The SRF videos deal with various scientific topics. Complex relationships are presented graphically and made understandable to viewers in a simple way in just a few minutes. The content comes from the SRF knowledge programs "Einstein" and "Puls" from SRF Kultur. It is based on in-depth specialist research and has been re-edited for public digital use. 

As part of a pilot program and in collaboration with Wikimedia CH, SRF is now making a selection of explanatory videos available for free use - a so-called Creative Commons license. Viewers and users can freely use these graphically prepared explanatory videos in compliance with the Creative Commons license. The main aim is for students, teachers and educational institutions to benefit from SRF's content and expertise in the field of knowledge for lectures or lessons. 

"'Knowledge for everyone': that's what we want to offer and the explanatory videos enable us to do just that," explains Andrea Fischli Roth, Head of the Science multimedia team at SRF Kultur. "Anyone can use and download the animations from the fields of nature, the environment, knowledge and health. And they also appear on Wikipedia and enrich the entries there on a factual level."  

Since 2020, there has been a lively exchange between the Wikimedia world and ARD and ZDF in Germany. A whole series of videos have already been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, the free online media database. In Switzerland, SRF and Wikimedia CH both took up the topic and approached each other.

The first SRF videos for free use are available on Play SRF or under Srf.ch/creativecommons available. The Creative Commons license "CC BY SA" allows content to be used in whole or in part by anyone. The source must be cited for each use.The pilot project will run until the end of July 2024. SRF will evaluate whether and in what form the project will be continued after the end of the test phase. 

In addition to the usual media performance reporting, Goldbach now offers advertisers a standardized advertising impact study for their campaigns. The "Swiss Ad Impact" service is primarily intended for branding campaigns. The study shows at a glance and across all channels (Goldbach and third-party inventory) how well the campaign has performed in terms of various advertising impact KPIs and with various target groups.

According to Goldbach, "Swiss Ad Impact" was initially tested by several customers in a beta phase. "The Swiss Ad Impact study is a valuable addition to the usual media performance reports and gives us an in-depth insight into the advertising impact of our campaign - at a glance and across all channels," comments Anita Gerber, Head of Marketing at Toyota, who was also able to test the service.

The next step is to make the study available to all customers: "Our aim is to continue to develop Swiss Ad Impact in the future and establish it as a long-term Swiss solution to supplement media performance reporting," says Sanja Ruggiero, Director Sales Management at Goldbach Audience.

Partnership with Intervista

Goldbach entered into a partnership with the market research institute Intervista in order to obtain the most meaningful and high-quality results possible. "Intervista provided us with optimal support in the development of the automated and standardized survey process with its extensive and high-quality survey panel, as well as with its great flexibility and innovative strength," says Mitja Ruggle, Head of Market Research at Goldbach and the TX Group.

In order to receive the study in addition to the usual media performance reporting, advertisers must fulfill certain requirements. These are listed on Goldbach.com listed.

The Hotelplan brand has been synonymous with high-quality beach vacations and city breaks since 1935. Since then, Hotelplan Suisse has owned various travel brands with different orientations. To give the brand a clear profile, the company has invested in a refreshed look.

New brand tonality brought to life

"With the new design, we want to carry the tradition and excellent quality of Hotelplan into the future," explains Simon Göldi, Director Marketing Hotelplan Suisse. The clearly defined yet highly flexible design system is intended to guarantee a recognizable appearance on the one hand and theme-, channel- and target group-oriented communication on the other. The first catalogs for the 2024 summer season were published in the new design at the end of December 2023. The Website of Hotelplan has also been given a fresh look as part of the redesign.

The brand identity remains central here, as this is where the understanding of the brand and thus also the connection with its appearance at all touchpoints is created.

Practice-oriented implementation

As many stakeholder groups, partners and other service providers work with the brand, implementation and anchoring are extremely important: "We involved all stakeholders in the implementation process and took their possibilities and needs into account," says Simon Göldi, Director Marketing Hotelplan Suisse.

Responsible at Hotelplan Suisse: Nicole Pfammatter (CEO), Simon Göldi (Project Lead Director Marketing), Rahel Weger (Team Leader Marketing Hotelplan), Gloria Reidenbach (Manager Publishing). Responsible at Geyst (Design): Marina Hafner (consulting), Luca Garzi, Reto Odermatt, Christian Raissig, Séverine Reich (creation).

Wherever you go on the internet, the same question pops up in one way or another: "Do you want to allow the use of cookies?" The data records that browsers store on users' computers and smartphones are a key pillar of personalized online advertising.

