Europe's largest TV group RTL Group increased its revenues and profits in the first half of the year thanks to higher advertising revenues. The advertising market improved in most countries, the Bertelsmann subsidiary announced on Tuesday. For the first time, RTL exceeded the half-billion euro mark in operating profit in the first half of 2007. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITA) amounted to 515 million euros, RTL CEO Gerhard Zeiler announced on Tuesday.
On the bottom line, the Group, which has interests in 39 television stations and 29 radio stations in ten countries as well as its production arm Freemantle Media, posted a net profit of 358 million euros, which corresponds to growth of 0.8 percent. Turnover rose by 1.3 percent to 2.89 billion euros.
With a market share of 33.6 percent in the advertising-relevant target group, RTL has achieved its strongest position since 2003, Ziegler continued. The lead in the German audience market over the ProSieben/Sat.1 Group stations had grown in the first half of the year and now amounted to 4.5 percentage points.

 After ten successful years in the television business, the two creators of the American animated series "South Park" are being rewarded by their employer with an extraordinary new contract. Matt Stone and Trey Parker will not only receive a large sum in the millions as an advance, they will soon also receive a fifty percent share of all advertising revenue. The MTV Networks-owned entertainment channel Comedy Central on Friday extended Stone and Parker's contract for another three years until 2011, agreed to air the 15th season and significantly increased both their salaries and their share of proceeds from merchandising products and license sales. According to the New York Times, the television creators and their network also agreed to work together to distribute the series and related products on the Internet, mobile platforms and video games.  
In general, it is still unusual in the television business to give the creators a share of the advertising revenue. As "South Park" has been consistently successful for a long time and is considered the most important pillar of the channel, the aim is to retain the creative duo in the long term.

 
By Heart has prevailed in a multi-stage competition with well-known competitors for the account of the Lucerne-based family business Gübelin. The Zurich-based advertising agency will develop a new overall image for the world-renowned jeweler. According to By Heart, this will be on display from next fall.

 The CEO himself takes over responsibility at Valora for the Swiss kiosk division, which contributed significantly to the poor half-year results. The previous head, Manfred Zipp, who had failed to bring about a turnaround in the difficult kiosk environment (see
), is leaving the company by mutual agreement. CEO Peter Wüst has now declared the management of this division to be his main task. Valora will present detailed half-year figures and specific measures to increase profitability in the kiosk business at a media and analysts' conference on Tuesday.

 Every year, the Federal Office for Agriculture supports advertising for various agricultural products with 50 to 60 million francs. Now the Federal Council and Parliament are demanding that it should be clear who is behind this advertising. In future, a red bar and the slogan "Switzerland. Naturally." will standardize the advertising. Other labels can be combined with this in a modular system.

 The kitchen is the center of every home. And so it is not surprising that the successfully launched home magazine Neue Ideen cannot do without extensive editorial content relating to the kitchen. From now on, this will be provided by the editorial team of the cooking magazine Saisonküche. As the publishing house announced on Monday, the collaboration will include the supply of original recipes, tips and tricks, as well as targeted advice in the kitchen environment and the creation of new reader offers. The two media companies also want to work together more closely in the online sector.

 The brutal murder of the anti-government journalist Anna Politkovskaya has been solved by the Russian judiciary. According to the Interfax news agency, Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika announced on Monday that the leader of a criminal Chechen group was behind the crime. This group had specialized in criminal business and contract killings in Moscow. Employees of the domestic secret service FSC and the Interior Ministry are said to have provided the contract killers with information about the victim.
Politkovskaya was an employee of the opposition newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" and had mainly reported on human rights violations in Chechnya. She was also one of the harshest critics of President Vladimir Putin's policies.

 PubliGroupe increased its sales by 4.2 percent to CHF 1,074.4 million in the first half of 2007. Earnings before interest and taxes amounted to CHF 34.8 million at the end of June. The improved result is attributable to the slightly higher advertising volume in the Swiss press, as well as the positive business development in the international markets and in the electronic media. In the electronic media segment, the Group recorded very significant growth of 61.6%. This was mainly due to the integration of Radiotele, which has only been part of PubliGroupe since June 2006 and which generated sales of CHF 18.5 million. For the second half of 2007, PubliGroupe is expecting more sustained growth in sales compared with the first six months, thanks to the catch-up potential of PubliDirect and Cinecom.

