Publisuisse crawls back

The press release issued by Mediasense on September 11, just in time for Radio Day, was brief: It stated that the 15 private radio stations in the Swiss Radio Pool (SRP), which was founded just over a year ago, would soon take over the majority of shares in the radio marketer. The SRG subsidiary Publisuisse will take second place. At the same time, Mediasense will open its shareholder base to other private radio stations, i.e. to all those that are currently excluded from the SRP. Mediasense will thus become the national marketing and processing organization for all private radio stations in the shareholder base. The company will also focus "on the development of products that allow national advertising clients more flexibility in the design of radio advertising" and thus make it more attractive overall. The aim is still to promote radio as an advertising medium.
Mutual control is becoming stricter
There is quite a lot of pepper in this short communication. The radios not only assume the majority, but also the main responsibility. This strengthens mutual control and the willingness to impose sanctions. Until now, SRP members who did not adhere to the pool agreements and rules and thus offered a hand to undermine the pool and its partners faced few consequences. At least as important: if Mediasense opens up, the SRP must also open up. Martin Schneider, CEO of Publisuisse and also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mediasense, confirms: "We are moving towards the RMS model in Germany." This model is quickly explained: RMS in Hamburg is the largest German audio marketer and is wholly owned by private radio stations. Its portfolio includes advertising time, webcasts and podcasts from 146 private radio stations. However, RMS does not offer pools, but usually lets customers choose which stations they want to book themselves. The more stations they book, the more discount they receive.
Such a model would be a revolution for the Swiss radio scene. With one major difference: unlike RMS, Mediasense will stop actively selling to advertising clients in future - "in the spirit of constructive cooperation with existing agents", says Schneider. And he specifies: "We will end active sales by the end of the year at the latest." In future, this task will be left to other intermediaries such as IP Multimedia, RadioEmotion, Publicitas Radiotele or Cover Media and SpotPromotion. Incidentally, the model generally provides for a division of labor and thus also a division of interests between these and Mediasense: Mediasense, as the radios' company, focuses on the design of new, flexible products, processing using Publiplan and generic marketing. "The participating radios are transferring extensive competencies to Mediasense in the development and design of future products for the national market, as well as in pricing," says Schneider. In this respect, the company will be more than just a processing center. The agents, on the other hand, bring these products to the market with concrete offers and receive an agent's commission in return.

More private radio stations get a slice of Mediasense

It remains to be seen whether the Mediasense shareholders' calculation will work out. On Radioday, the reactions of non-SRP members were still muted (see Box 2). Nevertheless, the SRP radio stations will increase their shareholding to 51% over the next two weeks, while Publisuisse will reduce its stake to 49%. Previously, the ratio was reversed.
By the end of the year, Publisuisse wants to "substantially" reduce its stake once again and also relinquish the chairmanship, says Schneider. A complete Publi¬suisse exit is also not taboo. A change of domicile for Mediasense has also already been considered. Today, the company is in the immediate vicinity of Publisuisse in Zurich. Nothing has been decided yet. The timetable depends largely on the response from non-SRP radio stations. They and the intermediaries will be contacted in the near future.
Markus Knöpfli
Voices on the new Mediasense modelJürg Bachmann, President of the Swiss Private Radio Association and involved in radio and digital projects at Goldbach Media and Ringier:
"It cannot be the responsibility of the SRG to sell radio advertising for private radio stations. The fact that this regulatory error is now being corrected confirms what I have previously argued: The private broadcasters must sell their advertising time themselves."
Martin Muerner, Head of Radio BeO:
"I still have to familiarize myself in detail with the new situation at Me-
diasense, but it seems to me to be a step in the right direction. I have always been of the opinion that it is not good for SRG to be the main shareholder in a private marketing company. Whether Radio BeO will now take a stake in Mediasense, on the other hand, is still open."
Roger Schawinski, owner of Radio 1:
"The announcement by SRG marketer Publisuisse that it is giving up its majority stake in Mediasense is the right move, but it is too slow. It has no business in private radio marketing and has shown that it can't do it. One thing is also clear: as long as the SRG is part of Mediasense, Radio 1 will not participate."
Claude Défago, President of RRR (Union Romande de Radio Régionals) and Director of Radio Chablais:
"It would actually be good to have two or three radio marketers. But the fact that Mediasense is now withdrawing from private radio marketing is tricky. We hope that this will not lead to a monopoly. But in fact, the only marketer left now is IP Multimedia, which is already dictating the conditions as the market leader." (mk)