New handicaps for the golf titles
The St. Galler Tagblatt is launching a new golf magazine this spring
St. Galler Tagblatt launches a new golf magazine in the springBy Daniel SchifferleGolf magazines are in turmoil: another new launch for this trendy sport from the St. Galler Tagblatt is looking for readers and advertisers from the spring. But in the small-scale Swiss market, there is only room for another golf title if one of the existing ones is ousted, the competitors agree.
The market for golf titles is not coming to rest. The coexistence of Urs Dillier's Golf & Country and Ursula Meier's association magazine Golf Suisse has barely settled down, when a new competing product is already on the way. This time, it's the NZZ subsidiary St. Galler Tagblatt, which plans to launch a monthly magazine all about golf in the spring. This was confirmed to WerbeWoche by Hans-Peter Klauser, Managing Director of the St.Galler Tagblatt. Klauser did not want to reveal any details, however, as the new magazine is still being planned.
One thing, however, is already clear: the new magazine will once again shake up the market for golf titles - and provide for bloody heads - the opponents agree on that. "The market is fully covered," Urs Dillier is convinced. Ursula Meier also believes: "A new magazine can only establish itself at the expense of existing titles."
At present, these are primarily the two market leaders Golf & Country and Golf Suisse, both of which serve both the German-speaking and French-speaking Swiss markets. On the other hand, Golf & Sports Events, which is only published in French-speaking Switzerland, and Golf & Life, which is published four times a year and also covers the Ticino market with its bilingual edition, have less to fear from the announced new competition.
Seasonal constraints prevail in the golf title market
But for the two market leaders, it is likely to be tight with another competitor. Piero Schäfer sees bottlenecks in the advertising market in particular. With his office for journalism, he provides editorial services and desktop publishing for Golf Suisse. "Today, we produce six issues a year and make ends meet," says Schäfer, "but the advertising market would hardly finance additional issues."
Another pitfall that Piero Schäfer has encountered in the three years since Golf Suisse was founded is the enormous seasonal dependency: "In the spring, the advertiser market is always booming, because at the start of the season, everyone who has anything to do with golf wants to advertise. But in the fall and winter, it then becomes very difficult." And competitor Dillier is also convinced that the target group of golfers is vastly overestimated.
And he should know, because when Ursula Meier launched her Golf Suisse a little more than three years ago, a painful bloodletting was in the offing for Golf & Country. Between 1998 and 1999 alone, the number of copies sold shrank from 8239 to 5420. And Dillier himself had provoked the new issue.
He had only just bought back Golf & Country, founded by his father around 50 years ago, from Berner Tagblatt Medien and merged it with his golf magazine when he fell out with Piero Schäfer, who had provided editorial services and desktop publishing for the merged magazine. The dismissed Schäfer then founded the magazine Golf Suisse together with the Volketswil-based media publisher Meier.
Golf Suisse became the member magazine of the Association Suisse de Golf (ASG), while Golf & Country lost its previous function as the association's publication. With the aforementioned fatal consequences for the development of circulation.
A golf magazine to replace the weakened Smash?
The importance of cooperation with the Golf Association for the success of a magazine was already clearly demonstrated three years ago. According to Golf Suisse publisher Ursula Meier, this cooperation will not change for the time being. "We have an exclusive contract with ASG that runs for several years," says Meier.
But why does the St. Galler Tagblatt still want to take a chance with a new golfer's magazine? One important reason could be the impending bloodletting for the tennis magazine Smash, alongside which they would like to establish another mainstay in the sports magazine sector in good time.
Golfers play the tennis cracks to the wall
Because as of January 2002, the Swiss Tennis Federation has terminated the compulsory subscription contract with Smash. The reason for this action: In the future, the tennis federation will rely on the Internet for the information of its members and is therefore no longer dependent on a partner magazine to the same extent as before. This means that Smash must succeed in making the transition to a completely normal, marketable magazine.
And that's not so easy in view of current developments. As has been evident for some years now, tennis is increasingly being replaced by golf. So it makes perfect sense to focus on the new trend from a journalistic point of view, too.
The market for golf titles is not coming to rest. The coexistence of Urs Dillier's Golf & Country and Ursula Meier's association magazine Golf Suisse has barely settled down, when a new competing product is already on the way. This time, it's the NZZ subsidiary St. Galler Tagblatt, which plans to launch a monthly magazine all about golf in the spring. This was confirmed to WerbeWoche by Hans-Peter Klauser, Managing Director of the St.Galler Tagblatt. Klauser did not want to reveal any details, however, as the new magazine is still being planned.
One thing, however, is already clear: the new magazine will once again shake up the market for golf titles - and provide for bloody heads - the opponents agree on that. "The market is fully covered," Urs Dillier is convinced. Ursula Meier also believes: "A new magazine can only establish itself at the expense of existing titles."
At present, these are primarily the two market leaders Golf & Country and Golf Suisse, both of which serve both the German-speaking and French-speaking Swiss markets. On the other hand, Golf & Sports Events, which is only published in French-speaking Switzerland, and Golf & Life, which is published four times a year and also covers the Ticino market with its bilingual edition, have less to fear from the announced new competition.
Seasonal constraints prevail in the golf title market
But for the two market leaders, it is likely to be tight with another competitor. Piero Schäfer sees bottlenecks in the advertising market in particular. With his office for journalism, he provides editorial services and desktop publishing for Golf Suisse. "Today, we produce six issues a year and make ends meet," says Schäfer, "but the advertising market would hardly finance additional issues."
Another pitfall that Piero Schäfer has encountered in the three years since Golf Suisse was founded is the enormous seasonal dependency: "In the spring, the advertiser market is always booming, because at the start of the season, everyone who has anything to do with golf wants to advertise. But in the fall and winter, it then becomes very difficult." And competitor Dillier is also convinced that the target group of golfers is vastly overestimated.
And he should know, because when Ursula Meier launched her Golf Suisse a little more than three years ago, a painful bloodletting was in the offing for Golf & Country. Between 1998 and 1999 alone, the number of copies sold shrank from 8239 to 5420. And Dillier himself had provoked the new issue.
He had only just bought back Golf & Country, founded by his father around 50 years ago, from Berner Tagblatt Medien and merged it with his golf magazine when he fell out with Piero Schäfer, who had provided editorial services and desktop publishing for the merged magazine. The dismissed Schäfer then founded the magazine Golf Suisse together with the Volketswil-based media publisher Meier.
Golf Suisse became the member magazine of the Association Suisse de Golf (ASG), while Golf & Country lost its previous function as the association's publication. With the aforementioned fatal consequences for the development of circulation.
A golf magazine to replace the weakened Smash?
The importance of cooperation with the Golf Association for the success of a magazine was already clearly demonstrated three years ago. According to Golf Suisse publisher Ursula Meier, this cooperation will not change for the time being. "We have an exclusive contract with ASG that runs for several years," says Meier.
But why does the St. Galler Tagblatt still want to take a chance with a new golfer's magazine? One important reason could be the impending bloodletting for the tennis magazine Smash, alongside which they would like to establish another mainstay in the sports magazine sector in good time.
Golfers play the tennis cracks to the wall
Because as of January 2002, the Swiss Tennis Federation has terminated the compulsory subscription contract with Smash. The reason for this action: In the future, the tennis federation will rely on the Internet for the information of its members and is therefore no longer dependent on a partner magazine to the same extent as before. This means that Smash must succeed in making the transition to a completely normal, marketable magazine.
And that's not so easy in view of current developments. As has been evident for some years now, tennis is increasingly being replaced by golf. So it makes perfect sense to focus on the new trend from a journalistic point of view, too.
