Tamedia grows in digital business

The turnover of the digital division increased by 62.3 percent to CHF 233.3 million, as Tamedia announced on Thursday. The takeovers of services such as Starticket, Jobs.ch and Fashionfriends made a significant contribution to this. Around a quarter of digital sales were generated in the publishing context. Overall, the Group increased its turnover by 5 percent to 1.069 billion Swiss francs. Revenues in the print business fell, mainly due to declining advertising income. The profitability of the printed newspapers and magazines also declined: operating income (EBITDA) in the regional print business was 12.2 percent lower than in the previous year at CHF 80.9 million, while the national print business was even 38.5 percent lower at CHF 59.5 million. The digital business was also unable to compensate for this slump, although the operating profit there increased almost fivefold and, at CHF 56.7 million, is now almost as high as in the national print business. Across the Group as a whole, operating profit fell by 0.7 percent to CHF 197.1 million. Net profit fell by 14.4 percent to 119.1 million francs.

Metered paywall from March 31

On Thursday, Tamedia announced the date on which the paywall will be raised on the Newsnet news platform. The paywall will be introduced on March 31 during the afternoon. The publisher is relying on the "metered model". With this model, a certain number of articles are free of charge. In the case of the Newsnet network, which includes the online presences of Tages-Anzeiger and Berner Zeitung, ten to 15 texts are expected to be free to read. This means that the Tamedia paywall corresponds in its basic features to that of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. However, as Tamedia CEO Christoph Tonini explained to the media on Thursday, the paywall will be designed differently in the various editorial offices. For example, it is possible for a local newspaper to charge for all of its own services. The model will be adapted on an ongoing basis, depending on how the advertising market and readers react. By raising the paywall, Tamedia is introducing five different subscriptions that cost between 23 and 69 francs per month. At the same time, the news platform and app will be given a new layout. Tamedia is investing CHF 3 million in the paywall technology (SDA/hae).