However, in view of government regulations and users' growing awareness of their data security, many browser providers see a so-called "cookie-less future" on the horizon. Following the actions of Apple and Firefox developer Mozilla against third-party cookies, Google also wants to push them out of its Chrome web browser this year.

The company took its first step at the beginning of the year. Since January 4, around one percent of Chrome browser users have had their access to third-party cookies restricted by default, as the company announced. Participants in the test phase were selected at random.

In the second half of the year, these cookies are then to be completely abolished - "provided that any remaining concerns of the UK competition authority have been resolved by then", Google online reports. However, the cookie banners that pop up when a page is opened will remain for the time being.

Cookies relevant for advertising

With the help of cookies, websites can recognize their visitors. For example, a browser can remember a login or the contents of a virtual shopping cart.

Above all, however, cookies make personalized advertising possible. Third-party cookies, which are not set by the visited website itself, but by embedded content from other sites, are particularly controversial. They allow advertising service providers to track users across multiple pages and create profiles for advertising purposes.

Third-party cookies allow users to be tracked "very granularly across different websites by third-party providers", says Lidia Schneck, Partner Manager at Google. With the so-called Privacy Sandbox, this should be limited in the future so that advertisers only receive very limited information about users' interests "in order to prevent the identification or recognition of a user."

Various applications have been developed together with the industry for this purpose. From the end of the year, third-party providers will no longer be able to track the individual surfing behavior of users across different websites.

Instead, the websites that a user visits are then marked with overarching advertising topics, for example - i.e. with categories such as "sport", "travel" or "pets". The browser records the user's most frequent topics, saves them locally on the end device and, if required, shares a maximum of three advertising topics with the advertising providers for the past three weeks.

The aim is to display advertising that is relevant to users without advertisers knowing which specific websites have been visited. In the Chrome settings, they can see which advertising topics have been assigned to them and make changes if necessary.

Sharp criticism from the advertising industry

The advertising industry has criticized the planned abolition of third-party cookies. This will not strengthen data protection, but rather Google's dominant position in the advertising market, says Bernd Nauen, Managing Director of the Central Association of the German Advertising Industry (ZAW). This is because Google's wealth of data is primarily based on first-party data, which Google collects for itself through user logins, its own first-party cookies or search queries.

Outside of Google services and a few other "mega platforms", users could only be shown advertising based on their presumed interests to a very limited extent if cookies were abolished, says Nauen. "Going back to spam, pop-ups and excessive banner advertising on topics that put me off rather than interest me is certainly not the solution."

According to the ZAW, the scope of the advertising industry should not be restricted by individual market-dominant platforms. Such a decision must lie with the legislator, who has also passed laws to prevent rules that are detrimental to competition from being imposed by such platforms. The competition authorities are therefore called upon more than ever. (SDA/swi)

With this tailwind, Netflix is getting serious about live entertainment: The weekly wrestling show "Raw" from the WWE league is moving to the streaming service after 30 years on linear TV.

The financial details of the deal were not disclosed - but according to information from the financial service Bloomberg, Netflix is paying five billion dollars for the WWE programs over a period of ten years.

Shift in favor of streaming

The deal makes it clear how much the balance in the TV business has shifted in favor of streaming. The US broadcasting group NBC is missing out on a reliable magnet for viewers and advertising - while sport is the most important reason for Americans to still afford an expensive cable TV subscription. The wrestling league hopes to eventually become more popular outside the US via Netflix's global base. At Netflix, co-head Ted Sarandos expects advertising dollars to follow WWE shows to his platform.

Netflix made a risky bet last year, but it seems to have paid off. Around 100 million households watched Netflix without their own subscription - using the access data of friends or relatives. When the service asked such freeloaders to pay, it could have backfired: After all, there are plenty of other streaming services to migrate to. But the Netflix program proved attractive enough for many people to pay instead.

Advertising despite subscription

The crackdown is helping to drive the growth in user numbers. The new, cheaper subscription with advertising is also playing a major role: in the twelve markets in which it is available, 40% of new customers are opting for it. Netflix is removing the only slightly more expensive basic subscription without ads in more and more countries. If you want to watch ad-free, you have to pay significantly more.

For the current quarter, Netflix predicted slower growth in the number of users than in the previous quarter. At the same time, however, potential hits such as the second season of the Korean series "Squid Game" are coming out this year, which could provide a new boost.

Quarterly sales increase by over 12 percent

Quarterly revenue rose by 12.5 percent year-on-year to just over 8.83 billion dollars, as Netflix announced after the US stock exchange closed on Tuesday. Profit amounted to 938 million dollars - compared to 55 million dollars in the same quarter last year. Investors were impressed: the share price rose by more than eight percent in after-hours trading.

