Beppis in a fighting mood
High-circulation newspapers, a price war, and editorial expansion—the BaZ is going on the offensive.
Newspapers Large circulation, price war and editorial expansion - BaZ goes on the offensive In principle, the Basler Zeitung (BaZ), the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (bz), the Neue Fricktaler Zeitung (NFZ) and the Sissacher Volksstimme coexisted peacefully and at a reasonable distance in north-western Switzerland. Each title had its home territory, and they shared the regional advertising market: for 35 years, the three smaller newspapers have therefore been united in the Hattrick advertising combination in order to be able to exist alongside the large BaZ. Those responsible at BaZ not only approved of this, they also partially linked two papers to the national advertising market: there is an advertising combination with the newspaper in Fricktal, in which BaZ holds a 21 percent stake, and for two years the bz has included the Stellefant, BaZ's Saturday job market. In addition, the BaZ distribution company Prevag takes care of the early delivery of the bz.
Declaration of war on BaselHowever, the motto "Live and let live" is now a thing of the past in economic area 31. As of September 16, the bz is cooperating with the Mittelland Zeitung - for BaZ publisher Matthias Hagemann, this is a declaration of war par excellence. Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM) is now responding with appropriate measures. From August 18, the BaZ is increasingly encroaching on the territory of the bz in terms of publishing, but also by means of a large weekly circulation.
Specifically, it is again increasing its regional editorial team by around 10 to 30 positions, thereby partially reversing the cost-cutting measures of 2003. It is also dividing the regional section into two sections: One will focus on Basel city and macro-regional topics including Alsace and South Baden, while an additional fret will report from the Basel area and the neighboring districts of Solothurn and Aargau. This makes BaZ a five-bundle newspaper.
From the point of view of the bz managers, the new BaZ large print run of 90000 copies in the Basel area and Schwarzbubenland is Hagemann's biggest coup: BaZ will distribute its free copies on Fridays primarily in those districts where the bz is particularly strong or which it covers with its own Wednesday large print run. In the district of Sissach, however, where the bz is also present, no BaZ free copies are distributed, not even in Fricktal. The attack is directed against bz; NFZ and Volksstimme are spared.
From this it can be deduced that BZM is pursuing a strategy that goes beyond its announcements: In the battle against Peter Wanner's Mittelland Zeitung, it wants to bind the NFZ and Volksstimme to itself as allies and visibly isolate the bz.
The Hattrick advertising combination has been terminated at the end of 2006 and would have to be renegotiated. However, as no date has yet been set for talks, even bz publisher Mathis Lüdin is expecting the end of the combination - despite declarations of intent to the contrary from his combination partners in Fricktal and Sissach.
There is a reason for their hesitation: they received an offer from BZM that they can hardly refuse. It is a combination of the new BaZ large circulation and the normal circulations of NFZ and Volksstimme. In contrast to the Hattrick, this would also cover the canton of Basel-Stadt and the neighboring Baselbieter municipalities, i.e. the entire economic area 31. The offer is all the more attractive because the BaZ wants to move the Stellefant job advertisement into the large circulation published on Fridays and offer it as a supplement to the NFZ and Volksstimme from 2007 - instead of the bz, of course.
On request, BZM CEO Beat Meyer confirmed corresponding ideas and negotiations - as well as that the job agreement with bz will be terminated. "It expires at the end of November and will definitely not be extended," he says. BZM is also considering crossing national borders with the Stellefant next year - to Alsace and South Baden. "We are holding talks in this direction," says Meyer, without giving any further details.
bz publisher Mathis Lüdin is not surprised by the steps taken by BZM. He finds it positive that BZM has not terminated his early delivery contract. However, he has no regrets about the job combination with BaZ. "We will be joining the Mittelland Zeitung (MZ) job market," he says. Nevertheless, he does not understand the costly approach of the strategists on the Rhine bend. His cooperation with the MZ has the sole aim of strengthening the bz editorially and linking it to the national advertising market, he says. "This is not directed against BaZ."
Lüdin therefore does not want to react to BZM's latest activities for the time being. However, it is noticeable that the bz has been looking for employees again and again for months - most recently an unspecified number of freelance journalists for the sports and local editorial offices. It is therefore possible that expansion is also being considered here.
New tariffs at MZ and BaZSince this week
The new rates for Mittelland Zeitung and BaZ are now known. There will therefore be a novelty at the MZ: Due to the bz large circulation, there will be two different rates at the MZ from September 16 - MZ large circulation (Wednesdays) and MZ normal circulation on the other days of the week. The price reduction compared to today (MZ and bz each mono) is 14 to 18 percent. BaZ also has a special feature: its 90000 free copies can now be booked in two variants - either together with the BaZ normal circulation (total 188000 copies) or separately as "BaZ BL mono". It also shows that BaZ is attacking bz head-on in terms of price: the 1000-reader price of the BaZ supplementary circulation is around 40 percent cheaper than that of the smaller bz large circulation.
