Customers pay just CHF 5 per month for digital television. However, the signal is distributed via the Internet and not via a cable connection. A so-called Internet broadband subscription is therefore mandatory, concludes the NZZ am Sonntag. The subscription costs an additional CHF 55. This means that the Offer the competition is not decisive.

Competition law concerns

Swisscom's actions have been met with criticism in the telecommunications industry. As the NZZ am Sonntag writes, competition law concerns are being voiced behind closed doors:

Swisscom's telecommunications services are developed and marketed via its subsidiary Wingo. Swisscom has a price-sensitive clientele on its network that does not belong to the target group of the number one in the telecommunications market. In addition, Wingo already sells the broadband Internet it obtains from its parent company to Migros. The conditions under which Wingo sells its offer to third-party customers are not known. And if Wingo's offer does not deliver what was promised, Swisscom will not suffer any damage to its image.

Competitors such as Sunrise and VTX also have TV offerings. They buy the unbundled broadband connection directly from Swisscom at a regulated price and develop their own TV products. This has taken years.

According to NZZ am Sonntag, Swisscom spokesman Olaf Schulze dispels the competition law concerns of the competition: "Wingo purchases the preliminary services at the same prices as all other providers." (uma/NZZ am Sonntag)

 

Mengis ran Mengis Druck und Verlag for 37 years, as well as managing Rotten Verlag and co-founding Radio Rottu. He is survived by four daughters. (SDA)
 

No woman can apply make-up in 8 seconds. But one woman can, because she's clever enough to do it and looks good doing it. This is how Microsoft communicates in a short film for Windwos 8 and tops it all off with the slogan "Beautiful and fast".

Not meant so badly? Isn't it a compliment for a woman to be compared to Windows 8, the "beautiful AND fast technology"? A woman feels unjustly insulted here, it's just advertising, and funny too? Well then, cheers to Microsoft! Here's to computers growing breasts soon. (uma)
 

Last year, telecoms market leader Swisscom massively expanded its position in direct-to-home sports broadcasting and has now achieved a monopoly position. Cinetrade was 49 percent owned by Swisscom at the time and has been majority-owned by Swisscom since the beginning of May. Among other things, the cinema and pay-TV group bought the broadcasting and marketing rights for the top two leagues of the Swiss football championship for at least CHF 140 million.

It also holds the rights to the ice hockey championship matches. The cable network operators were left behind. Their association Swisscable had also bid for the rights together with SRG.

Since April, the Competition Commission has been investigating whether Swisscom is abusing its position (Werbewoche.ch reported). However, the investigation will take a lot of time, Swisscable wrote in a press release on Sunday. As the Sonntagszeitung also reported, Swisscable considers the matter to be urgent for the cable network industry.

Until the ComCo has concluded its investigation, Swisscom will continue to profit, it is said. Three members of Swisscable have therefore submitted an application to the Competition Commission for the adoption of precautionary measures. They are demanding immediate access to content such as the "Teleclub Sport 4-29" and "Teleclub Live Sport" channels.

Criticism of the Federal Council

No more time should be allowed to pass: "This matter is very urgent for the cable networks," Claudia Bolla-Vincenz, Managing Director of Swisscable, was quoted as saying in the communiqué. "Competition is intense in digital television. Those who can offer attractive sports content also have an advantage," she said. Swisscable also doubts the Federal Council's desire to take a critical look at the role of Swisscom, which is majority-controlled by the federal government, in the market. "The leading market position in all business areas in 2012 is positive for the Confederation because it means that dividends flow abundantly," it said. (SDA)
 

Affected by the outsourcing are 2.4 jobs each in the German and French service. This writes La Liberté according to Schweiz am Sonntag. In this way, the SDA is saving money. SDA editor-in-chief Bernard Maissen explains, "Due to the night supplement, 7 night shifts correspond to about 10 day shifts." In this way, the workload per language service can be reduced from 2.4 to 1.6 positions.

However, there is another reason for the outsourcing. According to Maissen, the night shift is not very popular with employees. The 3.2 jobs newly located in Australia are to be divided among four people. According to Schweiz am Sonntag, SDA advertised the positions internally just over a week ago.