Last year as a whole, Netflix made a profit of 5.4 billion dollars. This is a stark contrast to the business of many other streaming services, which are often in the red. For some competitors, such as Apple and Amazon, the actual core business generates so much money that they can easily accept streaming losses. But Disney, Paramount and NBC, as Hollywood studios and TV broadcasters, have made streaming a cornerstone of their business strategy - while cinema and traditional television are sometimes bumpy.

The Hollywood rivals tried the strategy of keeping their productions exclusively for themselves in order to make their streaming services more attractive. But this only worked to a limited extent. They are now sharing more shows with Netflix again. This led to the NBC series "Suits" becoming another streaming hit several years after it ended. (SDA/swi)

Understanding products as a service

How the Internet of Things is changing the manufacturing industry.

• Author: Felix Wortmann, Heiko Gebauer, Claudio Lamprecht and Elgar Fleisch
• Publisher: Campus Verlag, 2023
• Pages: 267
• ISBN: 9783593517537

Europe is the leader when it comes to hardware such as cars and machines. When it comes to software, however, the continent lags far behind the USA and China. The Internet of Things is the opportunity to catch up here, as it offers the possibility of merging products and services. But how do you turn a product into a service? What paths are there and which strategies have proven successful in the past? Four authors with both academic and practical experience provide a good overview in this book.

Reframe

The psychology of innovation.

• Author: Felix Hofmann
• Publisher: Metropolitan Verlag, 2023
• Pages: 222
• ISBN: 9783961860708

Innovation is not rocket science. It is often enough to flip a switch in your head and give situations a new meaning. Reframing is nothing else. In this illuminating, practical guide, Felix Hofmann shows how companies can systematically use reframing techniques to promote innovation. He explains tools and their mechanisms of action using numerous examples. It becomes clear time and again how important the commitment of company management is. But the book also has helpful tips for employees who want to initiate innovations.

Manual Generation Z

Attract, inspire and retain digital natives as applicants, employees and customers.

• Author: Felix Beilharz
• Publisher: GABAL, 2023
• Pages: 243
• ISBN: 9783967391541

For many, the upcoming Generation Z is difficult to understand. Those born from around 1995 onwards are indeed different. They didn't live through the time before digitalization and grew up in permanent crisis mode. That leaves its mark. But they are future employees, managers and consumers. Companies must therefore adapt to Generation Z. In his successful guide, Felix Beilharz explains how companies can win over young people.

Voice as a management tool

10 steps to more acoustic charisma.

• Author: Katrin Prüfig
• Publisher: Schäffer-Poeschel, 2022
• Pages: 156
• ISBN: 9783791056265

Charismatic personalities like Steve Jobs radiate passion, competence and self-confidence in their speeches. This can be learned, even if you are not a talented speaker, says Katrin Prüfig. In her guide, the journalist and communications trainer shows you how you can increase your acoustic charisma without coming across as artificial. Based on your natural voice, you will learn how to speak more expressively by changing pitch and volume as well as intonation and pauses. A recommendation for anyone who wants to exploit the potential of their voice.

"There is a lack of political networking on the institutional side of SRG," said the 75-year-old Walpen. He himself headed SRG from 1996 to 2010. The so-called halving initiative for a reduction in the radio and TV fee for private households from CHF 335 to CHF 200 per year poses an existential threat to SRG, said Walpen.

The SRG does not have the problem that it lacks expertise, said Walpen. "Today, however, it absolutely needs someone who is able to take the dialog and criticism seriously and stand up to it - someone who stands up to the attacks against SRG, and also opposes them."

Walpen would consider a "heavyweight" from the ranks of the SVP to be "ideal". In his opinion, it could also be someone from the FDP. In the interview, Walpen mentioned FDP party leader Thierry Burkart or Lucerne FDP member of the Council of States Damian Müller as candidates.

Walpen also criticized the current Board of Directors. "Apart from the Chairman Jean-Michel Cina, do you know of any member of the Board of Directors who has ever stepped forward and is reasonably well known in the country?" The members of the Board of Directors are "political lightweights". The regional associations are no different. "These are people who are probably reluctant to leave their comfort zone - even if, in my view, that's exactly what they're there for." The SRG's governing body needs to be reformed from the ground up.

