Switzerland: free paper war on the horizon

Posted by John Burke on October 31, 2005 at 4:20 PM

Two of the biggest Swiss publishers, Edipresse and Tamedia, are gearing up for intense free-paper competition.

On October 31, Edipresse became the first of the two to launch a freesheet. The paper entitled Le Matin Bleu, complements the publishers' flagship, Le Matin, which has a paid circulation of 350,000 copies per day.

Four months from now, Tamedia plans to launch Lausanne and Genvea versions of 20 Minutes, already the most popular title in German speaking Switzerland at 948,000 daily readers. Some feel that because of its experience, 20 Minutes will not be harmed because of the gap in launch dates between the two freebies.

The problem posed to these two papers in French-speaking Switzerland is the market's small size. Jean Widmer, professor of communication and media sociology at Fribourg University said, "I would say there isn't room for two. In the French part of Switzerland there are around 1.3 million people, which is much less than in the German part, and the target population is limited to Lausanne and Geneva."

20 Minutes, however, may have the upper hand. Being already established in the German-speaking part of the country, 20 Minutes can provide advertisers national exposure instead of only regional French-speaking exposure.

Source: Swiss Info

Posted in :