Abendzeitung Heute relies on community
Blick is set to launch an integrated newsroom for print and online—a reality already at the Abendzeitung Heute. There, the editorial team is expanding its Web 2.0 offerings and has therefore declared December the «Month of the Community.».
Ringier wants to increase its multimedia activities in future and is aiming to combine media in alliances. In order to bring print and online closer together, an integrated newsroom is to be created at Blick. This is already a reality at Abendzeitung Heute, as Editor-in-Chief Daniel Steil told Werbewoche: the entire editorial team is based in one room and has a clear online-first approach. "We don't have to hold anything back," explained Steil. However, the Heute-online.ch website is not to be expanded into a large news portal like its competitor 20 Minuten. "Alongside the 20 Minuten, Blick, Tages-Anzeiger and NZZ sites, that wouldn't make sense. Current news also comes in on our website via the agency ticker," said the interim head.
To this end, Heute is focusing on community: December, for example, will be declared "Community Month". Every day, the Abendzeitung team wants to organize a special campaign or launch a competition. The aim is to have around 18,500 community members by the end of the year; the current figure is around 17,250, which may seem somewhat modest compared to the competition: According to Tamedia spokesperson Christoph Zimmer, the 20 Minuten community has around 190,000 registered members, although the number of active community users is probably lower. However, it should be noted that Heute has only been on the market since May last year.
According to Steil, Abendblatt has had good success with its community offerings, which is why they are to be further promoted. Steil does not believe that the enthusiasm for communities is a short-lived phenomenon of the Web 2.0 hype: "Such offerings will last longer." That is why he wants to push ahead with further expansion.
To this end, Heute is focusing on community: December, for example, will be declared "Community Month". Every day, the Abendzeitung team wants to organize a special campaign or launch a competition. The aim is to have around 18,500 community members by the end of the year; the current figure is around 17,250, which may seem somewhat modest compared to the competition: According to Tamedia spokesperson Christoph Zimmer, the 20 Minuten community has around 190,000 registered members, although the number of active community users is probably lower. However, it should be noted that Heute has only been on the market since May last year.
According to Steil, Abendblatt has had good success with its community offerings, which is why they are to be further promoted. Steil does not believe that the enthusiasm for communities is a short-lived phenomenon of the Web 2.0 hype: "Such offerings will last longer." That is why he wants to push ahead with further expansion.
