Apparently, the sustainability issue is moving from the niche to the mass market. Meanwhile, the so-called environmental ticket or even a special car vignette can already be purchased from various providers; the conscious environmental offender can support climate protection projects in developing countries with a sum of money, thus compensating for his CO2 emissions and buying a clear conscience. In the opinion that these market sectors have great and important future potential, News.ch now also wants to contribute to the current energy discussion and is launching a media section on the subject of green investment.
The reader will now find the most important news in the areas of green investment, renewable energies, CO2 emissions trading and energy efficiency collected together. The news and background reports are sorted by topicality and are continuously archived by date. Companies, in turn, have the opportunity to present innovations that contribute to energy efficiency or greenhouse gas reduction on the website. Editorially the new department cares for Harald Tappeiner. Werbewoche is currently asking whether News.ch will soon be presenting a "good conscience" product that will enable the media industry to redeem itself for its wasteful use of paper and energy.

 The Zurich-based media company Tamedia was able to post a significant profit in 2006 thanks to a considerably increased newspaper business and lower depreciation. This climbed by 23.4 percent to 98.4 million Swiss francs. Group sales increased by eleven percent to CHF 723.6 million. Growth at 20 Minuten and in job advertisements as well as the integration of the Thurgauer Zeitung contributed to this increase in turnover of 73.5 million francs. The operating result improved by nine percent to 139 million francs, as Tamedia announced on Tuesday.
The Newspapers division increased sales by 10.4 percent to CHF 492 million. The newly launched French-speaking Swiss commuter newspaper 20 Minutes also made a significant contribution to growth, while the four regional editions of Tages-Anzeiger only had a minor impact on sales due to their launch in November.
Depreciation and amortization was significantly lower this year. In the previous year, Tamedia had to write off around CHF 7.3 million at Radio Basilisk and Büry Verlag. The Board of Directors is proposing a dividend of CHF 3 per share.
Tamedia is not making any concrete statements for the current year. Growth in job advertisements is likely to continue as the labor market continues to recover. Online advertising should develop positively. For the media company, the focus is on the sustained improvement in the weekly newspaper market and in particular at Facts, the regionalization of the Tages-Anzeiger and the implementation of the newspaper cooperation Nordostschweiz.

 Last Thursday, a southern German publisher had its founder Ulrich Glausen kicked out of the boat after taking over the online platform Grenzland Zeitung. But today, Tuesday, the latter is back and taking control of Nexstar Verlag and its five titles, as the publisher writes in a statement. Due to an internal contractual clause, the sale to the unknown southern German publishing group fell through. This provided for a right of first refusal for all founding members, which Jochen Roth and Glausen have pulled with immediate effect. The Grenzland Zeitung has not been harmed by the upheavals at the publishing level, as it continues to expand and has recently started reporting from the canton of Schaffhausen; until now, it reported local news from southern Germany and northern Zurich. The printed edition of the Grenzland Zeitung is available in selected establishments in the catering trade. 

 The children's charity Terre des hommes and Swiss Advertising are awarding a prize for exemplary advertising with children for the first time. The initiators of Child guardian 07 are concerned that children should be protected in advertising and not discriminated against or even instrumentalized, according to the charity's press release. An advertisement and a TV spot will be honored and awarded on May 4, Advertising Day. While the agency and the advertising client will receive a symbolic prize, the highly endowed prize money will go towards Terre des hommes' child protection projects in Switzerland.

