The jury of the Swiss Advertising Efficiency Award (Effie) has honored Advico Young & Rubicam (AY&R) and Exxtra Kommunikation with more than a fifth of the 49 awards and diplomas presented. The award-winning work includes campaigns for brands such as Migros, Ovomaltine, Perskindol and UBS, as well as newly launched brands such as GE Money Bank and campaigns for the non-profit organization Bread for All/Fastenopfer. AY&R and Exxtra have already been among the top 4 creative agencies in Switzerland at the Art Directors Club Awards, tripling their number of awards compared to the previous year.

After the St. Galler Tagblatt AG took over Ostjob.ch, the largest job platform in Eastern Switzerland, retroactively as of January 1, 2006, it is now also expanding its real estate business. As of Tuesday, a real estate platform Osthome.ch will supplement the daily newspaper's print offerings. Together with the company Publiconnect, this sub-section has been technically redeveloped. The platform has also been supplemented with various real estate services. Visually, the new Ostjob.ch and Osthome.ch word and figurative marks underline the affiliation and enable efficient communication of the new Tagblatt services.

The new editions of the MACH Basic and MACH Consumer 2006-1 studies, which are available as of today, will now be published every six months in March and September. This means that publishers and the advertising industry now have access to up-to-date usage data on print media and cinemas in Switzerland every six months. According to a Wemf press release, the timeliness of data on media usage and readers' consumption habits is becoming increasingly important, particularly in the fast-moving and competitive advertising market. The new publication rhythm allows publishers and the advertising industry to react more quickly to changes in the reader and advertising market. The principle of rolling publication was chosen in order to do justice to the new rhythm. The sample continues to consist of twelve months, with the six old months being replaced by six new months for the latest study. In addition to current usage data on print media and cinemas, MACH Basic also provides descriptions and quantifications of the various Swiss readerships, which are determined by measuring reach. The media values of the study are comparable with those of the previous year. MACH Consumer makes consumer target groups transparent and links consumer behavior with the media use of the Swiss and shows what the various target groups consume. The media values of MACH Consumer have been adjusted to the values of MACH Basic so that the reach of both studies match. Reach comparisons with previous editions are possible.

The latest reader research figures from Werbemedienforschung (Wemf) show that readers of the major Swiss newspapers are loyal to their papers. Only the free newspaper 20 Minuten, which exceeded the million mark for the first time last year, has made significant gains. The commuter newspaper is read by 1.039 million people every day, an increase of 91,000 readers. 20 Minuten has also steadily increased its circulation since its launch at the end of 1999. Most recently, an edition for the St. Gallen region was launched last summer. In 2003 and 2004, 20 Minuten overtook Blick, the daily newspaper with the highest readership up to that point. The latter suffered losses, but was able to stabilize its readership figures again after losing 19,000 readers. According to Wemf, Blick even recorded an increase with 727,000 readers in German-speaking Switzerland (French-speaking Switzerland 14,000, Ticino 9,000), although this is within the statistical margin of error. With a circulation of 262,262, Blick is read by almost three people on average. The ranking of the most popular newspapers remains unchanged: 20 Minuten and Blick are followed in third place by the Tages-Anzeiger with 576,000 readers per circulation. The Berner Zeitung (403,000), the Mittelland Zeitung (391,000), the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (330,000), the Neue Luzerner Zeitung (297,000), the Südostschweiz (255,000), the St. Galler Tagblatt (223,000) and the Basler Zeitung (210,000) follow in fourth to ninth place in terms of readership. In French-speaking Switzerland, Le Matin remains the most-read newspaper with 363,000 readers, followed by 24 Heures (273,000) and La Tribune de Genève (177,000). In Ticino, Corriere del Ticino leads the ranking of the most-read newspapers with 121,000 readers. In the Sunday newspapers segment, Sonntagsblick continues to lead with 998,000 readers, followed by Sonntagszeitung with 824,000 and NZZ am Sonntag with 466,000 readers. In French-speaking Switzerland, Matin dimanche is the most popular Sunday newspaper with 606,000 readers, while in Ticino Il Caffè de la Domenica is in the lead with 120,000 readers. The Coop-Zeitung (2.661 million) and Migros-Magazin (2.358 million) lead the category of highly-read magazines, followed by the most-read paid-for magazine K-Tip (1.103 million), Beobachter (1.071 million), Facts (439,000) and Weltwoche (419,000).
The Wemf survey is based on a survey of 10,673 people between October 2004 and September 2005. Wemf publishes its readership figures for the first time in March and will now publish current readership research data in half-yearly publications, each covering six months.

According to the figures published on Tuesday by Wemf's AIS Advertising Index Switzerland, advertising sales (excluding online advertising) fell by 1.4% year-on-year to CHF 256 million. The following sectors recorded significantly higher advertising expenditure: Tobacco products (+57.8 percent), watches/jewelry (+30.2 percent), consumer electronics/photo/optics/hearing (+22.3 percent), office/IT (+19.3 percent), transport (+16.9 percent) and media (+15.8 percent). The following sectors invested less: Cosmetics/personal care (-24.6 percent), pharmaceuticals/health (-23.9 percent), clothing/shoes (-21.2 percent), tourism/leisure (-17.2 percent), telecommunications/Internet (-15.1 percent), retail (-14.2 percent) and services (-13.6 percent). All other sectors' investments were 10 percent above or below the advertising expenditure of the same month in the previous year, and data for the new advertising medium AdScreen is now also available in the AIS Advertising Index Switzerland. The published data shows the published gross value including freespace. The data is recorded in the same way as the online and poster data. The overview of the advertising month of February by sector and media is available free of charge at www.wemf.ch.

