Elevator-TV wants to strongly integrate advertising customers

Elevator-TV received its license on 11 January. At the insider lunch of the electronic media interest group IGEM, initiator Dominik Kaiser and program director Torsten Prenter (formerly RTL 2) announced the program concept. There was no news yet on the name and branding of the channel or who the marketing agency will be. A pitch is currently underway and the result will be announced in the next 2 weeks, Dominik Kaiser informed. Only the advertising agency has already been decided: the first RufLanz commercials will be shown in June and July. RufLanz will also advertise the casting of Elevator-TV's own SuperStar clone. According to Kaiser, an eye-catching campaign is planned in any case. The exact location of the station has also not yet been decided: Zurich or Schlieren. However, the technical service provider and the internal head of technology have already been engaged, as Elevator TV will have a completely digitalized playout and archive. This allows a digital connection to the producers and, for example, the acceptance of broadcasts via the Internet. Internal technical broadcasting operations will start at the beginning of August. At the start of broadcasting, analog and digital broadcasts will be made via cable with a possible range of 75 percent. Operations will be ensured by 20-30 employees, with most positions already filled. Elevator-TV wants to maintain a lean and low-cost structure and work with an external marketer and external production companies. Torsten Prenter said that this would also enable the company to respond to trends much more quickly and become the trendsetter it aspires to be. Elevator-TV has set itself the goal of reacting more quickly to international developments than the competition. In terms of programming, Switzerland will receive genuine private television in the best Pro 7 or RTL style. The program includes pop soaps (casting shows such as MusicStar), for which the company wants to establish its own channel faces, coaching soaps such as "Tiernanny" or "Supernanny", which are to be set in Swiss locations, cooking shows, whereby the Swiss Jamie Oliver is still being sought, a knowledge magazine à la "Welt der Wunder", with which cooperation talks are already being held. In addition to what has already been seen elsewhere, Elevator-TV is also planning something new: an auction show, for example, which could take the form of a docu-soap from Swiss living rooms or with celebrities, Swiss comedy and "hit list television", which, according to Prenter, could include programs about the 10 most beautiful Swiss women or the 10 most intelligent Swiss men. The structure of the program is based on tried and tested private television: Children are catered for in the mornings, Swiss Game and service topics alternate from 10 a.m. onwards, and family series, documentaries and comedy are broadcast from 3 p.m. onwards. From 4 p.m. it's sitcom time, and from 6 p.m. there are telenovelas and quiz shows. At 7 p.m., Elevator TV still needs a brilliant idea: they are still looking for a daily CH format "with a must-have impulse," says Prenter. What exactly this should be, however, remains open. Elevator TV is not reinventing television history either and broadcasts blockbusters, films and crime series from 8 p.m. onwards. This is because only the time between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. is relevant for television viewing, and Elevator-TV wants to achieve a high market share among the target group of 15 to 49-year-olds. To achieve this, the new Swiss private broadcaster wants to cleverly counter-program its programs against its competitors and show what viewers want to see.
Elevator TV has also set itself the goal of becoming largely independent of traditional advertising spot revenues and is focusing more strongly than existing stations on interactivity. Program-accompanying competitions and voting are intended to encourage viewers to interact via SMS and MMS or to get a ringtone. The cooperation with Twister Switzerland and Digame is already underway. Advertising customers will also be integrated into the program as much as possible. "We will do everything that is requested within the legal framework. We have no inhibitions," promised initiator Dominik Kaiser.
Kathrin Fischer