BaZ free circulation by postThe BaZ free circulation in the Basel region
will not include all the services of the BaZ subscription. For example, recipients will miss out on the daily culture magazine, the BaZplus offers and early delivery. The latter is because the free edition is sent by post, for three reasons. Firstly, distribution by post is slightly cheaper than with BZM's own distribution company Prevag, says BZM CEO Beat Meyer. Firstly, the post office also serves letterboxes with stop stickers. "Thirdly, we are deliberately creating a differentiation from subscriptions," says Meyer. "Because one of the main aims of the free edition is to attract subscribers - and of course we also hope to attract additional advertisements."
Markus Knöpfli
Declaration of war on BaselHowever, the motto "Live and let live" is now a thing of the past in economic area 31. As of September 16, the bz is cooperating with the Mittelland Zeitung - for BaZ publisher Matthias Hagemann, this is a declaration of war par excellence. Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM) is now responding with appropriate measures. From August 18, the BaZ is increasingly encroaching on the territory of the bz in terms of publishing, but also by means of a large weekly circulation.
Specifically, it is again increasing its regional editorial team by around 10 to 30 positions, thereby partially reversing the cost-cutting measures of 2003. It is also dividing the regional section into two sections: One will focus on Basel city and macro-regional topics including Alsace and South Baden, while an additional fret will report from the Basel area and the neighboring districts of Solothurn and Aargau. This makes BaZ a five-bundle newspaper.
From the point of view of the bz managers, the new BaZ large print run of 90000 copies in the Basel area and Schwarzbubenland is Hagemann's biggest coup: BaZ will distribute its free copies on Fridays primarily in those districts where the bz is particularly strong or which it covers with its own Wednesday large print run. In the district of Sissach, however, where the bz is also present, no BaZ free copies are distributed, not even in Fricktal. The attack is directed against bz; NFZ and Volksstimme are spared.
From this it can be deduced that BZM is pursuing a strategy that goes beyond its announcements: In the battle against Peter Wanner's Mittelland Zeitung, it wants to bind the NFZ and Volksstimme to itself as allies and visibly isolate the bz.
The Hattrick advertising combination has been terminated at the end of 2006 and would have to be renegotiated. However, as no date has yet been set for talks, even bz publisher Mathis Lüdin is expecting the end of the combination - despite declarations of intent to the contrary from his combination partners in Fricktal and Sissach.
There is a reason for their hesitation: they received an offer from BZM that they can hardly refuse. It is a combination of the new BaZ large circulation and the normal circulations of NFZ and Volksstimme. In contrast to the Hattrick, this would also cover the canton of Basel-Stadt and the neighboring Baselbieter municipalities, i.e. the entire economic area 31. The offer is all the more attractive because the BaZ wants to move the Stellefant job advertisement into the large circulation published on Fridays and offer it as a supplement to the NFZ and Volksstimme from 2007 - instead of the bz, of course.
On request, BZM CEO Beat Meyer confirmed corresponding ideas and negotiations - as well as that the job agreement with bz will be terminated. "It expires at the end of November and will definitely not be extended," he says. BZM is also considering crossing national borders with the Stellefant next year - to Alsace and South Baden. "We are holding talks in this direction," says Meyer, without giving any further details.
bz publisher Mathis Lüdin is not surprised by the steps taken by BZM. He finds it positive that BZM has not terminated his early delivery contract. However, he has no regrets about the job combination with BaZ. "We will be joining the Mittelland Zeitung (MZ) job market," he says. Nevertheless, he does not understand the costly approach of the strategists on the Rhine bend. His cooperation with the MZ has the sole aim of strengthening the bz editorially and linking it to the national advertising market, he says. "This is not directed against BaZ."
Lüdin therefore does not want to react to BZM's latest activities for the time being. However, it is noticeable that the bz has been looking for employees again and again for months - most recently an unspecified number of freelance journalists for the sports and local editorial offices. It is therefore possible that expansion is also being considered here.
New tariffs at MZ and BaZSince this week
The new rates for Mittelland Zeitung and BaZ are now known. There will therefore be a novelty at the MZ: Due to the bz large circulation, there will be two different rates at the MZ from September 16 - MZ large circulation (Wednesdays) and MZ normal circulation on the other days of the week. The price reduction compared to today (MZ and bz each mono) is 14 to 18 percent. BaZ also has a special feature: its 90000 free copies can now be booked in two variants - either together with the BaZ normal circulation (total 188000 copies) or separately as "BaZ BL mono". It also shows that BaZ is attacking bz head-on in terms of price: the 1000-reader price of the BaZ supplementary circulation is around 40 percent cheaper than that of the smaller bz large circulation.
BaZ free circulation by postThe BaZ free circulation in the Basel region
will not include all the services of the BaZ subscription. For example, recipients will miss out on the daily culture magazine, the BaZplus offers and early delivery. The latter is because the free edition is sent by post, for three reasons. Firstly, distribution by post is slightly cheaper than with BZM's own distribution company Prevag, says BZM CEO Beat Meyer. Firstly, the post office also serves letterboxes with stop stickers. "Thirdly, we are deliberately creating a differentiation from subscriptions," says Meyer. "Because one of the main aims of the free edition is to attract subscribers - and of course we also hope to attract additional advertisements."
Markus Knöpfli
