Newspapers reach significantly more readers thanks to digital offerings
The digital revolution in the media is giving newspapers a growing readership. While the number of traditional newspaper readers remains stable, digital media usage is growing steadily.
Newspapers are already increasing their reach by a good quarter thanks to digital offerings. Information distributed via mobile devices now plays a major role in the online offerings of Swiss media companies, as Wemf AG für Werbemedienforschung announced on Tuesday. Wemf collects readership figures every six months. The most recent survey covers the period from April 2014 to March 2015. The most-read newspaper in Switzerland remains the commuter paper 20 Minuten with its editions in German, French and Italian-speaking Switzerland. The print title reaches a good two million readers throughout Switzerland. Around half as many people use 20 Minuten's online offering every day.
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If only German-speaking Switzerland is considered, 20 Minuten is well ahead of Blick in terms of print titles. In terms of digital platforms, 20 Minuten is also ahead with 796,000 users compared to 656,000 for Blick. The Ringier Group's online workhorse is clearly Blick.ch. The two top dogs 20 Minuten and Blick are followed by the Tages-Anzeiger, whose print readership is 457,000, while just under half as many people use its online offering. In the Newsnet network (including Tages-Anzeiger, Berner Zeitung, Bund and Basler Zeitung), the number of people accessing the service online soars to 551,000.
AZ, NLZ and NZZ follow
Similar proportions can be seen for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, which is read by 274,000 people on paper. A good half as many use the website. Together with NZZ am Sonntag and NZZ Folio, this group accounts for 732,000 print readers. The printed newspapers of the AZ Nordwestschweiz media network have a readership of 367,000. The picture is similar for the Neue Luzerner Zeitung. Here there are 294,000 print readers compared to around 31,000 people who use the digital offering. There are striking differences between the print and digital editions of Migros Magazines. The title is the lone leader in its category with a readership of over 3 million. In contrast, the digital edition only has 101,000 readers. The Beobachter attracts a great deal of attention, both in print and online.
Similar picture in French-speaking Switzerland
Le Matin continues to have the largest readership of the paid newspapers in French-speaking Switzerland with 296,000 people. It is followed by 24 Heures (print 175,000/digital 67,000) and Le Temps (102,000/13,000). (SDA)
