Tageswoche: Three innovations for the birthday

The Basel Tageswoche, which has been in existence for a year, is still struggling in terms of advertising (Werbewoche.ch reported). Five to six paid advertising pages per issue at 5500 Swiss francs are simply not enough. Even during Basel's election campaign for the city's major and governing councils, which lasted until the weekend - there were no more. And even the sparse online ads on Tageswoche.ch still don't yield much, as co-editor Urs Buess admits.

Other newspapers in WG 31 Ad growth

In addition, all other newspapers in northwestern Switzerland have increased volumes in the first nine months of this year. The Basler Zeitung (Baz) - including the new Sunday edition - had 11 percent or almost one page more ads per issue than in the same period in 2011. The Basellandschaftliche Zeitung had 9 percent more, Der Sonntag even recorded an increase of 36 percent or five pages, and Blick am Abend and 20 Minuten also took in 1/5 and 1/10 page more per issue respectively.

This should have yielded more for the Tageswoche, which is constantly published with 56 pages. Buess therefore announces a "professionalization of advertising sales" for this year, specifically an increase in the team from the current three to five people. Contract negotiations are still underway, which is why he does not want to name any names. But sales will definitely remain in-house, Buess assures.

Expand online community

A second sore point: despite selling 22'600 copies a week (18,600 of which are subscriptions), the online community has only 6,400 people so far. Why? Buess doesn't really know the answer to that question yet. But he, too, has noticed in conversations that many online articles in TagesWoche are hardly noticed, and the situation is similar for the prime-time articles, which do exist and are sometimes weighty: they often simply go unnoticed. Here, too, a remedy is planned in the near future - with a daily newsletter that is currently still being tested.

And a third innovation is in the pipeline: In the next few weeks, the Tageswoche will launch a pay app that will allow users to read the print edition online as well. The project is at an advanced stage, says Buess. But this is by no means a paywall, because the online articles, which are usually different from those in the print edition, can still be viewed free of charge.

Tageswoche advertisers have different motivations

Werbewoche also asked eight major Tageswoche advertisers why they booked ads in the new paper and how good the response was. Two said they had booked because of relatives or acquaintances who work for the Tageswoche crew. Others wanted to support the new Basel media plant. Thirds responded to a good price offer or simply wanted to try it out. One company even let it slip that it was pushing down the price because a millionaire was behind the Tageswoche.

But the clients also claimed strategic reasons for their bookings. For example, some assume that they can reach an intellectual and rather alternative audience with the Tageswoche. A garage with several branches in WG 31 therefore advertises "rather low-priced eco cars" in the Tageswoche, while it promotes higher-priced vehicles in the BaZ. Sebastian Comment, head of marketing and communications at Basel-based Banque CIC, has also realized that his ads in TagesWoche are more noticeable than elsewhere because of the (still) low volume of ads. Initially, he received some reactions, but later fewer.

Certified conditions provide security

Most advertisers took note of the fact that the Tageswoche now shows a certified circulation. However, the significance of these figures is assessed differently. For Sebastian Comment of Banque CIC, good placement offers are important in addition to circulation - for example on the front page, but this is not possible with TagesWoche. This is another reason why the Baz remains the leading medium for Comment. For watch dealer Hans Spinnler, circulation is also secondary. For his Oris ads, the price/performance ratio of the Tageswoche is right, he says, while the Baz is too expensive for him and the scattering loss of the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung is too high. In contrast, Thomas Zitzer, owner of the Apple dealer Ingeno Data in Basel, Baden and Olten, finds the figures important. "They give me the certainty that my ads have been seen," he says.

Apple dealer made tests and has concrete results

Zitzer's experience is particularly interesting: Because he no longer books in BaZ for fundamental reasons, the Apple dealer initially switched to 20 Minuten - in each case with an ad on the front. A year ago, however, he switched to Tageswoche and places a full-page ad with "interesting Apple products" at least once a month. At the same time, he placed radio spots on Energy Basel. Now and then he made experiments: He provided ads with 10 percent coupons, and in the spots he asked listeners for certain codes in order to benefit from a discount. The result: the spots produced the best response, followed by 20 Minuten and finally TagesWoche. Zitzer's conclusion: He continues to book Energy Basel and TagesWoche - for three reasons: This way he reaches two different target audiences, one rather younger and one rather older. The price-performance ratio is also better with the Tageswoche than with the commuter paper, he says. Not least because he is informed by the Tageswoche's advertising department every time the competition places an ad. "It wants to avoid unnecessary overlaps in this way," says Zitzers, who greatly appreciates this customer service.

Markus Knöpfli