive, but advertising is still lagging.
The new newspaper model, which from the outset focused on a strong daily Internet presence, is working well, says co-editor-in-chief Urs Buess to the SDA news agency. However, his paper still needs to draw more attention in the print edition to the fact that everything is published exclusively on the Internet. Journalists came up with the model; they got the necessary money when the quarrels about the ownership and the line of the Basler Zeitung made waves. A foundation set up by the Roche mitebine Beatrice Oeri guarantees operation for four years without exerting any influence - a model that is unusual in Switzerland. Oeri shuns the limelight; she also declined to comment on the anniversary.
Own profile gained
Even south of the Jura, people know the TaWo: Around a fifth of subscriptions go to Zurich, Bern and the Mittelland. Occasionally, its reports are quoted by the Tages-Anzeiger and NZZ, for example. And when it comes to research, the people called usually know who you are, Buess continues proudly. But as a journalist, you're never satisfied. In terms of journalism, he is satisfied with the first year of Tageswoche. After a slow start, it has picked up speed and set many of its own topics. In particular, social issues such as the quota question or reports on urban planning were well received. That's why the team is not throwing a big party to celebrate its first birthday.
The TaWo is "not an anti-BaZ," Buess states. With only 31.4 full positions, 25.8 of them in the editorial department, no daily newspaper can compete. However, the special media situation in Basel has already helped despite active competition - for example with BZ Basel and Sonntag-Split; the model would probably have a harder time in Zurich or Bern.
Advertising boost hoped for thanks to WEMF figures
Emeritus media science professor Roger Blum also sees Tageswoche, which he praises for its good stories, as a "very good addition" to the media landscape: With its research, it is a challenge for Baz andBZ. Competition brings incentive and mutual control as well as a choice of stages, so to speak, for actors.
Despite the good circulation development with 18'600 subscribers, 3,000 individual sales and 1,000 free copies, the TaWo is not yet profitable. Today, it has only about six pages of advertisements per issue. For Buess, that's a lot of room for improvement. He is optimistic because certified WEMF figures are now available for the first time, which could open some advertising doors. Buess also explains his confidence with the boom in mobile telecommunication devices, which make the online TaWo available everywhere; longer analyses, meanwhile, would find space on paper. The paper has just been gently redesigned to make it more attractive to readers, unfolded and with a thicker cover. (sda)