For the second time, the Mach Basic and Mach Consumer market and readership studies are being published in March in addition to the September publication. Thanks to the half-yearly publication rhythm, publishers and the advertising industry have more up-to-date data. According to Wemf, the new readership figures show that the Swiss readership continues to be a nation of newspaper readers. 90.3 percent of the Swiss population read a newspaper and 92.9 percent read a magazine. These figures have remained relatively stable since 2000.
The first surveys of the Wemf readership survey Mach Basic 2007 show a stagnation in the Swiss daily newspaper business. Overall, readership figures remain stable, although they are falling for some titles. The only big winner is the free newspaper 20 Minuten, which has seen strong growth. It now has almost as many readers as Blick and Tages Anzeiger combined. Every day, 1,170,000 Swiss Germans read the free newspaper. That is 54,000 readers or almost five percent more than since the last survey in September 2006.
The three major daily newspapers, on the other hand, lost readers. Blick lost 21,000 readers (minus 2.9 per cent) and now has a readership of 694,000. The Tages-Anzeiger saw little change, with its readership falling from 551,000 to 534,000. The Mittelland Zeitung is read by 435,000 people, compared with 449,000 in the previous year. The Berner Zeitung was the only major daily newspaper to record an increase in readership, with 5,000 new readers since the last Mach Basic, giving it a readership of 395,000. It is followed by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (308,000 readers), the Neue Luzerner Zeitung (284,000), the Südostschweiz (243,000), the St. Galler Tagblatt (2140,000) and the Basler Zeitung (204,000). All of them recorded slight losses.
In French-speaking Switzerland, Le Matin remains the most widely read newspaper with 321,000 readers, followed by 24 Heures (242,000), the Tribune de Genève (169,000) and Le Temps (118,000). These newspapers have also lost ground. The free newspapers Heute, 20 Minutes and le Matin bleu, which were only launched in the last two years, are not yet included in the study. However, according to the news agency SDA, these will be published in the next few days.
Sonntagsblick remains the most popular Sunday newspaper. It made slight gains and now has more than one million readers (1,005,000). The Sonntagszeitung, on the other hand, suffered a slight decline and now reaches 785,000 people. The NZZ am Sonntag increased slightly to 466,000 readers.
The most widely read paid magazine is still KTipp with 1.012 million readers, followed by Beobachter and Schweizer Illustrierte, both of which fell below the one million mark with 998,000 readers each. Weltwochen, which is still read by 378,000 Swiss, also lost ground.
The weekly free newspapers from Coop and Migros remain the largest publications. The Coop newspaper is clearly in the lead with 2.63 million readers. The Migros magazine follows with just under 2.3 million readers.
The latest survey is based on a survey of 24,133 people, around 17,400 of whom live in German-speaking Switzerland.

 "We are convinced that the solution to many of society's problems lies within the family," writes Editor-in-Chief Balz Hosang in the editorial of the Beobachter, which will be published in a new layout for the first time on March 30. The most noticeable change is a new and independent family section with reports on education, school, consumption, health and leisure on twelve pages each. The new section is funded in line with proven "Beo" practice, with the editorial team researching stories on the one hand and cases from the advice service being taken up and dealt with editorially on the other. The range of topics is broad. For example, the first issue deals with how an elementary school in Wil in the canton of St. Gallen is already practising the school of tomorrow, when parents really annoy their children, how to talk to children about their private parts, that many children walk in shoes that are too tight and so on. The concept is not intended to compete with the family magazine Wir Eltern, explains publishing director Roland Wahrenberger. "We want to give an existing target group more content and, of course, attract new readers." Wahrenberger estimates that the positive family environment should also interest the advertising market. You can find out how the change will inspire a generally younger audience and the extent to which reporting is to be expanded in the current print edition (no. 12) of Werbewoche.
 
 
René Worni

 
Since the relaunch, the website of the company Ebi-Pharm shines in a refreshing green. The company supplies pharmacies, doctors and therapists with preparations from a wide range of complementary medicine therapies. The Bern-based cross-media agency Maxomedia is responsible for the polished design and the redesign of the website. The website now has several new features such as Flash navigation, interchangeable mood images and a mini-slideshow. In addition, the password-protected specialist area has been expanded. On the contact platform, a Swiss map now makes it easier for registered users to search for pharmacies, drugstores, therapists and naturopaths.