SRG Director General Gillles Marchand, who has been in office since 2017, announced on Thursday that he would be taking early retirement by the beginning of 2025 at the latest. The media company wants to prepare itself for the media policy discussions of the coming years with a new top management team. In addition to the halving initiative, these include the negotiations on new concessions in 2027 and their decision by 2028. (SDA)

The police have many important tasks: Security, order, prevention and intervention. However, the representative function is often forgotten. The Winterthur municipal police are focusing on this for their new recruitment campaign, because police officers always wear the city's coat of arms on their chest and its values to the outside world.

The Freundliche Grüsse print and social campaign aims to convey to potential recruits that strong social and mental skills are required for the Winterthur municipal police: Such as commitment, tolerance, compassion, teamwork and experience. The campaign's messages specifically go beyond pure recruiting. The Winterthur municipal police want to convey the importance of police work and the pride they and the city take in it to the city's population.

The new image film of the Winterthur municipal police, which was conceived and realized as part of the campaign, pursues the same goal: it shows a typical day full of different tasks and missions of the corps and is also intended to be a little love letter to Winti.

The current campaign of the Winterthur city police will be shown on posters, hanging displays in buses and on meta platforms in the Winterthur region from mid-January. The image film will be used on the website, YouTube and in presentations by the city police.

Responsible at the Winterthur City Police: Sarah Paul (project management), Michael Wirz (overall responsibility). Responsible at Friendly regards: Pascal Deville, Fabian Biedermann, Samuel Textor (overall responsibility), Kevin Zysset (art direction), Julian Riegel (text / concept), Seraina Meier (graphics), Sandro Matter, Damian Del Fabbro (consulting), Alessandra Dolci (agency producing); Message Studios (film production): Damian Inderbitzin (director), Stefan Grah (DOP), Marko Ries (photography), Lukas Schaller (color grading), Tonstudio Z (sound / recording).

Back is not a valid alternative for Quickmail because it would put creditors in a worse position than bankruptcy, Erni said in an interview published on Sunday with the SonntagsZeitung.

He had been in contact with Back for over two years. Back had only ever wanted Quickpack. He also had no solution for creditors, but wanted to go through the debt restructuring moratorium so that he could get the business even cheaper, so that the creditors would be much worse off than in the case of bankruptcy.

"I don't see a future for Quickmail," said Erni. The future of parcels is also uncertain. The volume fell again in January and things will not improve in February.

The Competition Commission announced on Friday that Swiss Post would not be allowed to take over Quickmail (Werbewoche.ch reported). An in-depth examination revealed that the takeover would eliminate competition in the market for addressed bulk mail items weighing over 50 grams for business customers, according to the Competition Commission. In addition, Swiss Post would also gain a dominant position in other areas, such as the delivery of newspapers and magazines.

The Quickmail Group, with its two subsidiaries Quickmail and Quickpac, delivers letters, unaddressed items such as advertising flyers, newspapers and magazines as well as parcels throughout Switzerland. According to the company, 3000 jobs are at risk.

Erni described the Weko decision as "naive and irresponsible". The logistics company is in the process of examining possible legal action against the decision. However, it is to be feared that an appeal decision would come too late. (SDA)

Specifically, according to the National Council's Social Security and Health Committee (SGK-N), tobacco advertising should remain permitted in those newspapers and magazines that are sold by subscription and whose readership consists of at least 95 percent adults, as the parliamentary services announced on Friday. This weakening had failed in the Council of States.

According to the SGK-N, references to sales promotion and sponsorship as well as the sale of tobacco products by mobile sales staff in publicly accessible places that can be visited by minors should also not be prohibited. In this respect, the National Council committee is in line with the Council of States.

Unlike the small chamber, however, the SGK-N does not want to allow direct, personal sales promotions of cigars and cigarillos. Such promotions should only be permitted in places to which minors do not have access.

"Massive disregard for the will of the people"

The association supporting the initiative criticized these Commission decisions in a press release as a "massive disregard for the will of the people". In the vote in February 2022, the people and cantons decided that tobacco advertising, advertising for e-cigarettes and other nicotine products must not reach children and young people, the statement said.

Accordingly, the sponsors have "no understanding" for the fact that undefined exceptions for advertising and sponsorship should be permitted if minors are present. Sponsorship should simply not be permitted as long as minors are present at festivals or other events on the site. This is the only way to respect the will of the people.

The bill is to be discussed in the spring session. The plan is for the new provisions to come into force from 2026. (SDA)

They are deceptively real videos showing speeches on the podium of the World Economic Forum WEF that never actually took place. Images generated by artificial intelligence AI that spread false information about the annual meeting.

"This is an extremely relevant topic for us," said Zwinggi in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency. A risk report published by the WEF organization further underlines the problem: experts believe that misinformation will be the greatest threat to the global community over the next two years.

