Grounded in Vienna
Due to a ‘Todes-Sturm’ (Österreich – see picture of cover – subheading ‘Flugzeug durch Luft gewirbelt’) in Austria yesterday and equally bad weather in Amsterdam today I am grounded in Vienna. Picked up two interesting free stuff these days however (one from Österreich, one from Heute), so in terms of gaining knowledge on the volatile Austrian newspaper market this 16 hour delay (so far) has its positive sides as well.
Saturday night I picked up ‘Live – Heute Das Beste der Woche’ the weekend magazine published by free daily ‘heute’. The 76-page glossy does not have a cover price but it can be subscribed to. Most of the circulation, however, seems to be distributed for free in boxes in the city. The paper focuses on celebrities and popular culture and does also contain the complete TV program of the coming week.
The surprise was on page 74. This page apparently contains every week an interview with Hans Dichand, the most powerful man in newspapers in Austria. Dichand is the publisher and 50% owner of Kronen Zeitung, the absolute market leader in Austria with a circulation of almost 900,000 and a market share of 40% in the paid market.
In 2001 Dichand also started his own free paper in Vienna: U-Express. After three years the paper was closed down. Not because Dichand wanted that but because the owner of the other 50% of Kronen Zeitung, German publisher WAZ, decided to end it. Dichand only meets WAZ in court (in Switzerland) so no love lost between the two.
Dichand, however, can not participate in any other new newspaper project without the consent of WAZ, so launching his own free paper seemed to be impossible. But he found a way. In September 2004 a new free daily was launched, published by… Eva Dichand, Hans Dichand’s daughter in law. Behind the paper were undisclosed ‘private investors’ but many Austrians had a clue who that could be. WAZ, however, could not prove Dichand’s participation. The weekly interview apparently is another intended insult to WAZ.
Also the new Austrian daily Österreich had a surprise in the form of a Sunday edition. So far Österreich only distributed for six days a week. The paper is distributed for free in the main cities and can be subscribed to as well (see previous post).
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:38 pm
[...] new provocation was the weekly column Dichand wrote for ‘Live’ since 2008 (see previous post). The recent sale could be an extension of Kronen Zeitung, but at the same time it is sponsering [...]