 The World Weekly News (WWN) had also always insisted that Saddam did not have any weapons of mass destruction, but at most a few fighting dinosaurs. Now the «most creative newspaper in the world» is bankrupt, and the rest of the U.S. media is in shock.
For nearly 30 years, it brought readers the most exclusive stories of all: It was the WWN that revealed that Elvis was still alive and that the Americans had never actually landed on the moon. The newspaper, which described itself as «the world’s only reliable newspaper,» reached its peak in the 1980s, when, according to the SDA, its circulation hit 1.2 million copies.
The cult status the paper enjoyed is also evident in the heart-wrenching tributes currently echoing through the U.S. press: New York Times columnist Emil Steiner rants that he is «as angry as a teetotaler at Oktoberfest.» In no other medium could one determine with a quick test whether one would end up in hell or heaven—and reliably so, since the paper could always claim to speak with the voice of God.
In his wistful search for reasons behind the newspaper’s demise, columnist Peter Carlson suggested that reality had simply overtaken the WWN’s stories, which were often difficult to prove: Headlines like «Soviet Union Suddenly Collapsed» or »Fundamentalists Fly Hijacked Planes Into the World Trade Center» would have appeared only in the WWN years ago. So this week, the motto of WWN founder Eddie Clontz, who died in 2004, is being upheld one last time: «We won’t let research ruin a good story.».

 The ad screen marketer Neo Advertising is acquiring a stake in the IP radio developer iTraxx. Together, the companies want to position themselves in the future market of IP radio. iTraxx can look back on around 20 years of experience in the radio sector and has specialized in the development and transmission of music programs via the Internet in recent years. Currently, iTraxx offers thematic stations and radios for companies and brands. The company will now become part of the Neo Advertising Group in order to improve its growth opportunities, according to a press release. Conversely, Neo Advertising will be able to offer clients a new media offering. The two companies are celebrating their merger with the launch of Traxx.fm. They have also already been commissioned to develop an IP radio for McDonalds to expand the soundscape in its Geneva restaurants.  

Because the Weltwoche and SVP logos were emblazoned next to the swastika, the "fascist poster" for an exhibition at the Rote Fabrik caused a media frenzy last week and filled readers' letters columns. This week, the Fabrikzeitung (FaZ) delivered the small print edition of "Politics? - Die Detaillese" (Politics? The detailed reading) and proves it: On the right bank of Lake Zurich, you can also hit the fine notes with the left.The poet Ernst Jandl mused in "Rinks und Lechts" that the political can often not simply be understood as left or right. In the editorial, the newspaper's editors write that this fact must be kept in mind, especially in a place like the Rote Fabrik. That's why, for the September issue of FaZ, they asked an international team of authors to think about the details in which the political is (firmly) embedded, what the political is like in design, art and film or whether dissidence has completely degenerated into a hip selling point. The answers are now available in the usual high-class design as a print edition and free of charge at selected locations in Zurich. The paper can also be downloaded as a PDF via the link below.

In the 2003 federal elections, just 38 percent of Swiss women voted. The figure for men was 54 percent. In none of our neighboring countries is the voter turnout among women so low. Just in time for the 2007 elections, the women's magazine Annabelle now wants to get more women to the polls.  
With a teaser campaign developed by Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett. For the poster and advertisement campaign, three old election posters were unearthed that advertised against women's suffrage in various periods prior to its introduction in 1971. 40 of these old posters have been seen on the streets in recent weeks. They include subjects such as the one from 1920, which shows a neglected nursery with a baby that has fallen out of bed.
 
The comment: "The mother drives politics! Women's suffrage and voting rights NO" These posters were pasted over this week. In a pink bar emblazoned across the subjects, the text reads: "Over 60% of Swiss women still vote as they did many years ago: Namely, not at all. Women, go to the ballot box." eAdvertising is supporting the campaign with e-boards in Zurich main station. Incidentally, the old election posters come from the poster collection of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich and the Graphic Collection of the Swiss National Library in Bern.
 
Responsible at Annabelle: Lisa Feldmann (Editor-in-Chief), Martina Monti (Deputy Editor-in-Chief), Alexander Oeschger (Head of Product Management), Uli Rubner (Head of Magazines); Responsible at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett: Barbara Hutter (Text), Raul Serrat (AD), Martin Spillmann (CD), Simone Saner, Pam Hügli (Consulting)