 A motivational campaign developed by Wunderman Zurich is designed to encourage more sales of Microsoft's DB Professional. For once, Microsoft is not targeting customers with this campaign, but the database software sellers. The mailing encourages them to promote the new Visual Studio for DB Pros in addition to the old SQL product. Wunderman decided to focus on the profit curve. With an elastic profit curve, the mailing dramatizes the advantage of a package sale. When the mailing is closed, the seller sees the profit curve that he is familiar with from his usual trading with SQL Server. As soon as they open the mailing, they not only see the two interlocking DB products, but also the correspondingly steeper profit curve.

 Once again this year, the television magazine Tele will be awarding trophies in the three categories "Audience Award", "Television Award" and "Film Award". The award ceremony will take place on May 4, 2007 at the Casinotheater Winterthur. Reto Brennwald (Rundschau), Andrea Jansen (Music Star), Patrick Rohr (Quer), SF sports presenter Rainer Maria Salzgeber and Mona Vetsch (SF spezial, Quer, Einfach luxuriös) are nominated for the "Audience Award". The successor to last year's winner Sven Epiney will be chosen by Tele readers via telephone, SMS or postcard. Those who vote have the chance to win prizes worth over 20,000 francs. The nominees in the "Television Award" category are SF Creative Director Alex Hefter, the people program "Glanz & Gloria" and "Sportpanorama". The successor to last year's winner "Reporter" (SF) will be chosen by the Tele jury. The nominees for the "Film Award" are screenwriter Güzin Kar (Alles bleibt anders), actor Hanspeter Müller-Drossaart (Grounding, Cannabis) and director Fredi M. Murer (Vitus). Who follows last year's winner, director Michael Steiner, will also be decided by the Tele jury.

 Planetactive has developed a comprehensive e-mail marketing concept for Migros.ch. The Zurich-based full-service agency for digital marketing implemented the measures in January. Interested users can register for one or more newsletters at Migros.ch, which are intended to bring the world of Migros to their homes. There are currently three different formats to choose from, as Planetactive writes in a press release. The offer newsletter is published weekly and presents a selection of current promotions, offers and new products every Monday. Every two weeks, subscribers receive information on current or seasonal topics. The third format, which provides information about new, limited-time products, is also published every two weeks. The Zurich agency is responsible for the concept, design and editorial support for all three formats and the associated microsite.

 This year, graphic design is very strongly represented in the 2007 Federal Design Competition. Almost half of the prizes went to designers who impressed with their graphic design achievements, as can be seen from the press release issued by the Federal Office of Culture. 206 designers entered the competition. Under the chairmanship of Lorette Coen, the commission awarded prizes to 25 works and projects by 31 designers. The winners can choose between a cash prize worth CHF 20,000, a six-month internship or a studio residency abroad. From October 16, the winning works and projects will be exhibited at the Musée de design et d'arts contemporains in Lausanne. A publication will also be published at this time, presenting both the prize-winning works and the award-winning designers in detail in text and images.

 Wemf Director Marco Bernasconi has been in office for less than 30 days and already he has to intervene to clarify matters. On March 27, the French-speaking Swiss commuter newspapers 20 minutes and Matin bleu communicated readership figures "that are not always based on Wemf figures", he announced. This is surprising, as both titles are not yet included in Mach Basic 2007-1, which was published on the same day. However, Wemf had conducted an extra study in French-speaking Switzerland from April to December 2006 using 4206 interviews, which the two publishers were also allowed to publish on March 27. Obviously incorrect. The figures now published by Wemf itself are 309,000 readers for Matin Bleu, which was launched on October 31, 2005, and 241,000 readers for 20 minutes, which was launched on March 8, 2006. "The results for both titles are comparable on a one-to-one basis", Wemf states.
Ringier's free newspaper Heute has also commissioned its readership figures. In German-speaking Switzerland, the paper reached 211,000 readers. This roughly corresponds to the reach of the St. Galler Tagblatt (214,000) or the Basler Zeitung (204,000). 20 Minuten, Switzerland's largest free newspaper, has 1,170,000 readers.