"The homework has been done"
Markus Ehrle, Marketing Director at Publimedia, on the current situation and future opportunities for IT magazines.
Markus Ehrle, Marketing Director of Publimedia, on the current situation and future opportunities for IT magazines.WW There are around 20 IT titles in Switzerland, and the IT sector generates annual sales of over 9 billion dollars. Is this ratio correct when compared with similarly sized markets? Markus Ehrle Compared with Germany, for example, the absolute number of Swiss IT publications is rather small, because according to MediaService Wasmuth, there are 28 trade journals in the IT industry and 68 special interest publications in the IT/computer sector. However, there are two things to consider: Firstly, in no other sector is the transition between trade journal and special interest as fluid as in the IT sector.
In addition, the Swiss business press also devotes a great deal of attention to these topics and also features advertisements from this sector.
How has the market for IT titles changed in the last three years? Some of the IT publications launched in the boom years did not survive the dwindling advertising budgets of the last five years. However, those titles that were still on the market three years ago have managed to hold their own almost without exception; indeed, they have even had to raise their journalistic profile out of necessity.
Many titles from Germany also wanted to gain a foothold here. What does it look like today?
You would have to ask the German publishing houses. In Germany, however, the battle is tougher. It's obvious that the 100 or so German publications are less different in profile than the 20 Swiss magazines you mentioned. If you look around the station kiosk, you see a lot of
Special interest publications with a broad impact from the neighboring country. The foreign publishing houses will not give up this position so easily, even in the medium term. However, we have little or no information on sales figures. They are likely to fluctuate relatively strongly. In any case, there are no Swiss advertising split opportunities. Brochure inserts are an exception - on request.
Trade journals are one of the print categories that have lost the most advertising in recent years. Has this affected IT titles just as much, more or less?
In our view, it is not entirely true that trade journals are generally among the losers. On the one hand, all augurs such as the Swiss Advertising Statistics Foundation, Wemf with AIS and Media Focus only measure a marginal proportion of trade journals; on the other hand, demand for trade journals and special interests continues unabated, at least at the planning level. Due to the lack of data, it is not possible - at least for us - to prove whether the IT press has lost an above-average amount. Compared to the boom years, however, the volume has certainly decreased somewhat.
Many IT titles have neither certified print runs nor readership figures. Is that a disadvantage?
In principle, all publications find it difficult to generate advertising volume from professional advertisers without proof of performance. Especially in such important sectors as IT or construction, for example, it would be desirable if the relevant players came together at a round table and published industry surveys. The publishing house IDG Communications AG (Computerworld, PCtipp) has taken a major step towards meeting the needs of the advertising industry by launching the MA IT Business study. Incidentally, the study was made available in full for the first time this year via the Mach online planning tools.
In view of the latent investment backlog in the IT market in recent years and its great importance in the technology-driven future, we take a positive view of developments in this sector. However, we do not expect new publications to spring up like mushrooms, as they did at the end of the 1990s. The existing Swiss IT magazines and newspapers are more likely to grow stronger, as most of them have done their homework well.
Markus Knöpfli
In addition, the Swiss business press also devotes a great deal of attention to these topics and also features advertisements from this sector.
How has the market for IT titles changed in the last three years? Some of the IT publications launched in the boom years did not survive the dwindling advertising budgets of the last five years. However, those titles that were still on the market three years ago have managed to hold their own almost without exception; indeed, they have even had to raise their journalistic profile out of necessity.
Many titles from Germany also wanted to gain a foothold here. What does it look like today?
You would have to ask the German publishing houses. In Germany, however, the battle is tougher. It's obvious that the 100 or so German publications are less different in profile than the 20 Swiss magazines you mentioned. If you look around the station kiosk, you see a lot of
Special interest publications with a broad impact from the neighboring country. The foreign publishing houses will not give up this position so easily, even in the medium term. However, we have little or no information on sales figures. They are likely to fluctuate relatively strongly. In any case, there are no Swiss advertising split opportunities. Brochure inserts are an exception - on request.
Trade journals are one of the print categories that have lost the most advertising in recent years. Has this affected IT titles just as much, more or less?
In our view, it is not entirely true that trade journals are generally among the losers. On the one hand, all augurs such as the Swiss Advertising Statistics Foundation, Wemf with AIS and Media Focus only measure a marginal proportion of trade journals; on the other hand, demand for trade journals and special interests continues unabated, at least at the planning level. Due to the lack of data, it is not possible - at least for us - to prove whether the IT press has lost an above-average amount. Compared to the boom years, however, the volume has certainly decreased somewhat.
Many IT titles have neither certified print runs nor readership figures. Is that a disadvantage?
In principle, all publications find it difficult to generate advertising volume from professional advertisers without proof of performance. Especially in such important sectors as IT or construction, for example, it would be desirable if the relevant players came together at a round table and published industry surveys. The publishing house IDG Communications AG (Computerworld, PCtipp) has taken a major step towards meeting the needs of the advertising industry by launching the MA IT Business study. Incidentally, the study was made available in full for the first time this year via the Mach online planning tools.
In view of the latent investment backlog in the IT market in recent years and its great importance in the technology-driven future, we take a positive view of developments in this sector. However, we do not expect new publications to spring up like mushrooms, as they did at the end of the 1990s. The existing Swiss IT magazines and newspapers are more likely to grow stronger, as most of them have done their homework well.
Markus Knöpfli
