Edipresse and AZ Medien are not changing the advertising rates of their newspapers and magazines as of 2011. Ringier Deutschschweiz, Axel Springer Schweiz and Ki-Media are also leaving their advertising rates at the current level. Only their up-and-coming titles Blick am Abend, SI Style, Beobachter Natur and Bon à savoir will see gentle price increases in line with the respective gains in reach. In terms of advertising rates in 2011, the impression could therefore be of a zero round.
But appearances are deceptive. Because at least a third of the 110 press titles listed are making either open or hidden rate increases. This applies in particular to the Tamedia titles Finanz und Wirtschaft, 20 minutes and Schweizer Familie as well as the member press of Migros and Coop. They all reported significant losses in reach in Mach Basic 2010 2 compared to the previous year, but continue to charge the same amount as this year for their reduced output. And in some cases even more: 20 minutes, for example, is daring to increase its advertising price by 7.3 percent despite a 6.1 percent drop in reach in French-speaking Switzerland. At the thousand-reader price (TLP) level, this corresponds to an increase of 14.3 percent. However, Marcel Kohler, Managing Director of 20 Minuten, does not see this as a problem: compared to its competitors in French-speaking Switzerland, 20 minutes is still very cheap in terms of TLP, he says. True, the TLPs of most paid and free weekly newspapers in French-speaking Switzerland are several times higher. What's more, two other titles are even cheekier when it comes to TLP increases: PME Magazine (+18.5 percent) has the steepest TLP increase, followed by Finanz und Wirtschaft (+15.7 percent). The Tages-Anzeiger and Basler Zeitung also saw astonishing price increases. On the one hand, both titles are introducing the standard rate for black-and-white and color advertisements, but on the other hand they are also increasing their page rates by 10 and 12.7 percent respectively without an approximate increase in performance. At Tagi, this results in a TLP surcharge of a whopping 13.5 percent, while at BaZ it increases by 8.8 percent. This does not take into account the current 1,800 BaZ subscription cancellations.
Speaking of uniform rates: what has long been familiar to magazines is now also finding its way into newspapers. Zentralschweiz am Sonntag, for example, already started with a standard rate, followed a year ago by Le Temps as the first western Swiss title, and now the idea is being copied by the Neue Luzerner Zeitung, Coop-Presse and Bündner Anzeiger in addition to Tagi and BaZ. Südostschweiz is clearly also aiming for the same goal, albeit in small steps.
If we have mainly been talking about price increases so far, it should also be mentioned here that some titles are acting in an exemplary manner. Readers Digest, for example, is reducing its rates in line with the significant loss in reach. Other titles such as WOZ or TV8 are increasing their prices, but the percentage increase remains below the growth in readership. Still others are keeping their rates at the current level, even though they have been able to gain considerable readership. The latter include Stocks and LImpartial (13 percent growth in readership each), Freiburger Nachrichten (12.5 percent) and Gesundheits-Tipp (11 percent). Their TLPs fell accordingly.
Markus Knöpfli
This article is from the current print edition of Werbewoche.
> Tariffs part 1 (pdf)
> Tariffs part 2 (pdf)

Edipresse and AZ Medien are not changing the advertising rates of their newspapers and magazines as of 2011. Ringier Deutschschweiz, Axel Springer Schweiz and Ki-Media are also leaving their advertising rates at the current level. Only their up-and-coming titles Blick am Abend, SI Style, Beobachter Natur and Bon à savoir will see gentle price increases in line with the respective gains in reach. In terms of advertising rates in 2011, the impression could therefore be of a zero round.
But appearances are deceptive. Because at least a third of the 110 press titles listed are making either open or hidden rate increases. This applies in particular to the Tamedia titles Finanz und Wirtschaft, 20 minutes and Schweizer Familie as well as the member press of Migros and Coop. They all reported significant losses in reach in Mach Basic 2010 2 compared to the previous year, but continue to charge the same amount as this year for their reduced output. And in some cases even more: 20 minutes, for example, is daring to increase its advertising price by 7.3 percent despite a 6.1 percent drop in reach in French-speaking Switzerland. At the thousand-reader price (TLP) level, this corresponds to an increase of 14.3 percent. However, Marcel Kohler, Managing Director of 20 Minuten, does not see this as a problem: compared to its competitors in French-speaking Switzerland, 20 minutes is still very cheap in terms of TLP, he says. True, the TLPs of most paid and free weekly newspapers in French-speaking Switzerland are several times higher. What's more, two other titles are even cheekier when it comes to TLP increases: PME Magazine (+18.5 percent) has the steepest TLP increase, followed by Finanz und Wirtschaft (+15.7 percent). The Tages-Anzeiger and Basler Zeitung also saw astonishing price increases. On the one hand, both titles are introducing the standard rate for black-and-white and color advertisements, but on the other hand they are also increasing their page rates by 10 and 12.7 percent respectively without an approximate increase in performance. At Tagi, this results in a TLP surcharge of a whopping 13.5 percent, while at BaZ it increases by 8.8 percent. This does not take into account the current 1,800 BaZ subscription cancellations.
Speaking of uniform rates: what has long been familiar to magazines is now also finding its way into newspapers. Zentralschweiz am Sonntag, for example, already started with a standard rate, followed a year ago by Le Temps as the first western Swiss title, and now the idea is being copied by the Neue Luzerner Zeitung, Coop-Presse and Bündner Anzeiger in addition to Tagi and BaZ. Südostschweiz is clearly also aiming for the same goal, albeit in small steps.
If we have mainly been talking about price increases so far, it should also be mentioned here that some titles are acting in an exemplary manner. Readers Digest, for example, is reducing its rates in line with the significant loss in reach. Other titles such as WOZ or TV8 are increasing their prices, but the percentage increase remains below the growth in readership. Still others are keeping their rates at the current level, even though they have been able to gain considerable readership. The latter include Stocks and LImpartial (13 percent growth in readership each), Freiburger Nachrichten (12.5 percent) and Gesundheits-Tipp (11 percent). Their TLPs fell accordingly.
Markus Knöpfli
> Tariffs part 1 (pdf)
> Tariffs part 2 (pdf)