This so-called fake news is particularly problematic this year because around 4.2 billion people will be voting in 2024. The European elections and the election of a new US president are on the political agenda. Zwinggi said that the WEF was therefore very concerned with how democratic processes could be ensured. He also announced an initiative with media companies dedicated to the responsible use of AI.

In addition, it is all the more important to make the WEF accessible to the public because of the fake news, so that it does not come to nothing. The Open Forum - a public podium outside the congress center - was full to capacity every day. On Thursday, a group of 20 Davos residents were shown around the cordoned-off area. The presentations by the top-class speakers will be streamed live on YouTube.

Criticism of free riders

Zwinggi also criticized the countless free riders who used the WEF to advertise their companies on the Davos promenade. During a walk on Friday last week, he noticed that a World Crypto Forum was being advertised. Without further ado, he returned with a lawyer. By Sunday, this forum no longer existed. "We have to protect our trademark rights," Zwinggi emphasized.

Unfortunately, the number of free riders has returned to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels. The town of Davos normally has a population of just over 12,000. During the WEF week, this figure rises to over 40,000 people. This shows the massive parallel universe of the forum, whose guest numbers have remained constant at 2,800 people for ten years.

This is accompanied by horrendous prices for accommodation. The level this year is significantly higher than before the coronavirus pandemic. The guests of the forum receive a hotel room from the WEF organization. "We were able to negotiate good conditions for this," says Zwinggi. The high prices for apartments were generated by free riders for free riders. (SDA/ Mayka Frepp)

Political funding is subject to new transparency regulations at federal level. Budgets of CHF 50,000 or more and large donations of CHF 15,000 or more must be reported. On Friday, the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) published the definitively reported income from the 2023 federal elections and a list of the actors monitored in the course of the election campaign.

Blocher was the largest single donor

A total of 277 final invoices amounting to CHF 54.6 million were reported for the National Council elections. The largest single campaign was that of the SVP Switzerland. It cost CHF 4.6 million and included an election newspaper distributed to all households.

At CHF 12.9 million, the FDP disclosed the highest total of income subject to disclosure, ahead of the SVP with CHF 11.6 million. It was followed by the SP with CHF 7.7 million and the Center Party with CHF 6.9 million. The Greens reported total income of CHF 3.7 million and the Green Liberals CHF 3.3 million. The EPP invested CHF 1.4 million in its election campaign.

The largest single donor at national level was former Federal Councillor Christoph Blocher. The thought leader donated CHF 550,000 to "his" SVP, as can be seen from the SFAO database. Blocher made his donation known in advance.

"Reliable information"

The SFAO drew an initial positive conclusion about the new transparency regulations for political financing. Compared to the budget figures submitted, there was only a small deviation.

Before the National Council elections, 1.4 percent less revenue was declared than was subsequently reported in the final accounts. "The electorate was therefore able to rely on reliable information in the budget assumptions submitted before the ballot," said the auditors.

The SFAO carried out in-depth spot checks on 24 campaigns with a revenue volume of CHF 17.1 million. "The inspections showed a high level of willingness on the part of those inspected to cooperate and comply with the legal requirements."

The SFAO is not authorized to provide information on the result. Only if there is a legally binding criminal judgment does the SFAO include a reference to this judgment without comment in the corresponding reports in the public register.

Tiana Angelina Moser in first place

For the Council of States, only final invoices in excess of CHF 50,000 for successful campaigns are subject to disclosure. A total of CHF 6 million was reported. Campaigns in populous cantons and those with contested seats in the Council of States reported the highest amounts overall.

With income of CHF 417,000, Zurich GLP member of the Council of States Tiana Angelina Moser came out on top. She also received income from the Environmental Alliance campaign. She was followed by Pascal Broulis (FDP/VD) and Thierry Burkart (FDP/AG), who also received several hundred thousand francs for their Council of States campaign.

The surprising election success of Simon Stocker (SP/SH) is probably partly due to his expensive campaign, which cost around a quarter of a million francs. Franziska Roth (SP/SO) also invested a lot in her campaign in a comparatively small canton.

Up to 40,000 francs fine

The transparency rules applied to the National Council elections for the first time. Parliament had voted in favor of a threshold of CHF 50,000 for the disclosure obligation in the indirect counter-proposal to the withdrawn transparency initiative. In the Council of States, the transparency rules for campaigns of CHF 50,000 or more only applied to those who won the election.

The SFAO must report breaches of the disclosure obligation to the prosecution authorities. Offenders - whether individuals or organizations - risk a fine of up to CHF 40,000. (SDA)