Weltwoche continues to lurch
Newsstand sales pick up, but postponed relaunch unsettles advertisers
Newsstand sales pick up, but the postponed relaunch unsettles advertising customersBy Markus Knöpfli The announced takeover by Ringier is causing problems for Weltwoche: Editorial staff members are jumping ship again, advertisers are holding back. Despite the first silver lining on the horizon.
When Weltwoche co-editor-in-chief Roger Köppel was asked at the Epiphany conference how the editorial team had reacted to the takeover by Ringier, the usually quick-witted Köppel dodged the question. Because of the postponed relaunch, motivation was now necessary, he said only.
Two weeks later, more can be said about the state of affairs at Weltwoche: Esther Girsberger and Matthias Baer are leaving the editorial team, and Urs Paul Engeler is abandoning his planned move from SonntagsZeitung to Weltwoche.
The postponement of the relaunch also left advertisers partly in the lurch. "We had a big lull in January," says publishing director Uli Rubner. Many potential advertisers would wait for the relaunch, and some who had booked for the originally planned first issue of the new magazine on January 31 had withdrawn orders for that date.
Several spring campaigns, on the other hand, remained on schedule. "With good reason," says Rubner, because Weltwoche's realignment under the new editors-in-chief is beginning to bear fruit. Although she is cautious about absolute figures, she does provide index values for newsstand sales (see chart): According to this, newsstand sales have been rising steadily since July, almost without any advertising efforts (excluding the extraordinary peaks in September and October). In November, it was about 50 percent higher than in the same month of the previous year, even though massive TV ads were run at the time.
According to a copy test conducted in November 2001, around 60 percent of subscribers said they had noticed a change at Weltwoche in recent months. A good 30 percent describe the new course as "more provocative, more courageous, more varied and more interesting," while around 14 percent dislike it.
According to Rubner, the shelf life across all subscription types has increased by 2 percent, and the number of student subscriptions (40 percent discount) is also rising. The conversion rate from trial to fixed subscriptions, on the other hand, has not changed significantly. Rubner does, however, expect that certified circulation in the spring will be slightly higher than a year ago (84206 copies).
The hesitation of advertisers is not only due to the postponement of the relaunch, but also to the zigzag course that the Basel media group took with Weltwoche last year. As recently as May, publisher Matthias Hagemann wanted to hold on to both Weltwoche and editor-in-chief Fredy Gsteiger, and merely "position the paper higher" and target it at high-earning and well-educated people (See also WW 18/01).
Since then, everything has changed. According to Rubner, under Köppel/Angst, the paper is once again aimed at a broader audience and is now "less conceited and less academic, but does not dilute the high level of ambition. As a result, Weltwoche is once again more attractive to younger readers.
But Weltwoche's main problem at the moment - and thus also that of its advertising customers - is now the uncertainty as to whether and how long the initial success will last. Because with the sale to Ringier, the concept slalom is probably entering its third run.
When Weltwoche co-editor-in-chief Roger Köppel was asked at the Epiphany conference how the editorial team had reacted to the takeover by Ringier, the usually quick-witted Köppel dodged the question. Because of the postponed relaunch, motivation was now necessary, he said only.
Two weeks later, more can be said about the state of affairs at Weltwoche: Esther Girsberger and Matthias Baer are leaving the editorial team, and Urs Paul Engeler is abandoning his planned move from SonntagsZeitung to Weltwoche.
The postponement of the relaunch also left advertisers partly in the lurch. "We had a big lull in January," says publishing director Uli Rubner. Many potential advertisers would wait for the relaunch, and some who had booked for the originally planned first issue of the new magazine on January 31 had withdrawn orders for that date.
Several spring campaigns, on the other hand, remained on schedule. "With good reason," says Rubner, because Weltwoche's realignment under the new editors-in-chief is beginning to bear fruit. Although she is cautious about absolute figures, she does provide index values for newsstand sales (see chart): According to this, newsstand sales have been rising steadily since July, almost without any advertising efforts (excluding the extraordinary peaks in September and October). In November, it was about 50 percent higher than in the same month of the previous year, even though massive TV ads were run at the time.
According to a copy test conducted in November 2001, around 60 percent of subscribers said they had noticed a change at Weltwoche in recent months. A good 30 percent describe the new course as "more provocative, more courageous, more varied and more interesting," while around 14 percent dislike it.
According to Rubner, the shelf life across all subscription types has increased by 2 percent, and the number of student subscriptions (40 percent discount) is also rising. The conversion rate from trial to fixed subscriptions, on the other hand, has not changed significantly. Rubner does, however, expect that certified circulation in the spring will be slightly higher than a year ago (84206 copies).
The hesitation of advertisers is not only due to the postponement of the relaunch, but also to the zigzag course that the Basel media group took with Weltwoche last year. As recently as May, publisher Matthias Hagemann wanted to hold on to both Weltwoche and editor-in-chief Fredy Gsteiger, and merely "position the paper higher" and target it at high-earning and well-educated people (See also WW 18/01).
Since then, everything has changed. According to Rubner, under Köppel/Angst, the paper is once again aimed at a broader audience and is now "less conceited and less academic, but does not dilute the high level of ambition. As a result, Weltwoche is once again more attractive to younger readers.
But Weltwoche's main problem at the moment - and thus also that of its advertising customers - is now the uncertainty as to whether and how long the initial success will last. Because with the sale to Ringier, the concept slalom is probably entering its third run.
