Almost a zero round
Newspapers have probably never been as close to a zero wage increase as they are now, while some magazines, on the other hand, are becoming significantly more expensive.
From the advertisers' point of view, the 2009 round of wage increases is more positive than ever before, at least for newspapers. This time, for example, only two Ringier titles - Blick and SonntagsBlick - are suggesting a zero round, but are actually becoming massively more expensive because their reach has deteriorated significantly compared to the previous year (-5.7 percent and -10.3 percent). Edipresse, on the other hand, is acting in an exemplary manner: Le Matin semaine and Tribune de Genève, which have also lost significant readership (-10.7 percent each), are also reducing their rates by a good 10 percent.
Axel Springer Schweiz's HandelsZeitung is also very customer-friendly: although it has a 14.6 percent higher reach thanks to its cash subscriber base, it is not charging more in 2009 than this year, which significantly reduces the thousand-reader price (TLP). The same applies to Terre et Nature: Although this Edipresse title is increasing its rate by two percent, this is disproportionate to the 22 percent increase in reach.
Of course, there are once again titles that are raising their rates this year despite a downward trend in reach, such as the Zofinger Tagblatt, Südostschweiz, Schaffhauser Nachrichten and Oltner Tagblatt. In most cases, however, they are doing so moderately and are more or less in line with those titles that have increased their readership slightly but have kept their prices the same as before (Zürcher LandZeitung, L'Impartial, L'Express, La Liberté).
Somewhat strange round of collective bargaining
The free newspapers are facing a somewhat strange round of wage negotiations: News has already reduced its rate by 38 percent at the beginning of November - because "optimizations" are pending there, as Tamedia says (see p. 23). A .ch page costs a hefty 68 percent less, and has done so since mid-October, reflecting the new distribution in boxes instead of to households. In contrast, 20 Minuten, 20 minutes and Matin Bleu are increasing their rates by 6.7 to 56 percent, which roughly corresponds to the gains in reach of these titles. In line with the readership figures, 20 minutes is likely to increase by as much as 70 percent, but because its TLP is already somewhat higher than that of Matin Bleu, Tamedia apparently prefers not to overload the cart.
The 10 percent price increase at Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich, which has lost readers slightly, seems somewhat brazen. And the 9.2 percent rate increase at Cash seems downright cheeky. Ringier has never really been able to demonstrate that Cash actually reaches the 140,000 print and live paper users it claims. On the contrary: Cash, to which Ringier has long attributed 127,000 print readers, only reported 85,000 in Mach Basic 2008-2, a significant 33 percent less. This does not justify a rate increase.
This year's round of rates for magazines is also causing head-scratching, as NZZ Folio, K-Tipp, Beobachter, Bolero, Glückspost, Gesundheitstipp, Migros-Magazin, CoopZeitung, Avant Première and TVtäglich, all of which have lost significant readership, are keeping their advertising rates at today's level and thus significantly increasing the TLP. Only Axel Spinger Schweiz's TV magazines are lowering their rates, incidentally as of October 1, as Werbewoche already reported (see WW 34/08). Another ray of hope: Tout Compte fait, which is also leaving its price unchanged despite a 23 percent increase in reach.
Markus Knöpfli
Axel Springer Schweiz's HandelsZeitung is also very customer-friendly: although it has a 14.6 percent higher reach thanks to its cash subscriber base, it is not charging more in 2009 than this year, which significantly reduces the thousand-reader price (TLP). The same applies to Terre et Nature: Although this Edipresse title is increasing its rate by two percent, this is disproportionate to the 22 percent increase in reach.
Of course, there are once again titles that are raising their rates this year despite a downward trend in reach, such as the Zofinger Tagblatt, Südostschweiz, Schaffhauser Nachrichten and Oltner Tagblatt. In most cases, however, they are doing so moderately and are more or less in line with those titles that have increased their readership slightly but have kept their prices the same as before (Zürcher LandZeitung, L'Impartial, L'Express, La Liberté).
Somewhat strange round of collective bargaining
The free newspapers are facing a somewhat strange round of wage negotiations: News has already reduced its rate by 38 percent at the beginning of November - because "optimizations" are pending there, as Tamedia says (see p. 23). A .ch page costs a hefty 68 percent less, and has done so since mid-October, reflecting the new distribution in boxes instead of to households. In contrast, 20 Minuten, 20 minutes and Matin Bleu are increasing their rates by 6.7 to 56 percent, which roughly corresponds to the gains in reach of these titles. In line with the readership figures, 20 minutes is likely to increase by as much as 70 percent, but because its TLP is already somewhat higher than that of Matin Bleu, Tamedia apparently prefers not to overload the cart.
The 10 percent price increase at Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich, which has lost readers slightly, seems somewhat brazen. And the 9.2 percent rate increase at Cash seems downright cheeky. Ringier has never really been able to demonstrate that Cash actually reaches the 140,000 print and live paper users it claims. On the contrary: Cash, to which Ringier has long attributed 127,000 print readers, only reported 85,000 in Mach Basic 2008-2, a significant 33 percent less. This does not justify a rate increase.
This year's round of rates for magazines is also causing head-scratching, as NZZ Folio, K-Tipp, Beobachter, Bolero, Glückspost, Gesundheitstipp, Migros-Magazin, CoopZeitung, Avant Première and TVtäglich, all of which have lost significant readership, are keeping their advertising rates at today's level and thus significantly increasing the TLP. Only Axel Spinger Schweiz's TV magazines are lowering their rates, incidentally as of October 1, as Werbewoche already reported (see WW 34/08). Another ray of hope: Tout Compte fait, which is also leaving its price unchanged despite a 23 percent increase in reach.
Markus Knöpfli
Some big ones missing
Not all publishers have published their rates yet. For example, the new prices of Basler Zeitung, Baslerstab, Finanz und Wirtschaft and Il caffè and Berner Bär had not been published by the editorial deadline.
On the other hand, the newspapers that have not yet switched to the rate system introduced four years ago with an integrated color millimeter rate and fixed formats can be counted on one hand. These include WochenZeitung and Solothurner Zeitung - primarily for technical printing reasons. (mk)
