Online platform News.ch on the brink of collapse
After 16 years, the online platform News.ch is discontinuing its services for financial reasons. The St. Gallen-based media company announced on its website that advertising revenue for small portals has plummeted. Layoffs are expected.
Although 2015 was the most successful year for online advertising in Switzerland, the advertising market has become difficult for small and medium-sized portals. Advertising prices have fallen by a factor of ten, according to the news portal's website on Thursday. It is no longer possible to produce an economically successful news product of good journalistic quality.
According to his own statements News.ch the first Swiss news platform to provide a comprehensive overview of national events. The company was founded in 2000 and has an editorial team with a number of permanent employees and several freelance journalists.
Restart is being checked
At the height of its popularity, more than half of Swiss online readers consumed news from News.ch, according to the website. As competition from large portals grew, News.ch tried to continue to provide an independent product with columnists such as Regula Stämpfli or Peter Achten and cooperations, for example with Nebelspalter.
As co-managing director and publisher Piero Stinelli told Kleinreport, there will be redundancies. Part of the team is currently examining a new start. What this should look like will be worked out at a closed meeting. (SDA)
