New advertising service provider to become operational "as soon as possible

The new company, the name of which will not be announced until after its formation, is intended to support publishers and also advertising customers in the handling and processing of advertising campaigns and to relieve them. However, the company will not be active in advertising sales, as stated in the communiqué on Monday.

In addition to the Swiss Media Association, Tamedia, NZZ, AZ Medien and the Corriere del Ticino. They want to make the new service available to the entire industry. "Everyone will be able to use it, but no one will have to," Jürg Weber, Head of Regional Media at NZZ, was quoted as saying in the communiqué.

"As quickly as possible"

The new company is to become operational "as quickly as possible," as Weber told the SDA news agency. As things stand at present, the five parties currently working on the planning will also be shareholders in the company. He was not yet able to give any details on the budget.

According to Weber, work will initially be carried out with personnel from the shareholders. If necessary, the number will be increased later. The new platform is intended to offer an alternative in the market following the exit of several publishers from the advertising marketer Publicitas. By not selling itself, it is not intended to compete with either the individual publishers or Publicitas.

The background to the plans are the "current developments in the advertising market," as the parties involved write. Last week, several major media companies announced that they would terminate their cooperation with the advertising marketer Publicitas with immediate effect. They justified this with outstanding payments.

Invitation to publishers

Tamedia made the start on Wednesday. On Thursday, Ringier and Admeira followed as the contact for campaign planning and order processing for Ringier media as well as NZZ. And on Friday, AZ Medien followed suit. Customers were asked to pay outstanding invoices directly to the publishers instead of Publicitas.

Publicitas regretted the exits in a statement Friday evening. It said it is looking for ways to "resolve the situation satisfactorily for all parties involved." Next Thursday, it is inviting publishers to a meeting at which an alternative approach to a solution will be presented.

Already after Tamedia's termination on Wednesday, Publicitas had announced that it was working on a restructuring concept for medium-term stabilization. Like the media houses, the advertising marketer is suffering from the marked decline in print advertising. The company has already been in the red several times. (SDA)