Hamburg publishers are earning more and more money online - and through direct dialogue with their readers. New sources of revenue between management seminars and hyperlocal journalism: an industry overview
Hamburg - publishing stronghold, central pillar of the German media landscape. This or something similar is the classic narrative about the role of the Hanseatic city in the press industry. Titles such as Spiegel, Stern and Zeit have written media history; publishers such as Gruner & Jahr - now part of RTL -, Jahreszeiten Verlag and the Bauer Group have shaped the magazine market with titles such as Geo, Merian and Bravo.
But how does this image fit into an age in which influencers are in direct contact with their audience via TikTok, media consumption is changing and the advertising pie is being redistributed? According to estimates by investment bankers at Goldman Sachs, global sales in the so-called creator economy are set to almost double to USD 480 billion by 2027.
We ask Holger Volland. He is CEO of Brand Eins Medien AG, which publishes the business magazine of the same name. He summarises the situation as follows: Diverse, sometimes volatile revenue situation at both small and large media houses. Some, even established companies, urgently need new revenue models. Others are doing brilliantly. There are all kinds.
From his point of view, one positive aspect is that "the shock of digitalisation has been overcome," says Holger Volland. Unlike 10 years ago, it is now clear that readers are willing to pay for digital content. "And most publishers also know which new areas they can invest in alongside their traditional business."
Christoph Zimmer, Head of Product Development at the Spiegel Group, confirms this, at least for his publishing house. The digital subscription model has become "the central pillar" 30 years after the launch of Spiegel Online, he says. The paywall followed six years ago, first at Spiegel and later at its sister publications Manager Magazin, Harvard Business Manager and 11 Freunde. In 2023, digital subscription revenues exceeded those from print for the first time. By 2025, they are expected to increase by a further third to 75 million euros, says Christoph Zimmer.
Digital business is also growing at Die Zeit. But here, too, they are noticing that influencers and creators are marketing their content directly and independently of publishers. "Many young people now get their information primarily via TikTok and less via traditional media," says Zeit Verlagsgruppe Managing Director Christian Röpke, who as Chief Product Officer is responsible for the digitalisation of all business models. In the past, social media was often a stepping stone to news sites.
"Facebook and other social networks stopped sending traffic to us a long time ago"
"But Facebook and other social networks have long since stopped passing traffic over to us," says Christian Röpke. The growing popularity of ChatGPT and other AI tools also raises the question of how traffic from Google and other search engines will develop. "Will searchers eventually be satisfied with the answers provided by AI?" So far, however, Google still accounts for a high proportion of traffic, up to 30 per cent.
On the other hand, many people are increasingly looking for orientation, authenticity and relevance due to the flood of partly artificially generated content. Publishing managers agree on this. The pandemic and other crises are also boosting the quality media. According to Christian Röpke, this is another reason why Die Zeit was able to gain around 120,000 new digital subscribers between 2020 and 2023. According to the manager, this is the other side of the coin of corresponding news situations. "As the digital subscription is almost on a par with the print subscription in terms of price, we were able to increase revenues enormously while print circulation remained stable and are still very profitable," says Christian Röpke.
In order to increase reader loyalty, Die Zeit sometimes takes unconventional approaches and allows subscriptions to be shared, for example. "Most streaming services are doing the opposite," says Christian Röpke. In his view, however, sharing can increase subscription retention. "After all, you wouldn't just be cancelling for yourself."
Holger Volland knows that earning money at the bottom line is not a matter of course in the industry. "Many publishers are stuck in the classic innovation dilemma," he says. "Sales of traditional products are under pressure, but at the same time it takes time to invest in new products and make them more efficient." According to him, the printed monthly magazine now accounts for around half of Brand Eins' total subscription, sales and advertising revenue. New products and revenue models are constantly being added, says the CEO.
"Sales of traditional products are under pressure, but at the same time we need time to invest in new products and make them more efficient."