The agency won the contract to redesign the website as part of a pitch and was able to launch the result for the Baselworld international watch and jewelry fair. It was programmed based on TYPO3 with a web design that adapts to different end devices and has been optimized for Retina screens, as the agency writes in a press release. The 7-language website conveys the tradition and innovative strength of the family business, an interactive timeline shows the company's milestones and technical details of the movement developed in-house can be viewed.

The Patravi, Manero, Adamavi and Alacria collections are presented on the site. This is intended to provide a detailed insight into the characteristics of the watches. A filtered map shows the nearest Carl F. Bucherer sales and service outlets.

Responsible at Future Connection: Julian Karrer (consulting), Saskia Böhm (design), Gregory Plüss (frontend), Kilian Hann (TYPO3). Responsible at Carl F. Bucherer: Marinette Haldemann (Executive Vice President Marketing), Martin Troxler (New Media Manager).

 

The new Digital Advertising & Services division, which is part of the Digital division, focuses on the following four areas at Tamedia:
1. ensuring a common strategy in the digital advertising market,
2. centralized provision of digital advertising services such as ad operations,
3. evaluation, implementation and operation of necessary technologies such as ad servers or RTA systems and
4. marketing of cross-title products such as performance, targeting or pool products and the best possible monetization of advertising space not sold directly by the company's own titles.

Stephan Obwegeser* 

WW: When it comes to automated trading, or real-time advertising (RTA), Tamedia has so far been reluctant or even dismissive. What is your stance on this and when will something happen?
Stephan Obwegeser: Real-time advertising is a topic that we are looking into and are generally open to. For us, it is crucial to have control over our inventory and transparency about our customers on digital trading platforms and marketplaces. We do not blindly place our advertising inventory in any networks where it is not clear who is buying what and at what price. We want to know what price our customers ultimately pay for their presence on our platforms. And we want to know who our customers are. From today's perspective, the private exchange approach seems to make sense to us. To this end, we are seeking and exchanging ideas with the relevant market participants. In my view, it makes sense to find the broadest possible consensus in the Swiss market as to where and how which volumes are traded. We need to ensure that we meet in the same marketplace, because a transparent market can only be created if supply and demand meet in the same marketplace!

Publishers in France are already working successfully with private exchange platforms, and media companies in Denmark have also recently organized themselves in this way. The experience of PPN, a similar initiative that is now only supported by Tamedia, does not bode well for joint solutions in the Swiss market.
There are certainly examples of well-functioning joint solutions in the Swiss market. Take IG SwissAdServer, for example - here, many publishers have decided to work with the same ad server solution. As a result, measurement differences in delivered advertising media have been significantly minimized. Or online research. Together we agreed on Net Metrix as the official institution for the certification of online reach. With regard to private exchange platforms and the topic of RTA/RTB, the starting position is similar. And I am sure that we are in agreement with other publishers on the relevant points and that the signs are therefore good for a joint market solution. The question is what is possible with such systems and what individual requirements publishers have in terms of transparency, pricing, etc. I think that there is still far too little understanding in the market of what is actually possible. If someone simply wants the cheapest traffic, different rules will apply than if a customer is looking for a certain reach or a targeting offer. We don't want to sell our inventory below value or find ourselves in a market in a few years' time whose rules we don't want to play by.

This is a concern often voiced by publishers, that they then sell below the value. But nothing is sold below the specified floor price...
...yes, exactly. Being able to set a minimum price, for example, is one of the requirements we have.

So if there is no trust in the providers that they will undercut an agreed minimum price. If you can trust them, then everything is fine...
...no. We have no interest in creating a market in Switzerland in which an extremely large number of beneficiaries are involved in the value chain and draw margins from non-transparent services and business models.

Is this really your problem or is it not rather the problem of the advertisers who pay for it in the end?
This is one of the problems. Although customers pay a premium price, this does not end up with the publishers, who have to use it to finance their sites, but with some intermediary. Another problem is the complexity, which increases with every additional intermediate step. Digital advertising is already challenging enough for advertisers and agencies. Our claim must be that the services we offer directly to our clients and agencies are so good and efficient that there is no need for another intermediary in between. Then, even if the end customer price is in line with the market, the publisher retains a sufficient margin - in contrast to bookings from blind networks and trading platforms.

A private exchange supported by the media companies would make all the difference here...
I am convinced of that!

