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Swiss radio and television are expanding their offer on the Internet. In the news area, users should be directed away from other media offerings, as an internal document shows.
Everyone is entitled to an offer – SRF Director Nathalie Wappler justifies the desired top position of the news app.
SRF plans to expand on the Internet and wants to be as relevant there as it is today on radio and television. In the future, at least half of the German-speaking Swiss will use the new SRF news app on a daily basis. Today is about a quarter. Swiss radio and television officials recently expressed this ambitious goal in internal staff information for the “SRF 2024” project, as NZZ learned.
The digital transformation project “SRF2024” is about a radical realignment of Swiss radio and television that SRF announced at the end of August: the principle of “digital first” will apply in the future. Planning and organization are geared towards online channels.
An important part of the project is the fundamental revision of the current smartphone application “SRF News”. The new application should be based on new technologies, be more attractive and easy to use, and increase user loyalty with personalized offers. The ambitious plan calls for a relaunch in late 2021.
SRF is planning an attack on other news offerings
The fact that SRF wants to expand the market share of its news application is understandable from a business perspective. What is explosive, however, is that SRF wants to steal users from existing private offers. An internal analysis by SRF in the spring recommends this approach.
The digital news market in Switzerland is approaching saturation, according to the document. Therefore, significant growth is only possible if users “can win over other offers.” That is why the authors recommend that SRF convince potential users, “who do not usually look for a new novel offer”, of their own offer and encourages them to “change their ritualized habits”. In plain English: instead of “20 Minuten”, “Tages-Anzeiger” or NZZ, the Swiss-German SRF should read.
The internal document also provides recommendations on how you can bring more users to your own smartphone app. For example, more advertising is “urgently needed” to make the SRF application more popular. Linking SRF’s popular sports and weather apps with the news offering is another way to keep users on your own platform longer.
According to the company, the “SRF Meteo” weather app is the most widely used smartphone app on Swiss radio and television. SRF Director Nathalie Wappler also mentioned that the information area should benefit from this range. It will be important that people not only ask about the weather, but also look at other offers.
SRF’s news offering on the Internet already occupies a higher position in German-speaking Switzerland: according to SRF’s analysis, there is only “20 minutes” ahead of SRF. SRF justifies the fact that SRF wants to double its daily user pool with the request: “According to the license, we have to implement offers for everyone in German-speaking Switzerland,” Wappler writes on request.
In the license, however, there is only the passage that the SRG must provide services for young people up to the age of 35. There is no mandate to reach the majority of the population and, in the past, SRG’s radio and television services only reached a minority in certain age groups.
Difficult balancing act between lightness and depth.
The fact that SRF wants to massively expand the reach of its news app will have consequences for content as well. SRF’s analysis concludes that the public’s own information offering is particularly reliable and independent. “But this is only a limited advantage,” they say. Because the reliability that an offering radiates can also be a barrier that drives users away.
Therefore, in the future, SRF’s news offering will broadcast “Ease and Accessibility”. The analysis says that the title and trailers should make people want more, even for the broader population with lower demands. It is intended for users who want a quick overview of the news situation.
Despite the lightness of the surface, SRF wants to continue to provide extensive and detailed information with high-quality content. This journalistic balancing act shouldn’t be easy to master. According to the SRF’s internal analysis, there is a risk of a greater focus on popular topics, which would lead to a loss of quality. The authors speak of a “challenge for SRF” at this point.
SRF competes with funded online media
The alignment of the news offer to reach is not only complicated from a journalistic point of view. It also harbors the potential for explosive politics in the media. On the one hand, the SRF attack is putting existing free offers like “20 Minute” or “Watson” under pressure. On the other hand, however, it also indirectly reduces the federal government’s planned online media funding, which is currently being discussed by parliament, to absurdity.
The Federal Council wants to back online media offerings with 50 million a year. The objective of this instrument is to get the public to pay in the future for relevant content on the Internet, as the message says. That’s why the federal government doesn’t want to endorse any free offerings, but only online media with revenue from the reader market.
While the federal government is giving money on the one hand to promote high-quality journalism on the Internet behind the salary barrier, SRF wants to expand its market share precisely in this segment. Therefore, the legally guaranteed radio and television tax will undermine future federal government efforts to help paid information offerings on the Internet go a long way.
The Federal Office for Responsible Communication (OFCOM) does not want to comment on SRF’s specific plans or media policy contradiction. Programming autonomy applies, write on request. However, OFCOM expects to be briefed in detail by SRG on the transformation strategy, which is still fresh.
Bakom also refers to the licensing restrictions on SRG’s online services. One of them is the focus on audio and video contributions. SRF Director Wappler also notes: “The news app will continue to differ from the text-heavy offerings of private publishers in the future.” The focus continues to be on audiovisual content.
