News platform Barfi.ch wants to establish concept in other cities

Barfi.ch can look back on a very successful first quarter of 2017, recording a user increase of over 500 percent compared to the previous year. The record reach of the past month will be exceeded in April, as the current figures already show, according to an announcement.

Barfi.ch thus recorded an overall increase in user numbers of 584 percent in the first quarter of 2017 with 620,587 unique clients compared to the previous year (1st quarter 2016: 90,708 unique clients). This makes Barfi.ch probably the most successful publisher-independent local platform in Switzerland, which offers users a full journalistic service despite a strong regional focus.

Barfi.ch leading on Facebook

Barfi.ch also has a strong presence on social media. The focus of the social media presence here is on Facebook, where the Basel online portal leads the ranking of local competitors with 23,120 Likers (as of April 26, 2017). Compared to the previous year (April 1, 2016: 11,295 likers), the Basel online portal was able to increase its Facebook community by 104 percent. On Twitter, however, Brafi.ch is still modestly represented with 1,265 followers.

National expansion plans with partners in additional cities

Now that Barfi.ch has successfully passed the proof of concept, the company, which currently has around 18 full-time employees and a pool of freelancers, is open to new co-partners and franchisees. As announced at the media conference before the start of operations, the basic concept is now to be operated jointly with partners in other Swiss cities towards the end of the start-up phase. This will provide new organizers and their users with a cost-effective full-service publishing service with a local focus in each case. This geographical expansion should also make such platforms even more interesting for national digital advertising campaigns.