Ringier discontinues health consultation hour
On July 10, Ringier's *Gesundheit Sprechstunde* will be published for the last time. Declining advertising revenue and a bleak economic outlook dealt the final blow to the publication, the company announced.
Ringier recently reorganized its entire health unit: At the beginning of the year, the program Gesundheit Sprechstunde (GES), which is broadcast weekly on SF 1 as part of PresseTV, was completely revamped, the magazine has also been published with a new layout since the end of February and the website was completely redesigned just a few weeks ago. And now this: Ringier has announced that the magazine will be discontinued as of July 10, with 15 people losing their jobs. However, the Zurich-based group is retaining the TV program (5 permanent employees) and the website.
According to Fibo Deutsch, Head of the Health Unit, the decisive factor in the decision to discontinue the GES magazine was the sharp drop in advertising revenue, particularly in April and May, and the decline in sales revenue for the entire health platform. Moreover, bookings for the coming months did not indicate any improvement. "The print section represents the largest cost block in our media network. If you have to pull the emergency brake, then of course it's where it's most costly," says Deutsch.
With 568,000 readers, GES is (or was) the largest subscribed health magazine, yet it has clearly not been successful in the advertising market. The unit manager is visibly disappointed about this. After the era with TV doctor Samuel Stutz, attempts were made to make GES "more attractive and credible", but this was not supported enough by advertisers, says Deutsch. "It seems that customers don't differentiate between credible and untrustworthy magazines." He is referring to the large number of "free PR magazines" such as Drogistenstern (867,000 readers), Vista or "Sprechstunde Doktor Stutz", which is distributed four times a year at post offices (the latter two do not have a Wemf reach). Deutsch: "They are all clogging up the market."
But what is the reaction at Konsumenteninfo AG, the publishing house that also publishes a subscription title in the same subject area, GesundheitsTipp (532,000 readers)? "As a journalist, you always regret when a newspaper goes out of business - even if it's your biggest competitor," says Head of Marketing Peter Salvisberg. However, the development in the market is an incentive for Konsumenteninfo AG to perform its information task even better with what is now the only subscription health magazine in Switzerland. "We stand for critical, credible journalism that doesn't let the billion-dollar healthcare market dictate the topics," says Salvisberg. Moreover, the company has a good understanding with Ringier and is "open to discussions about possible points of contact". For example, the two magazines have 195,000 double readers. "If some of the other 170,000 GES readers now discover GesundheitsTipp, we would of course be delighted," says the Head of Marketing. And how does he assess the situation in the advertising market? "Advertising that was placed in GES definitely fits in with Gesundheitstipp. However, we have a maximum of 25 percent advertising per issue - so it really stands out," says Salvisberg.
The question remains as to why Gesundheitstipp, with its declining advertising volume and only two to three advertisements per issue, is surviving better than GES, which still had around seven to eight advertisements per issue in recent months. Fibo Deutsch has one main explanation for this: "A big house has big costs, a small house has small costs". And he adds: "The overheads are simply higher for us."
Markus Knöpfli
According to Fibo Deutsch, Head of the Health Unit, the decisive factor in the decision to discontinue the GES magazine was the sharp drop in advertising revenue, particularly in April and May, and the decline in sales revenue for the entire health platform. Moreover, bookings for the coming months did not indicate any improvement. "The print section represents the largest cost block in our media network. If you have to pull the emergency brake, then of course it's where it's most costly," says Deutsch.
With 568,000 readers, GES is (or was) the largest subscribed health magazine, yet it has clearly not been successful in the advertising market. The unit manager is visibly disappointed about this. After the era with TV doctor Samuel Stutz, attempts were made to make GES "more attractive and credible", but this was not supported enough by advertisers, says Deutsch. "It seems that customers don't differentiate between credible and untrustworthy magazines." He is referring to the large number of "free PR magazines" such as Drogistenstern (867,000 readers), Vista or "Sprechstunde Doktor Stutz", which is distributed four times a year at post offices (the latter two do not have a Wemf reach). Deutsch: "They are all clogging up the market."
But what is the reaction at Konsumenteninfo AG, the publishing house that also publishes a subscription title in the same subject area, GesundheitsTipp (532,000 readers)? "As a journalist, you always regret when a newspaper goes out of business - even if it's your biggest competitor," says Head of Marketing Peter Salvisberg. However, the development in the market is an incentive for Konsumenteninfo AG to perform its information task even better with what is now the only subscription health magazine in Switzerland. "We stand for critical, credible journalism that doesn't let the billion-dollar healthcare market dictate the topics," says Salvisberg. Moreover, the company has a good understanding with Ringier and is "open to discussions about possible points of contact". For example, the two magazines have 195,000 double readers. "If some of the other 170,000 GES readers now discover GesundheitsTipp, we would of course be delighted," says the Head of Marketing. And how does he assess the situation in the advertising market? "Advertising that was placed in GES definitely fits in with Gesundheitstipp. However, we have a maximum of 25 percent advertising per issue - so it really stands out," says Salvisberg.
The question remains as to why Gesundheitstipp, with its declining advertising volume and only two to three advertisements per issue, is surviving better than GES, which still had around seven to eight advertisements per issue in recent months. Fibo Deutsch has one main explanation for this: "A big house has big costs, a small house has small costs". And he adds: "The overheads are simply higher for us."
Markus Knöpfli