When will there be a discussion about this?
We are already actively discussing this with various market participants. The central question is what the expectations of clients, agencies and publishers are. I have noticed today, and I am not excluding us as Tamedia, that many different opinions are held, that there is a lot of discussion, but that very few people have dealt with this in concrete terms. Can I set a floor price? And if I set it, am I still competitive? What can I set? Can I see the client behind a booking or do I, as the client, know where my advertising will be delivered? What is the difference between a private exchange and an open bidding platform? What targeting options can I offer? What does the market demand? What transparency should there be and what not? This requires a lot of educational work.

And here in Zurich, as with PPN, it will be the other two big media houses that will either join in or not and it will either work or not...
The advertising market is huge. Of course Tamedia, Ringier and NZZ have large volumes, but there are not just these three providers. There are many networks, some of which can also be used to buy volumes from other large media companies. I doubt that all publishers are aware of where and at what price their inventory is already available today. However, they all have a common interest in marketing their inventory in the best possible and most efficient way.

From Tamedia's point of view: Who is the biggest competitor in digital advertising sales?
We are in the midst of change. In the past, it was other publishers or other websites with the corresponding reach. Today, we have network providers and marketers who buy inventory cheaply, re-bundle it and offer it as their own products at higher prices.

What market share does Tamedia have in digital advertising in the Swiss market?
It's difficult to say, as there are no figures on the advertising market inventory, only on the reach of the relevant platforms. If you look at the reach of the Tamedia portfolio, we reach around 75 percent of all Swiss Internet users. I estimate that this corresponds to around 10 to 20 percent of the Swiss advertising inventory.

...and of the volume sold?
These two figures are quite close to each other, as we commercially exploit practically all of our advertising inventory for all of our titles. The question is: how much is sold and at what price? I would venture to say that in Switzerland, a maximum of 30 percent of the available inventory is sold as premium products with a CPM of more than ten francs. The rest disappears today at much lower prices in remnant networks - and there premium inventory is sold at the same conditions as the inventory of the cheapest spider platforms.

Where do you stand today with PPN?
The Premium Publishers Network PPN was launched just over a year ago and has established itself well as a marketer of performance and targeting advertising in the premium environment. Tamedia plans to take over PPN's activities and merge them with the Digital Advertising & Services division, thereby continuing to consistently implement its strategy of marketing its own products. The entire marketing of the inventory not sold by the titles as well as Tamedia's network, targeting and performance offerings will be managed by this team. The existing product portfolio will remain on the market until the end of the year. During the second half of 2013, we will define the product portfolios with which we will start 2014.

How exactly will it be continued? Are NZZ and Ringier still involved in the reach?
That is still open. We are holding constructive talks about whether and in what form certain joint products should be offered in future, and would of course be delighted to continue to have NZZ and Ringier on board. However, it is clear to us that we will only offer exclusive products in this container. In concrete terms, this means that PPN products cannot be purchased anywhere else except, of course, from the media themselves. In other words, self-marketing. Marketing via other networks is therefore excluded. This enables us to ensure clear framework conditions and create transparency regarding price, market, providers and clients in the interests of our customers, but also in our own interests.

This claim to exclusivity was the stumbling block why NZZ and Ringier have now left the sponsorship?
Correct. NZZ and Ringier have decided to have their inventory, which is not sold directly, marketed via several networks. In principle, we are open to including other partners in the PPN network. We are in active talks with Ringier and NZZ - because we are already in agreement regarding exclusivity in the area of performance advertising. All marketing in this area is already carried out via PPN, and there is no reason why this should not continue.

It won't be so easy for other potential partners to guarantee exclusivity either. Is that even a viable model?
I do believe that this is a viable model. I am a firm advocate of self-marketing. If you think along the same lines, you've come to the right place. This could be publishers or operators of regional information or special interest platforms, for example, who already have their own sales organization but cannot sell their entire inventory directly.

When it comes to digital advertising today, there are three aspects that can lead to a loss of traffic and therefore revenue: the paywall, mobile, which is difficult to monetize today, and SRG. Which one is the worst?
The biggest challenge for me is SRG; I see paywall and mobile as opportunities!

And why is the SRG so bad?
Fortunately, the Federal Council has decided that SRG cannot also market its digital offerings. In my view, this would have clearly led to a distortion of the market.

