P and NZZ attract direct bookers
Booking Discounts Now the NZZ and Publimedia are also preparing attractive incentives for direct bookers.
After Tamedia and Ringier, Jean Frey AG, the HandelsZeitung Group and several other independent publishers are now also offering a "direct booking fee" (DBE) to agencies that book directly instead of via Publimedia. This puts publishers that have their titles under P-management in more trouble, as agencies may be more inclined to book titles with DBEs.NZZ is one title with a full P-lease that is facing particular problems. Publishing director Daniel Hofer stated in December that he had not yet felt anything from Tamedia or Ringier's DBE. However, this could soon change, as all major business titles, as well as SonntagsZeitung and SonntagsBlick, now grant a DBE. This means that NZZ is practically the only title in the Zurich business press segment and in the Sunday market without a DBE. In other words: With clever argumentation, NZZ and NZZ am Sonntag can be replaced on some media plans by similar titles that grant DBEs.
This substitutability has now prompted the NZZ and its management partner NZZ Media, a P branch, to "also develop an offer for agencies and major customers", says Markus Ehrle, Head of Advertising Market at the NZZ. He does not want to reveal what the offer will look like, but it will be presented soon. Of course, the P will hardly offer a hand for an actual "direct booking discount", as the DBE is called in the P-Chargon. This is also confirmed by Ehrle, who was still Marketing Director of Publimedia until the end of October 2006: "It will not be an answer that can be compared one-to-one with the direct booking discount," he emphasizes.
The industry, especially the P-directed publishers, has pricked up its ears. The Edipresse newspapers in particular, which are marketed by P, are waiting for a solution, perhaps one based on the Zurich model.
Markus Knöpfli
This substitutability has now prompted the NZZ and its management partner NZZ Media, a P branch, to "also develop an offer for agencies and major customers", says Markus Ehrle, Head of Advertising Market at the NZZ. He does not want to reveal what the offer will look like, but it will be presented soon. Of course, the P will hardly offer a hand for an actual "direct booking discount", as the DBE is called in the P-Chargon. This is also confirmed by Ehrle, who was still Marketing Director of Publimedia until the end of October 2006: "It will not be an answer that can be compared one-to-one with the direct booking discount," he emphasizes.
The industry, especially the P-directed publishers, has pricked up its ears. The Edipresse newspapers in particular, which are marketed by P, are waiting for a solution, perhaps one based on the Zurich model.
Markus Knöpfli
