Small and smallest steps

 
Regional press The regionalization of the Tages-Anzeiger has not yet been able to halt the decline in readership. 
The Tages-Anzeiger is continuously losing readers. According to the latest Mach-Basic study by AG für Werbemedien forschung (Wemf), the loss in reach compared to the same period in 2007/2 amounts to 20,000 readers. However, the loss is not typical for the Tages-Anzeiger alone. "The number of readers of subscribed daily newspapers is falling everywhere, in Europe as well as in the English-speaking world," says Tamedia Group spokesman Christoph Zimmer. Changing user needs and the growing importance of electronic media are the reasons and not the free newspapers, as a look at Germany shows, where the classic commuter press does not exist. The figure for Tagi cannot be taken as absolute because the current reach (2008/1) cannot be compared with the two previous survey periods. This is because in February 2007, those responsible launched a large circulation and distribute around 178,000 additional copies every Tuesday in the greater Zurich region. This results in one survey period with and one without a large circulation. Nevertheless, one can speak of a downward trend in Tagi reach.
However, the Tages-Anzeiger is a phenomenon in that it has been pursuing a consistent regional growth strategy with its own regional editorial offices like no other title since 2006, after the prospect of becoming a national title was abandoned. It is becoming increasingly clear that the strategy, which is planned for a maximum of ten years, is one of small and minimal steps. "The regional editions of the Tages-Anzeiger will not change the general stagnation in readership figures in the medium term," Zimmer concludes. After one and a half years of continuous regionalization, this sounds sober. Since November 2006, the Tages-Anzeiger has included an additional daily regional edition from the Zürcher Unterland, the Oberland, both shores of Lake Zurich and the city of Zurich, which are produced by independent regional editorial teams.
The Tamedia strategists have created over 60 new jobs and are spending a lot of money on regionalization, estimated at between one and two million francs per editorial office per year. Added to this is the large circulation mentioned above, which is intended to bring the Zurich regional newspapers to their knees. But here, too, the hoped-for effect is hardly apparent. In any case, the competition, the Zürichsee-Zeitung, has so far not considered it necessary to react to the Tagi offensive with its own large circulation on the lake shores in the districts of Horgen and Meilen. The paper only has its own large circulation on the Obersee as a bulwark against Südostschweiz and Obersee-Nachrichten, in which Südostschweiz publisher Hanspeter Lebrument holds a majority stake. There have been small shifts in advertisers here and there, but to date the Tamedia strategy has not posed any immediate danger, according to those responsible at the Zürichsee-Zeitung.
It is therefore not surprising that the high costs of regionalization are repeatedly criticized within Tamedia. "There is no discussion about this," says Zimmer and emphasizes that the company is sticking with regionalization because it is convinced of the long-term strategy.
René Worni