Sundays soon a brisk threesome

On March 3, Switzerland will be one Sunday paper richer: The St. Galler Tagblatt (SGT) is now definitely launching a seventh edition under the title Ostschweiz am Sonntag (OaS). This will be distributed to subscribers in eastern Switzerland on Sundays by early delivery. However, since nationwide early delivery on Sundays by the Swiss Post subsidiary Presto would be too costly, OaS will start with a circulation of 100'000 copies. "We are deliberately not doing large-scale free distribution," says Urs Bucher, head of publishing and marketing at the SGT. "First and foremost, we want to convince existing subscribers with the new Sunday edition." All the more so as their newspaper subscription is soon to be increased: Instead of paying 404 for the SGT subscription, they will in future have to pay 425 francs for the seven-day subscription. And those who only want the OaS will pay 128 francs or 3.50 francs at the newsstand.

Hope for 200'000 readers

Based on experience with "Zentralschweiz am Sonntag," which also belongs to the NZZ Media Group and has been around since 2008, Bucher assumes that around 100,000 people will subscribe to OaS after the introductory phase. Another empirical value: Sunday editions of regional newspapers get about two readers per copy. Accordingly, Bucher expects OaS to reach 200,000 readers with each issue. Based on these figures, he has now launched his offer for the advertising market: a full-page, four-color ad in the OaS costs 13'200 Swiss francs, which corresponds to a price per thousand readers of 66 Swiss francs. It is thus in the upper price range of the Sunday press. And for comparison: the weekday SGT comes to a TLP of 73.60 francs.

Start of the triple combo

From March 3, OaS, Zentralschweiz am Sonntag and NZZ am Sonntag will also form a new advertising combination under the title "Sonntagspool. Together, the combined titles reach 859'000 readers in German-speaking Switzerland, which corresponds to a reach of 19.2 percent. This makes Sonntagspool the Sunday offering with the widest reach, ahead of Sonntagsblick with 18 percent. Those who book the Sonntagspool receive an additional combination discount of 12.5 percent on ads and 25 percent on brochure inserts. The price for 1/1 vf is thus 43'790 francs, the TLP comes to 50.98 francs. This means that the TLP costs just under 18 francs more than the cheapest Sunday offer from Sonntagsblick.

Stefan Bai, Head of Advertising Market at NZZ can imagine that the "Sunday Pool" could be open to other regional Sunday papers in the medium term. For example, the weekday advertising combo "Cityplus," which combines SGT, NZZ, Neue Luzerner Zeitung, Schaffhauser Nachrichten and Nordwestschweiz, "could also serve as a model on Sundays," says Bai. First, however, they will see how the OaS and the "Sunday Pool" are received in the market and develop.

By the way: Under the name "NZZ am Sonntag plus Zentralschweiz," there was previously an advertising combination between NZZ am Sonntag and Zentralschweiz am Sonntag. This will be discontinued as of March 3.

Bold counterpoint to the mood of crisis

But why is the SCT only now starting with a seventh issue? "We examined the issue several times and came to the conclusion that we need to reach a critical size of 90'000 copies for the Sunday circulation. That was achieved thanks to the integration of the Thurgauer Zeitung as of 2011," says Bucher. The goal is to cover about half of the costs with revenues from the reader and advertising market.

But both the reach and advertising sales of the Sunday press have been declining for some time. Isn't the OaS starting at the worst possible moment? "Newspapers are read twice as long on Sundays as on weekdays. That's also interesting for the advertising market. That's why we can't and don't want to simply abandon the best reading day," explains Bucher. He also says that positive feedback has been received from advertising customers. "So despite a declining market, there is definitely advertising potential." Then he adds another aspect: In 2011, the SGT had one of its best years since 2000 - also thanks to the integration of the Thurgauer Zeitung. "With a new product in difficult times, we therefore deliberately want to set a counterpoint to the many cost-cutting measures in our industry," he says. In addition, he says, he is driven by the hope "that OaS will then be established as soon as things pick up again."

But what if the OaS cannibalizes the weekday SGT in terms of advertising volume? Bucher has no fears in this regard. The experience of Zentralschweiz am Sonntag shows that this is hardly the case. "Most of the Sunday advertising revenues are additional sales," he says.

A newspaper for the whole of eastern Switzerland

As already previously reported the SGT editorial office will be expanded by twelve positions. The new OaS will be headed by 41-year-old newspaperman Christian Ortner, who until recently was editor-in-chief of Vorarlberger Nachrichten.

Newspaper designer Katja Hösli, with whom the Tagblatt has worked successfully for years, has been entrusted with the visual appearance. In collaboration with the editorial team, she has developed a concept that is based on the layout of the SCT, but also clearly different from it - even in the logo. The OaS will be a four-bund newspaper - and unlike the SGT, without regional splits: The first section will contain large articles on politics and business internationally, nationally and regionally. The 2nd bundle contains a large interview, opinions and comments as well as local news. This is followed by the "Life" bundle with culture, knowledge, lifestyle and also a children's page. Finally, sports take place in the 4th bundle.

Markus Knöpfli