Economic slump dampens reading pleasure

The poor consumer mood has also hit the media: free reading is more popular than ever before. This is clearly documented by the new Mach Basic 2002 readership study. 20 Minuten and TVtäglich took off. As a direct consequence of this, the Berner Zeitung has now also been infected by the commuter newspaper flu after the Tages-Anzeiger. But the paid-for TV titles also felt the effects of tighter wallets drastically, while the economic downturn also had a direct impact on the relevant title groups. Business newspapers were read significantly less across the board. And titles with more hedonistic content also saw a decline in interest. The automotive press and other magazines were particularly hard hit by this.
Meanwhile, the desire to read was in full swing on Sunday. The Sunday papers were able to gain a lot of readers in all three parts of the country. However, the current Mach Basic does not yet reveal the expected negative effects of NZZ am Sonntag and the Borer affair on SonntagsZeitung and Sonntags-Blick. We will only find out the whole truth about the Swiss-German Sunday market next year. from page 18