Google and Facebook put media houses under pressure
In Switzerland, younger people in particular are increasingly informing themselves via platforms such as Google and Facebook. The extent to which this "platformization" is putting professional information journalism under pressure was discussed by experts, including Werbewoche Editor-in-Chief Anne-Friederike Heinrich, at the presentation of the yearbook "Quality of the Media.
A few professional providers dominate the media scene, note the authors of the latest "Quality of the Media" yearbook. In German-speaking Switzerland, the three largest media companies covered 71 percent of the online reach market in 2016. In French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino, this dominance by the big players is even more pronounced. The Public and Society Research Institute (fög) at the University of Zurich compiles the yearbook every year. It is published by Schabe Verlag and financed by the Kurt Imhof Foundation for Media Quality and the University of Zurich.
On the six main findings including graphs
In addition to the well-known media houses, however, more and more smaller and new providers are establishing themselves online, most of which have relatively few users. According to the yearbook, some of them adhere to journalistic quality criteria, while others hardly follow these guidelines or pursue particular interests.
What they all have in common is that they are exposed to the pull of tech intermediaries and platforms. For most providers, the relationship is extremely difficult, the authors write. A "platformization" emanating primarily from Google and Facebook is putting professional journalism under pressure.
Moreover, due to a lack of resources and a decreasing willingness to invest in journalistic products, professional providers are less and less able to actually perform their quality assurance tasks.
Media promotion recommended
The Yearbook authors recommend that Switzerland should open up to "more extensive forms of non-state (...) media promotion." In order for national media to benefit sufficiently from advertising revenues, they believe that an advertising tax for global tech intermediaries should be considered.
The yearbook advises private media companies to cross-subsidize non-publicist segments in favor of journalistic offerings. Cooperation between private companies and SRG, which is financed by fees, makes sense above all in the development of new technologies and in education and training.
Young people in particular need to be made aware of the importance of professional information media, the authors also believe. With a digital infrastructure co-financed by the public sector, small, professional providers could also be integrated into the "online world.
"Digital first"
"Digital first": 41 percent of the Swiss population now obtain their information primarily online, on news sites of media providers or via social media. 30 percent cite television as the most important source of news, 18 percent print media and 9 percent radio.
Older people use television and newspapers. But the younger people are, the more they mainly get their information online. For 18- to 24-year-olds, the web is now the most important source of news. Only 14 percent of this youngest age group still get their information mainly from television.
Compared with other countries, people in Switzerland are more likely to go directly to media companies in search of news. They use apps or go directly to the site. The authors of the yearbook note that loyalty to established news brands is still relatively high.
But the group that uses search engines to track down content, is confronted with news in social media or receives it from news aggregators is likely to become more important. Social media is used by 28 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, ahead of media company portals (27 percent) and search engines (26 percent).
Advertising money for tech intermediaries
This competition from tech intermediaries is taking advertising revenue away from media companies, the yearbook says. Facebook and Google dominate the advertising market. The fact that their advertising revenues are growing is due not least to the fact that they offer high-quality content without giving editorial staff a share of the revenue.
Readers also show little willingness to pay for news from the Internet: Only just over one in ten users (11 percent) paid for news from the web. Those who mainly inform themselves via social media are even less willing to pay than users of established media offerings. (SDA/akk)
