To the point: whining industry
According to the advertising statistics of the AG für Werbemedienforschung (Wemf), print publishers in Switzerland lost a cumulative total of CHF 38.4 million in advertising revenues as of August. A shocking figure. The industry has been complaining for months.
According to the advertising statistics of the AG für Werbemedienforschung (Wemf), print publishers in Switzerland lost a cumulative total of CHF 38.4 million in advertising revenues as of August. A shocking figure. The industry has been complaining for months. People have been bemoaning the downward trend and predicting an even worse second half of the year. The mood of doom and gloom is spreading. But let's keep our feet on the ground. The daily press shows a minus of 27.5 million Swiss francs, the general-interest press a minus of 23.5 million, the Sunday press, on the other hand, was able to increase by 17.9 million, and within the daily press, the free newspapers are still in the plus.
The total decline of 38.4 million in eight months seems imposing, but in percentage terms we're talking about a drop of just three percent. A decline that is truly not dramatic. In any other industry, such a negative development would be accepted with a shrug of the shoulders. Not so in the media industry. Everywhere you hear about cost-cutting measures. People are complaining, restructuring, freezing budgets. People complain that advertisers are failing to materialize, and implore and hope for anti-cyclical advertising behavior. And what do you do yourself? They cut back on their own advertising for their own products. Whether this sends a good signal to advertisers is open to question.
But there's no need to sugarcoat things either: Subscription dailies are the losers in the battle for the advertising pie. This is only logical, because many subscribed titles have also seen their readership decline sharply in recent years. The fact that the free newspapers are the winners across the board cannot be disputed. They are well made for the needs of their target group, have an attractive young readership and are therefore interesting for advertising. And they have a different business model. It's as simple as that.
All the culturally pessimistic whining about the decline of quality journalism is of no use; the world has changed. The number of people willing to pay something for a daily newspaper will not increase in the next few years, it will continue to decline. And it would be naive to think that today's young people, once they have grown up and settled down, will suddenly mutate into buyers or subscribers of a daily newspaper. Some of them may do so, but the vast remainder will obtain their daily information elsewhere, namely free of charge. Be it in print or online.
The daily newspaper must reinvent itself so that it can reach a smaller but interesting target group in the future. One that is willing to pay a high price for orientation, background and exclusivity. Whether that price is six or ten francs remains to be seen. But such a new business model requires courage.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
The total decline of 38.4 million in eight months seems imposing, but in percentage terms we're talking about a drop of just three percent. A decline that is truly not dramatic. In any other industry, such a negative development would be accepted with a shrug of the shoulders. Not so in the media industry. Everywhere you hear about cost-cutting measures. People are complaining, restructuring, freezing budgets. People complain that advertisers are failing to materialize, and implore and hope for anti-cyclical advertising behavior. And what do you do yourself? They cut back on their own advertising for their own products. Whether this sends a good signal to advertisers is open to question.
But there's no need to sugarcoat things either: Subscription dailies are the losers in the battle for the advertising pie. This is only logical, because many subscribed titles have also seen their readership decline sharply in recent years. The fact that the free newspapers are the winners across the board cannot be disputed. They are well made for the needs of their target group, have an attractive young readership and are therefore interesting for advertising. And they have a different business model. It's as simple as that.
All the culturally pessimistic whining about the decline of quality journalism is of no use; the world has changed. The number of people willing to pay something for a daily newspaper will not increase in the next few years, it will continue to decline. And it would be naive to think that today's young people, once they have grown up and settled down, will suddenly mutate into buyers or subscribers of a daily newspaper. Some of them may do so, but the vast remainder will obtain their daily information elsewhere, namely free of charge. Be it in print or online.
The daily newspaper must reinvent itself so that it can reach a smaller but interesting target group in the future. One that is willing to pay a high price for orientation, background and exclusivity. Whether that price is six or ten francs remains to be seen. But such a new business model requires courage.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