What potential would SRG have in the digital advertising market?
A difficult question, but the range and therefore the potential are considerable.

Can a paywall also be an obstacle for the advertising market?
At best, the paywall can be a threat to the advertising market. However, experience from foreign markets shows that the drop in traffic following the introduction of a paywall is rather modest. The question for media companies is whether paid content can be an alternative to advertising. However, this does not even have to be the crucial question. In all other familiar media, paid content goes hand in hand with advertising - just think of your daily newspaper or your last trip to the movies.

You should have an answer to that...
My answer is of course very opportunistic. Of course, every user who is behind the paywall and no longer consumes advertising (assuming they actually don't) is no longer attractive to the advertising market. But this is not a negative impact for the publisher. Let's do it well and set the paywall in such a way that it more than compensates for the loss of advertising. That must be the idea. The paywall can't be set in such a way that we end up earning less than if we had refinanced its use through advertising. In the case of the Tages-Anzeiger, Tamedia has opted for a so-called metered paywall, which is used depending on usage by an individual reader. This model allows for both paid content and ad-financed areas.

...but you will lose reach.
At best, this reduces the available inventory, i.e. the ad impressions. But certainly not reach, i.e. people who can potentially be reached on our media. The reach therefore remains the same - and that is the most important indicator for me. We also believe that well-designed, intelligent and targeted advertising will definitely be accepted within a paywall. If the paywall works, it can be refinanced via paid content, advertising or a combination of both.

There is some hope there. But things are looking less positive for mobile. More and more traffic is coming from mobile, and it's hard to achieve much with conventional forms of advertising. Where do you see opportunities there?
I am convinced that mobile has the potential to be at least as attractive for the advertising market as desktop is today. And it can be even more attractive. I also believe that today's formats are not yet optimal - the development of devices and screen sizes has been too fast. The formats commonly used in mobile advertising today tend to be too disruptive, too small or difficult to access. In addition, too many messages are often still packed into mobile advertising media or landing pages are not made suitable for mobile devices.

So what do you have to do with Mobile?
...bring other formats...

A big word spoken calmly.
Yes, I am firmly convinced that this is the solution for the mobile advertising market.

...it should be. But the concrete design is not yet in sight. Will Tamedia show the world how to deal with mobile?
It would probably be a little too ambitious to want to present the world with the holy mobile grail. But we will introduce mobile formats that are attractive to both the advertising market and the user. Then the advertising market will also reflect the shift in usage! The past has shown that the Swiss market also allows innovation independently of foreign markets. At 20 Minuten Online, for example, we succeeded in introducing a new online format with the Monsterboard, which later became the standard and is now one of the highest-volume products on the market.

How are these formats created? Is there a previously unknown, highly innovative development team at work at Tamedia?
There are clever minds, and there are ideas that simply cannot be implemented today because the exchange, the platform or the driving force does not exist. I see it as my job to bring together the clever minds inside and outside Tamedia to find the right solutions. But my team is not alone either: 20 Minuten Online, Newsnet and the Search.ch team are also working on further developing this market and testing out new formats and campaigns.

When will we get to see something?
2014 will be very different from 2013.

Interview: Christoph J. Walther

*Stephan Obwegeser (38) has headed the new Digital Advertising and Services division at Tamedia since April. He was previously Managing Director of the Tamedia subsidiary Search.ch and Publishing Director of 20 Minuten Online and Head of Online Development at Tamedia. He is Co-President of IAB Switzerland.
 

The UBI had criticized this as inappropriate because women were clearly in the minority. The topic of the program was the popular initiative "For an unconditional basic income", for which signatures are currently being collected. The UBI subsequently received a complaint pointing out the inadequate representation of women in the program. According to the complainants, this did not reflect the views of women. The choice of panelists gave the impression that it was a political initiative that primarily concerned men.

In its response, the UBI stated that women were indeed clearly in the minority in the contested program. However, this alone was not a violation of broadcasting law, as there was no quota regulation. However, the discussion was too "narrow". Those aspects of the initiative that primarily affect the female population were only discussed in passing. The UBI ultimately upheld the complaint. The program had violated the principle of fairness.

SRG is now defending itself against this interpretation. It has referred the decision to the Federal Supreme Court. SRG spokesperson Daniel Steiner confirmed a corresponding report by the online media magazine "Infosperber" on Friday at the request of SDA.

