Baz: Half goodbye from the Sunday market

"With this issue, the Basler Zeitung is saying goodbye to the Sunday market." So begins a statement by Baz editor-in-chief Markus Somm that took up a full column on the front page of the Sunday edition of February 24. "Briefly, but intensively and with passion," the editorial team had endeavored to offer an "extraordinary" Sunday edition. Extraordinary in the sense that the Baz Sunday edition, since its first appearance on January 8, 2012, had deliberately refrained from getting involved "in the competition for the latest revelations" - "because we simply lacked the possibilities" and "resources are scarce".

It was an "almost borderline challenge" for the Baz editorial team to produce a Sunday edition in addition to the weekday edition "without too many additional journalists. "To be honest, it brought us to the edge of our strength," admits the Baz editor-in-chief. That was also "the main reason" for the end of the experiment.

Sunday TLP was inflated

What he doesn't say: that the longer the advertising clients showed less and less interest in the Baz Sunday edition. One example: In its last issue, Baz am Sonntag ran just two pages of ads, not counting the job supplement, which appears first during the week anyway. One reason for this is probably the high price: a full-page 4c ad in the Sunday Baz cost 18,700 Swiss francs, the same as on weekdays, although the Sunday circulation was smaller than on weekdays (68'279 copies).

Admittedly, no one knows exactly how high the Sunday circulation was, apparently not even the publisher. In its 2013 media documentation (detailed and short version), there are two different figures - 55'000 and 53'000. But that is too high. As Werbewoche knows from a reliable source, the Baz last distributed around 47,000 Sunday copies, 3'000 of which were on newsstands, the rest went to subscribers. Although there was presumably also a promotional circulation, this certainly did not amount to 8,000 copies per issue in the last two months. In short, the Sunday thousand reader price was about 33 percent too high compared to the weekday price. Assuming the Baz on Sunday also had two readers per copy (LpE) like the Baz during the week.

A large proportion of free subscriptions

But the Sunday LpE value could also be lower. Even Markus Somm seems to suspect this, noting apologetically in his statement that from his point of view it was "not always well advised" to give readers of the Sunday edition of the Baz "a special reading pleasure" every time. Nevertheless, he claims: "Our Sunday Baz has never had to shy away from comparison with other Sunday papers (...)."

The fact is, however, that interest in the Baz am Sonntag was rather small from the start: It only reached about 47'000 copies because a large proportion of Baz subscribers, namely all those whose weekday Baz subscription expires between December and March each year, never had to pay for the Sunday edition at all - and still received it. It went like this: Starting on January 8, 2012, the Baz am Sonntag appeared for three months free of charge to all households in northwestern Switzerland. Only at the end of this campaign did subscribers receive a bill for 65 francs for an additional annual subscription to Baz am Sonntag. Those who did not pay no longer received the Sunday edition. At least for the time being. But apparently there were not enough people paying voluntarily, so the publisher changed its strategy on July 1, 2012: From that date on, all subscribers to the weekday Baz also found the Baz am Sonntag in their mailbox again - without being asked and without an additional bill.

Free subscription hidden and converted into a compulsory subscription

It wasn't until the weekday subscription expired at the end of 2012 that a bill for 426 francs arrived - 37 francs more than the weekday Baz subscription costs. But a weekday-only subscription was not even offered. In other words, the Sunday edition was virtually forced on Baz subscribers from 2013. Those who therefore (unwisely) paid the 426 francs naturally still received the last Sunday edition - and as of next Sunday, Tamedia's Sunday newspaper (Soz) will be delivered to them as a replacement. But this also means that anyone who paid for the seven-day subscription in January or February in principle never paid anything for the Baz am Sonntag, but already for the Soz.

This is also underlined by the following observation: Even people who wrote only 389 francs for the Baz business day subscription on the payment slip continued to receive the Sunday edition - free of charge! Whether and for how long they will also find Tamedia's Soz in their mailbox for free is still open.

Sunday remains expensive for the Baz

This chaos marketing around the Sunday subscription, with the sole aim of selling as many Sunday editions as possible or, as the case may be, to entice Tamedia with as many potential Soz subscribers as possible, is also echoed in Somm's explanation. Somewhat awkwardly, he writes: "Anyone who is currently a subscriber to the 7-day subscription of the Basler Zeitung does not have to do anything or pay anything extra. Nor do those who, as a Baz customer, have already subscribed to the combined subscription including the Sunday newspaper: their subscription to the Sunday newspaper will expire, and any credit balance will be deducted from their next bill. Subsequently, you will receive the normal Baz subscription with the Sunday newspaper as the seventh issue of the Baz."

It can be deduced from this that the experiment with Baz am Sonntag not only cost the Basler Zeitung Medien dearly, but will continue to cost something. Because the Soz has guaranteed that it can fully authenticate the new, additional Basel circulation. And it can only do that if it charges at least 50 percent of the regular subscription price (174 francs) for its Basel subscriptions. So the Soz must receive at least 87 francs per subscription. But since the difference between the Baz 6-day and the Baz 7-day subscription is only 37 francs, Baz would in principle have to transfer another 50 francs to Tamedia for each Soz subscription. The other variant: Baz and Tamedia agree that no money will flow, but Baz will take over the subscription marketing and distribution costs.

Conclusion: Whether its own Sunday edition or Soz - the attempt to satisfy the Sunday information needs of its readers is likely to remain a "sheer borderline challenge" for the Baz - also financially.

Markus Knöpfli