Lebrument: Prohibit advertising alliance
The advertising alliance of SRG, Swisscom and Ringier announced three weeks ago should be prohibited in its planned form, according to Hanspeter Lebrument, president of the Swiss Media Association. It threatens to marginalize third parties, he said.
Every interested media house must also be able to participate in such potent advertising opportunities and alliances without discrimination, Lebrument said on Friday at the Swiss Media Congress in Interlaken. The concentration on the three companies SRG, Swisscom and Ringier leads to a grotesque distortion of competition, he said. No one knows as much about the preferences of the Swiss as Swisscom. This knowledge is worth its weight in gold for advertising, which is becoming increasingly individualized, he said. "Whether small or large media houses, traditional or new media providers - they must all have free access to this data and be able to profit from it."
The president of the publisher therefore welcomed the Decision of the Competition Commission, the planned alliance to be examined in greater depth. As a counter-model to the advertising alliance of SRG, Swisscom and Ringier, Lebrument advocated an industry solution. The Swiss Media Association could serve as a platform for this. "We are ready to jointly build an organization that offers all our members access to these services," Lebrument said.
SRG is not one of them. It is sufficiently financed by fees, which will increase in the coming years. As the umbrella organization of Swiss radio and television, SRG would do well to scale back. Today, strong forces are working through referendums and political initiatives to cut fees, abolish them altogether or limit advertising. (SDA)