The UBI is an extra-parliamentary commission of the Swiss Confederation. It consists of nine part-time employees. Last year, the commission dealt with 20 complaints against radio and television broadcasts, four of which were upheld. (SDA)

(Teaser image: Keystone)

 

It sheds light on important media companies and the historical developments in the Swiss media landscape (the founding of the SRG, private radio and TV stations, the disappearance of the party-affiliated press, the emergence of free media, the changing ownership structure). 

In addition, the social demands on the media and the relationship of media companies to politics, business and the public are addressed (e.g. the regulation of the media by the Federal Radio and Television Act, RTVA). Attention is also paid to the special features of the Swiss media system (small state, multilingualism, small advertising market) and the similarities with other media markets (in the Scandinavian countries, the press enjoys at least as high a status as in Switzerland).

The book is divided into 15 independent chapters. Each is introduced with a quotation and a box that provides important information or raises questions (e.g. whether the idea that Switzerland is a newspaper country and a land of television grouches is still true). The chapters end with a conclusion summarizing the most important results (the prejudice that Switzerland is a newspaper nation is still true). This structure and the short summaries make the sections pleasant to read. Less reader-friendly, however, are - at least some - of the black-and-white graphics. The categories, which are marked by different shades of gray, are difficult to distinguish, making orientation difficult. Hatching or something similar would have solved this problem.

The 373-page book is based on academic terminology, but the author does not rely on academic literature, but also quotes journalistic texts. In addition to media scholars and students, the book is also aimed at media professionals in journalism, PR and advertising as well as media consumers in general who are interested in the Swiss media system.

The author found out for himself that the media landscape is constantly changing: During the writing process, constant adjustments had to be made, as he lets readers know in the foreword. The non-fiction book therefore remains a snapshot, as the example of the now merged Sunday titles Der Sonntag and Südostschweiz am Sonntag shows.

In his closing remarks, the author points out current challenges that are also being discussed elsewhere. He states: "One of the biggest problems in the medium term is likely to be the financing of journalism and maintaining well-staffed editorial teams that continuously produce a variety of high-quality content." However, the continued great interest of media users in journalistic content and the establishment of new journalistic online portals give reason to hope that the potential for innovation in journalism exists and that there is a demand for such content. (imp)

Künzler, Matthias (2013): Mediensystem Schweiz. Constance and Munich: UVK-Verlag.

Matthias Künzler is a senior assistant at the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research (IPMZ) at the University of Zurich. He has been Managing Director of the "Media & Politics" department since 2011.

 

Let's take a test: What kind of chocolate do you like to eat? Milk chocolate or dark chocolate, bars, sticks or truffles? I prefer to eat pralines, a lot of them and preferably light or white. All right, I'm a city dweller from German-speaking Switzerland. Do you prefer to eat Munzli or similar sticks, but only from time to time? Then you probably live in the country. After all, people there sometimes need a quick supply of energy via sticks or bars, for example for the harvest or before milking. Or when "Bauer sucht Frau" is being filmed. Do you eat only dark chocolate - and regularly between 4 and 5 p.m. in good company? Then you are probably a man, come from the Welschland and earn well. Humbug? No, a new study. 

André Hefti, head of marketing at luxury brand Maison Cailler, is responsible for the chocolate oracle. He recently had the chocolate consumption of the Swiss people investigated. It came to light, for example, that more chocolate is eaten in urban areas than in the countryside and that truffles and pralines are more popular than bars and sticks. The explanation: in the city, eating chocolate is primarily about enjoyment, while in the countryside it's about supplying quick energy. I see. (I always thought farmers drank a glass of milk for that purpose?!) And the darker the chocolate consumed, the more educated and wealthy the eaters. Because dark chocolate is more valuable than milk chocolate, and you are only what you eat. In this case, status goes through the stomach. What all Swiss people have in common: With 12 kilograms of chocolate per capita and year, they are the world champions in eating chocolate.

