Aargauer Zeitung to charge for digital content in 2013
According to the NZZ, a second major Swiss newspaper will soon no longer be available to read for free online. The digital content of the Aargauer Zeitung and its regional editions is set to become paywalled over the course of the coming year.
This was announced by AZ editor-in-chief Christian Dorer on Saturday in the newspaper's "weekly commentary": "Our readers should decide for themselves where they want to read what. And of course: we want to earn money online." For this reason, a paywall for the online content of Northwestern Switzerland is planned for 2013 - including the Aargauer Zeitung and the Grechner Tagblatt of AZ Medien.
The music industry is already making good money online, writes Dorer. "Traditional media brands must also succeed in doing this. Otherwise one day their content will no longer exist." This is also why Dorer chose the title "Our journalism is not for free" for his weekly commentary. Dorer also addressed the fundamental change in the media. No more coziness, he said. "The industry is undergoing structural change like no other."
Digital change
Paying for journalistic content on the Internet is no longer taboo. Foreign media houses such as the New York Times have successfully shown the way. Now the major Swiss publishers are following suit. They are investing millions in the digital transformation.
In October, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung NZZ introduced a paywall for numerous editorial articles. "We are correcting the mistake we made in the past of making journalistic content available for free on the Internet," said CEO Albert P. Stäheli at the time. This change is a challenge for editorial teams. The road is rocky and long. The NZZ hopes that this will give a boost to the media industry.
Payment barrier on the rise
The Geneva daily newspaper Le Temps introduced a paywall on the Internet over a year ago. The Freiburger Nachrichten also recently launched a new online presence. After an introductory phase, the newspaper's exclusive content will also be subject to a charge. Blick will introduce a paywall on the Internet by fall 2013 at the latest, as Ringier CEO Marc Walder announced last Sunday in an interview with the Sonntagszeitung (Werbewoche.ch reported). According to Walder, 80 percent of the content will still be free after the introduction of the paywall. However, users will have to pay for the remaining, more exclusive content.
The Tamedia Group, which owns the Tages-Anzeiger among others, announced in the summer that it also wanted to charge for individual articles, but not introduce a general payment barrier. The news platform of Tamedia's Finanz und Wirtschaft. (SDA)
