A newsletter will do just fine

Following the end of the Austria experiment and the dissolution of the editorial office in Vienna, the NZZ will no longer rely on independent overseas branches as part of its international strategy. Instead, its core product, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, will reach out to the German-speaking world. The editor-in-chief’s new newsletter on German domestic politics is therefore one of the ways to attract paying customers from Germany.

Some come, others go. While Tamedia is signaling a new beginning in Austria with the relaunch of heute.at, the NZZ is pulling out of Austria. At the end of April, it shut down NZZ.at, though this should not be interpreted as the end of its international expansion. It was clear from the start that the Zurich-based newspaper would face an uphill battle with its Austrian offshoot in a market where no one had previously offered paid online content. Nevertheless, NZZ.at quickly established itself as an alternative voice in Vienna’s media landscape. The company never disclosed subscription figures. Only this much is now clear: there were too few to ensure long-term survival. According to industry speculation, the number is said to have been several thousand—a small success within a failure in a country without a culture of paying for online journalistic content.

Just one year after the launch of NZZ.at, the parent company tightened the reins and tied the Vienna editorial office more closely to headquarters. Staff was cut, and in-house production was scaled back. Another year later, it was finally over. There was no specific trigger for the decision to shut it down, an NZZ spokeswoman said in response to an inquiry. Two years is a short time, even in the fast-paced world of the internet. The fact that the NZZ called off the project so quickly also shows that trying to make NZZ.at a success must have been a hopeless endeavor. The company confirms this: «We made the decision at a time when we did not consider it sufficiently certain that the product could be steered onto a path of long-term economic success.»

The end of NZZ.at marks a turning point in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung’s international operations; after all, a functioning newsroom is being dissolved, journalists are being laid off, and subscribers are left disappointed. But that doesn’t mean it’s a disaster. Every trial project comes to an end sooner or later, but in the meantime, it provides valuable insights. NZZ.at was the first product the NZZ had launched as part of a new strategy. «It served as the spark that ignited a series of further product innovations in print and digital,» a spokeswoman said.

Another insight: The NZZ will certainly not establish an independent subsidiary in Germany. «Today, we integrate all new offerings into our existing technical infrastructure,» says the NZZ. When operations began in Vienna a little over two years ago, the company was not yet ready to do so. Under the new strategic direction, the company is now setting its sights on the German-speaking market. «We want to focus on our core product, the »Neue Zürcher Zeitung,’ and gradually make it more attractive to target audiences in German-speaking countries abroad,” explains NZZ Managing Director Steven Neubauer. What that means exactly became clear a few days before the announcement that NZZ.at was being shut down.

On April 7, Editor-in-Chief Eric Gujer sent out his first weekly newsletter, «Der andere Blick,» focusing on German domestic politics. «The inspiration for this newsletter comes from you, our readers,» Gujer wrote in his welcome message to subscribers in the first issue. He noted the rising number of visits to NZZ.ch from Germany—a trend that has gained significant momentum since Eric Gujer took office as editor-in-chief and René Scheu as culture editor. (More (On the NZZ and its new German friends).

Our analysis from August 3, 2016. With its new newsletter, the NZZ aims to further expand its reach and engagement in Germany «and lay the groundwork for potential subscription sales,» according to NZZ Managing Director Neubauer. In the initial phase, the focus is on analyzing the newsletter’s usage data «to learn how we can reach these user groups even more effectively and turn them into paying customers.» Newsletter subscribers are taking the first step toward this themselves. They must create a free NZZ account as a prerequisite for receiving the editor-in-chief’s weekly newsletter.

The conservative audience in Germany, which the NZZ already targets with some of its coverage, has—unsurprisingly—also responded well to the newsletter. In contrast, the publication initially struggled to attract women and left-leaning readers, as internal figures show. Targeted advertising campaigns are designed to appeal to the various target groups in Germany and encourage them to subscribe.

But even in Austria, international activities are continuing following the shutdown of NZZ.at. Stefan Lassnig set up shop in Vienna in early May and is expected to work from there to improve international sales activities. In addition to the advertising business, Lessing will also be responsible for «internationalization projects,» one of which is the new flagship newsletter.

Amid all these innovations, of course, one must not underestimate the NZZ’s international presence, which remains a key pillar of the newspaper. Long before other Swiss media companies expanded abroad, the Zürcher Zeitung launched an «International Edition» in 1937. Even today, a daily print run of 7,500 copies is sold, mostly in Germany and Austria.

Nick Lüthi is Director of Media Week. This article was first published on May 9. during Media Week.