Treacherous pleasure

The popular saying goes that you can see the character and attitude of the wearer by his or her shoes. And by a man's nose you can tell his ... - well, let's not go there. But in any case, in the future you should pay attention to how your counterpart eats which chocolate and when, especially if you want to close a deal with him. Because it doesn't get much more treacherous than that. If you want to get somewhere, always have a selection of bars, stängeli and truffles in your handbag. You can pull them out and offer them at any time in order to be able to assess your conversation partners and potential clients. In an emergency, you might even be able to convince a ticket inspector not to fine you. Corresponding chocolate kits will soon be available from Maison Cailler.

With all the opportunities that open up thanks to Schoggi, the study has confused me; I'm looking for clarification for the following circumstance: My husband likes to eat dark chocolate with orange pieces, alternatively champagne truffles. Urban or rural? Rich or poor? Educated or tubby? Too short-sighted: because HIS consumption of chocolate reveals a lot about ME. After all, my husband likes to eat these types of chocolate - but he never gets them, because I'm faster! Color, shape and additions do not matter, the main thing is that it is chocolate. As far as I'm concerned, the Schoggi-Kit diagnosis wouldn't be so clear-cut, because I'd eat the whole kit right away and leave the chocolate psychologist baffled. There's only one thing he'd know right away: she's an addict!

* Note: At the time of writing this column, about four children's bars and several rows of dark to light chocolate have disappeared from our refrigerator. Pralines, unfortunately, were already out.
 

At the same time, TVO is starting seven-day operation in the news area. The new TVO will start on Monday, May 13, 2013, and five new full-time positions have been created for the new concept, as the regional broadcaster announced on Friday. At the start, the presenting team will include Tom Bächle, Anita Cassese, Claudia Eggenberger, Linda Fäh, Daniel Sager and Natascha Verardo.

After the Federal Administrative Court awarded TVO the license in the last instance last August, the way is finally clear for the implementation of the new program concept, according to the press release. "This step was long overdue. Eastern Switzerland deserves modern regional television," comments TVO Managing Director André Moesch on the modernization.

TVO has invested in and expanded all areas for the new program concept: The previous control and broadcasting technology has been replaced by a modern broadcasting system. According to the press release, this brings a significant increase in technical efficiency. The entire look of the station is also new: a freshly designed studio and new signage are also intended to show the change on the outside.

To mark the launch of its new program, TVO has also completely revamped its website. Now available under Tvo-online.ch the entire program as well as individual contributions via live stream or as video-on-demand. TVO can therefore also be received via computer, tablet or cell phone in future. Older contributions can also be called up at any time using a keyword search.

The "60 Minuten" moderation team: Tom Bächle, Anita Cassese, Dani Sager (from left, front row), Linda Fäh, Andrea Huser, Claudia Eggenberger, Natascha Verardo (back row).

 

About two months ago, young filmmaker Dennis Ledergerber premiered his film "Himmelfahrtskommando " in Swiss cinemas. He managed to cast actors such as Walter Andreas Müller, Beat Schlatter, Andrea Zogg and Isabelle Flachsmann in the main roles for the low-cost production. Now he was already behind the camera again, namely for the first cinema spot of the tattoo studios of Skin Deep Art St. Gallen and Bern. 

Since TV shows like "Miami Ink" or the iconic "Ink Master," tattoos have become socially acceptable. In the meantime, almost 40 percent of Swiss people between 18 and 35 have tattoos. Of these, 60 percent are women and 40 percent men. Such a market naturally attracts all kinds of tattoo artists - and in the same breath, piercers. In the Swiss capital, for example, there are now about 100 studios. In addition, there are at least as many backyard tattoo artists who are not quite as serious about hygiene, quality and proper business management.

What can happen if you have your desired motif engraved or pierced by a random tattoo artist/piercer is shown in the spot created by the agency at the airport for the Skin Deep Art studio in Bern. This is a branch of the tattoo and piercing studio, which has been based in St. Gallen for 11 years and has around 16 employees. The spot gets under the skin and makes it clear: tattooing and piercing remain a matter of trust. Micha, who runs the Bern studio, has been known in the scene for some time. He was a founding member of the European Association for Professional Piercing www.eapp.eu and of the Association for Information, Training and Public Relations for Members of the Tattoo Industry www. orotattoo.org.

Wishes for tattoos are as diverse as there are different people. Old School, New School, Japanese, Maori, Realistic or Fine Line? No matter which style you prefer, at Skin Deep Art you will find the specialist for it. (pan)