The Burgdorfer Blätterwald will not be getting a new addition in the form of a free newspaper. The project planned by retired Burgdorf doctor Res Zbinden and Markus Grimm, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Burgdorfer Anzeiger AG, to add the free newspaper to the Anzeiger has failed. On the one hand, the newspaper initiators had not raised enough money, and on the other hand, according to the publication law and gazette ordinance, a gazette may not contain any editorial articles, writes the Berner Zeitung. In order to realize the newspaper after all, 150,000 francs would have to be raised instead of the 37,500 francs donated by sympathizers so far. The Berner Zeitung quotes Ernst Zürcher, deputy head of the cantonal Office for Municipalities and Regional Planning (AGR), for whom a newspaper must be "politically and denominationally neutral". Readers must be able to easily recognize "that they are holding an advertisement in their hands". Conversely, according to Zürcher, it is possible to enclose an advertisement with a newspaper. Zbinden, on the other hand, wants to continue looking for ways to launch the newspaper at some point.

Presse Österreich will have a new national daily newspaper from September, according to SDA. The Viennese publisher Wolfgang Fellner wants to launch the tabloid-format paper "Österreich" with a circulation of 250,000 copies. The Sunday circulation of "Österreich" is to be 600,000, Fellner said recently in Vienna. He wanted to set an example with the name "Österreich". USA Today, one of the most successful daily newspapers in the world according to Fellner, is a great role model. With the chosen format - "Österreich" will be 20 percent larger than the high-circulation Kronenzeitung - the new paper is expected to seek a readership between "Krone" (circulation 850,000) and the Kurier (circulation 240,000).

Ringier AG will launch a free newspaper called "heute" before the summer. The new newspaper will be distributed in the afternoons in the Swiss metropolitan areas of Zurich, Basel and Berne with a circulation of 200,000 copies. On 32 pages in tabloid format, "heute" offers daily news and reports on entertainment, people and lifestyle - attractively illustrated, of course. There are also leisure tips, tips on events, a guide to going out and the TV program to appeal to the young and urban target audience in the after-work mood. The free newspaper is distributed in boxes in Basel, Berne and Zurich on weekdays from 4 pm. Colporteurs are also used. The main distribution points are SBB railroad stations and public transport stops. Today" is printed at various locations. In organizational terms, "heute" is assigned to Blick Verlag. This creates an advertising combination that offers a comprehensive advertising platform for German-speaking Switzerland. 15 members of the editorial team produce "heute", with Bernhard Weissberg as editor-in-chief. Weissberg has held various positions at Ringier since 1990 and was editor-in-chief of Sonntagsblick from 1997 to 2002. Ringier CEO Martin Werfeli will take over the management of the Newspapers division from Weissberg. As Ringier announced on Tuesday, Bernhard Weissberg will retain the journalistic management of the newspaper division and will lead the editors-in-chief of the Blick Group.
Ringier spokesman Marco Castellaneta told SDA that despite the failure of many previous evening newspaper projects in the Swiss market, Ringier is nevertheless backing an evening newspaper, citing "a change in reading behavior as a result of free newspapers". Market research has shown that there is now a need for evening newspapers.

According to the web2com index, expenditure on Swiss Internet advertising in the
February fell by 2 points compared to the previous month. The web2index is based on
on monthly surveys of expenditure on commercial advertising
national and international online platforms. It shows how
Internet advertising is developing in Switzerland.
According to the communiqué, despite the decline in advertising investments in the
February, it can be stated that the acceptance of the Internet as a medium
is getting bigger and bigger. Proof of this is, for example, the ongoing increase in
Use of Internet services. For the month of February, according to
WEMF's Net Audit for February, the use of such offers by
increased by around a third. Page impressions have increased by 35 percent.
Visits increased by 29 percent and unique clients by 32 percent.
percent.

While the NZZ am Sonntag published world literature in condensed form, the German news magazine Focus is now following suit and will be publishing its own classics library from April. The abridged versions will comprise around 24 pages and the series will consist of a total of 12 booklets. To accompany the series, the titles can be downloaded via the audio book download portal Claudio.de. According to editor-in-chief Markwort, the aim of the campaign is to stimulate the desire to read.

Tamedia is planning to launch regional editions of the Tages-Anzeiger in the home regions of the three regional daily newspapers "Zürichsee Zeitung", "Zürcher Oberländer" and "Zürcher Unterländer". The three Zurich dailies have now decided to realize the joint editorial office, which has been under discussion for some time, as Theodor Gut from Zürichsee Medien AG confirmed to Kleinreport.ch. The three newspapers will have a joint editorial team for the canton of Zurich, foreign countries, Switzerland and sport. A positive decision in principle has been made by the boards of directors. However, it has not yet been decided how large the editorial office will be and where it will be based; the details are still being worked out. As the managing director of Zürichsee Presse AG and Zürcher Unterland Medien AG, Erland Herkenrath, told SDA, the decisive factor was not cost-cutting measures, but the strengthening of the regional focus. Since the three newspapers have been produced on a joint printing press, synergy opportunities have been continuously examined. The three publishing houses already operate a joint advertising platform and have mutually adapted layouts.

Online betting and gambling are becoming increasingly popular in German-speaking countries: according to a study by the Berlin-based consultancy Goldmedia, Austrians spent an average of 177 euros per capita on online gambling last year - four times as much as the Germans (40 euros) and almost five times as much as the Swiss (36 euros). One of the reasons for this difference is the restrictive legislation in Germany and Switzerland, which leads to a migration of potential players to the gray market. Michael Schmid, analyst at Goldmedia, expects the market to triple by 2010. Parallel to this assessment, the international betting group Gamebookers.com is expanding its range of services: bets on TV ratings can now be placed with the online bookmaker.