French-speaking Switzerland barricades
Cinema magazines Movement among film magazines in French-speaking Switzerland: The cinema marketer Cinecom is making new acquisitions for the small Films, while competitor Mediavision is putting its hand on the big Live.
Cinema magazines Movement among film magazines in French-speaking Switzerland: The cinema marketer Cinecom is making a new acquisition for the small Films, while competitor Mediavision is putting its hand on the big Live. The French cinema marketer Mediavision (MV), which has a 45 percent market share of cinema advertising in French-speaking Switzerland, has nothing directly to do with Live, the largest free cinema magazine in French-speaking Switzerland (140000 copies). And yet there has recently been a link between MV and Live - similar to the one that already exists between MV and the second free cinema magazine in French-speaking Switzerland, Avant première (AP), and its German-speaking Swiss sister magazine, Film demnächst: AP (97845 copies) and Film demnächst (134210 copies) are published by Promoéditions, a wholly owned publishing subsidiary of Quorum Communication in French-speaking Switzerland. The marketing of both magazines (also with combined advertising) is handled by
Promoguide, also a wholly owned subsidiary of the Quorum Group. Cinema industry expert Jean-Pierre Grey is responsible for the two magazines, and recently also joined Live as publishing director on behalf of Promoéditions.
Although Live is owned by the Lausanne publishing house Télimage, it transferred the production of Live to Promoéditions in February 2003 - with the aim of reducing costs. Grey refocused the previous music and film magazine entirely on film and has journalists from AP also write for Live. However, he emphasizes that neither magazine will take articles from the other. No cooperation is planned in the advertising sector either. However, such a cooperation would make sense because both together cover the Romandie cinemas completely: Live is available in cinemas of the Europlex chain (leased by Cinecom!), AP serves the others.
So what is the connection between MV and Live? Primarily in the person of Olivier Bloch, Director of Mediavision Suisse, but also through Roland Ray, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Quorum Group. The two are friends and are also linked through board functions in various companies. Bloch, for example, is an authorized signatory of both Quorum subsidiaries and, within Promoéditions, is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the publishing house of Film imnächst. Conversely, Ray is Chairman of the Board at Bloch's advertising agency Mediapresse.
(Advertising) basket for Luchsinger
These connections are particularly explosive from the perspective of MV's competitor Cinecom, which markets the Teleclub cinema magazine Close-up (15,9,840 copies) in German-speaking Switzerland and would also like to be active in the print sector in French-speaking Switzerland. At the beginning of the year, it took over the marketing of the subscription magazine Films (20,000 copies). Although a combination with the free magazine Close-up makes no sense, Cinecom is entering the homes of its competitor with Films, which is also available in cinemas with MV leases. Matthias Luchsinger, CEO and co-owner of Cinecom, sees the new commitment primarily as an expansion of Cinecom's presence in French-speaking Switzerland. He also makes no secret of the fact that he would be interested in marketing Live and has already held talks. In fact, Live would fit well into the Cinecom portfolio because, like Live, Close-up is also linked to a cinema chain - Kitag. However, Luchsinger has apparently been turned down by Télimage. In any case, Télimage renewed its contract with the Lausanne agency General Media in February. It was able to increase Live's advertising volume by 6.5 percent last year! This is also exceptional in this sector: AP, for example, lost 11.6 percent.
As long as the MV-Quorum-Télimage connection exists, it will probably be even more difficult for Cinecom to access Live in the future. The reverse is more likely: that Teleclub Close-up will pass into new hands, such as those of General Media or Promoguide. This would pave the way for new combinations. Whether this happens depends on what is stronger: the pressure on the advertising front or the connections between Teleclub, Ringier, Sat1 (Switzerland) and Cinecom.
Winding publishing and advertising paths in the French-speaking Swiss cinema magazine market lead to the cash registers of Ray, Grey and Bloch.
New in Cinecom's portfolio alongside Close-up: Films.
Markus Knöpfli
Promoguide, also a wholly owned subsidiary of the Quorum Group. Cinema industry expert Jean-Pierre Grey is responsible for the two magazines, and recently also joined Live as publishing director on behalf of Promoéditions.
Although Live is owned by the Lausanne publishing house Télimage, it transferred the production of Live to Promoéditions in February 2003 - with the aim of reducing costs. Grey refocused the previous music and film magazine entirely on film and has journalists from AP also write for Live. However, he emphasizes that neither magazine will take articles from the other. No cooperation is planned in the advertising sector either. However, such a cooperation would make sense because both together cover the Romandie cinemas completely: Live is available in cinemas of the Europlex chain (leased by Cinecom!), AP serves the others.
So what is the connection between MV and Live? Primarily in the person of Olivier Bloch, Director of Mediavision Suisse, but also through Roland Ray, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Quorum Group. The two are friends and are also linked through board functions in various companies. Bloch, for example, is an authorized signatory of both Quorum subsidiaries and, within Promoéditions, is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the publishing house of Film imnächst. Conversely, Ray is Chairman of the Board at Bloch's advertising agency Mediapresse.
(Advertising) basket for Luchsinger
These connections are particularly explosive from the perspective of MV's competitor Cinecom, which markets the Teleclub cinema magazine Close-up (15,9,840 copies) in German-speaking Switzerland and would also like to be active in the print sector in French-speaking Switzerland. At the beginning of the year, it took over the marketing of the subscription magazine Films (20,000 copies). Although a combination with the free magazine Close-up makes no sense, Cinecom is entering the homes of its competitor with Films, which is also available in cinemas with MV leases. Matthias Luchsinger, CEO and co-owner of Cinecom, sees the new commitment primarily as an expansion of Cinecom's presence in French-speaking Switzerland. He also makes no secret of the fact that he would be interested in marketing Live and has already held talks. In fact, Live would fit well into the Cinecom portfolio because, like Live, Close-up is also linked to a cinema chain - Kitag. However, Luchsinger has apparently been turned down by Télimage. In any case, Télimage renewed its contract with the Lausanne agency General Media in February. It was able to increase Live's advertising volume by 6.5 percent last year! This is also exceptional in this sector: AP, for example, lost 11.6 percent.
As long as the MV-Quorum-Télimage connection exists, it will probably be even more difficult for Cinecom to access Live in the future. The reverse is more likely: that Teleclub Close-up will pass into new hands, such as those of General Media or Promoguide. This would pave the way for new combinations. Whether this happens depends on what is stronger: the pressure on the advertising front or the connections between Teleclub, Ringier, Sat1 (Switzerland) and Cinecom.
Winding publishing and advertising paths in the French-speaking Swiss cinema magazine market lead to the cash registers of Ray, Grey and Bloch.
New in Cinecom's portfolio alongside Close-up: Films.
Markus Knöpfli
