"We are creating a second price level"
Holtzbrinck Vice President Michael Grabner on 20-minute clones and Aldi as a source of inspiration for publishers.
Holtzbrinck Vice President Michael Grabner on 20 Minuten clones and Aldi as a source of publishing inspiration.WW Mr. Grabner, to Swiss eyes, 20 Cent and News look like 20 Minuten clones. Is this appearance deceptive? Grabner Not as far as 20 Cent is concerned. The Swiss edition of the commuter paper was actually the main source of inspiration for its development. News, on the other hand, is a first field test in the "daily magazine" genre. The aim here is to find the right mix of a fast, easy-to-consume news stream and magazine-style articles.
Is News the reinvention of the daily newspaper that the crisis-ridden industry has long been waiting for? we have no such lofty aspirations. Print products with a similar hybrid character have been around in southern Europe for some time. I think the Spanish papers El Païs and El Periodico are trend-setting. News is probably a new format for our latitudes, but it follows an old, pragmatic strategy: we test, constantly examine the results and continue to test on the basis of them.
How expensive is this live experiment and what circulation are you aiming for in the Frankfurt area in the medium term?
We do not provide any information on circulation figures. And the costs only marginally exceed those of a laboratory test. At the same time, the knowledge gained is many times more valuable.
Do you think Holtzbrinck's daily magazine concept is exportable? But anyone interested in importing can contact me at any time. (laughs)
At 50 cents, News - like Welt kompakt - costs less than half the usual price. The same applies to the average advertising page. Isn't this aldization of the newspaper business too high a price to pay for the acquisition of new readers in the long term?
No, top discounters like Aldi and Lidl show that. They are not starving either. They have also dynamized and expanded the entire food trade. I see no reason why we shouldn't be able to do the same.
This means we are heading towards a two-tier society of premium and low-cost readers...
...except that this is by no means a clear-cut distinction, with both classes mingling happily. In the same way that more and more people wear H&M today and Gucci tomorrow, the number of people reading for a change is increasing. People can no longer be pinned down in this area either - especially those that our innovations are intended to reach: young people and women.
In addition to new forms of journalism, News also wants to create a second price level.
Exactly. Incidentally, this practice, which has long been common in other industries, originated in Switzerland. Until the introduction of Swatch, the watch industry was dead. The textile and furniture industries were also at rock bottom before they were shaken up by H&M and Ikea respectively. In this respect, this development cannot harm the newspaper industry, which has always been somewhat more conservative.
Do you think a return of the commuter newspaper 20 Minuten to Germany is conceivable? You certainly seem to be preparing the ground for this.
Not everything that is conceivable is also worthwhile. Germany's agglomerations are not commuter newspaper areas. If this attractive distribution model could be recalculated here, we would probably have become active ourselves. But one difference remains: We do not want to and will not give our products away in the future.
Interview: Oliver Classen
Is News the reinvention of the daily newspaper that the crisis-ridden industry has long been waiting for? we have no such lofty aspirations. Print products with a similar hybrid character have been around in southern Europe for some time. I think the Spanish papers El Païs and El Periodico are trend-setting. News is probably a new format for our latitudes, but it follows an old, pragmatic strategy: we test, constantly examine the results and continue to test on the basis of them.
How expensive is this live experiment and what circulation are you aiming for in the Frankfurt area in the medium term?
We do not provide any information on circulation figures. And the costs only marginally exceed those of a laboratory test. At the same time, the knowledge gained is many times more valuable.
Do you think Holtzbrinck's daily magazine concept is exportable? But anyone interested in importing can contact me at any time. (laughs)
At 50 cents, News - like Welt kompakt - costs less than half the usual price. The same applies to the average advertising page. Isn't this aldization of the newspaper business too high a price to pay for the acquisition of new readers in the long term?
No, top discounters like Aldi and Lidl show that. They are not starving either. They have also dynamized and expanded the entire food trade. I see no reason why we shouldn't be able to do the same.
This means we are heading towards a two-tier society of premium and low-cost readers...
...except that this is by no means a clear-cut distinction, with both classes mingling happily. In the same way that more and more people wear H&M today and Gucci tomorrow, the number of people reading for a change is increasing. People can no longer be pinned down in this area either - especially those that our innovations are intended to reach: young people and women.
In addition to new forms of journalism, News also wants to create a second price level.
Exactly. Incidentally, this practice, which has long been common in other industries, originated in Switzerland. Until the introduction of Swatch, the watch industry was dead. The textile and furniture industries were also at rock bottom before they were shaken up by H&M and Ikea respectively. In this respect, this development cannot harm the newspaper industry, which has always been somewhat more conservative.
Do you think a return of the commuter newspaper 20 Minuten to Germany is conceivable? You certainly seem to be preparing the ground for this.
Not everything that is conceivable is also worthwhile. Germany's agglomerations are not commuter newspaper areas. If this attractive distribution model could be recalculated here, we would probably have become active ourselves. But one difference remains: We do not want to and will not give our products away in the future.
Interview: Oliver Classen