Brand Eins, Die Zeit and other publishers are therefore focussing on new business areas such as events and training formats. According to Christian Röpke, Zeit organises more than 150 events per year, from reader events to B2B events. Brand eins is also driving the sale of community-based content on economic topics such as leadership and money, including newsletters and magazine packages. The same applies to the corporate media business, where the publishing house produces magazines and podcasts for companies.
And the local press? According to Statista, the circulation of top dog "Hamburger Abendblatt" has shrunk by a third since 2016 to around 116,000 copies. The e-paper circulation has more than doubled since then to around 30,600 copies. The former Springer title, which has been part of the Essen-based Funke Mediengruppe for 10 years, thus remains Hamburg's best-selling daily newspaper.
The tabloid "Hamburger Morgenpost", or Mopo for short, has only been published on Fridays instead of six days since 2024 due to "excessive printing and distribution costs" and is thicker and more expensive as a result. As Mopo.de has an average of 450,000 users per day, online reporting is to be expanded and digital advertising revenue increased, as publisher Arist von Harpe recently explained in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Only time will tell whether this will work out.
In addition, niche providers such as "Eimsbütteler Nachrichten" appeal to their target groups with hyperlocal content that no one else covers. According to its website, "Eimsbütteler" aims to be "not a PR platform, not a tabloid and not a cheese rag", but to offer "well-founded news" for a neighbourhood. The model seems to be working. "Buschfunk für die Eimsbütteler Dorfkultur" has been published online since 2016 and in printed form several times a year.
And how are the freelancers doing? We attend a meeting of Freischreiber, an association for freelance journalists, to get a picture of the mood. The topic of the evening: "Writing with AI." It's a lively discussion. Scepticism, criticism and a spirit of optimism mingle. One colleague is still transcribing interviews minute by minute herself, the other is happy that the AI spits out a text version of her own podcast in seconds and the keywords for SEO optimisation at the same time.
A former Geo Saison reporter feeds ChatGPT with scenic text entries so that the AI will eventually write like him and spends up to 350 euros a month on AI tools. It's only worth it, he says, because he trains corporate communications departments in the use of AI for "good money".
"It's like playing Lego: The text is just the basis to which you can dock different bricks, here another workshop, there another podcast."
"In times of low fees, we freelancers have to cook a lot of small dishes," says Regine Marxen. The freelance journalist specialises in healthcare, Hamburg and food & beverage, produces a craft beer podcast as a trained beer sommelier and advises on audio projects. "It's like playing Lego: The text is just the base to which you can dock different bricks, a workshop here, a podcast there."
Holger Volland, who moved to Hamburg from Frankfurt for the CEO job at Brand Eins, is impressed by the openness of Hamburg's press landscape. "No one here is stonewalling, but I see a great willingness to network with smaller tech companies and those from outside the industry."
Various initiatives, such as the Hamburg Media School's Media Innovation Programme (MIP) orthe city's nextMedia.Hamburg initiative, promote this exchange. The latter is part of the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft and the first point of contact for Hamburg's media and digital industry. nextMedia promotes sustainable business models at the interface of content and technology with various (innovation) programmes, events and content. Since 2023, nextMedia has been running SPACE in Hamburg's Speicherstadt warehouse district, an innovation space where companies, start-ups, media professionals and creatives come together to exchange knowledge and work together on innovative solutions. In September, the initiative joined forces with a board of leading media companies to organise the 16th edition of scoopcamp, the Hamburg conference for publishers. The focus was on the question of financing journalism.
An interdisciplinary exchange is also necessary, as change is progressing: "We are making good progress," says Christian Röpke, looking at the times. "Nevertheless, we need to develop strategies to turn young people into fans where they prefer to be, such as on vertical video portals, which are increasingly becoming closed systems." Quality media must be so relevant and interesting, says Christian Röpke, that readers go straight to them or rediscover them. "That sounds banal, but it's a big task."
"Quality media such as DIE ZEIT offer people an important orientation in these times with their alert and rested view, and this is also the recipe with which we approach the topic of AI: We are counting on our journalism to be so unique and surprising, even in times of AI-generated content, that we remain an indispensable companion for orientation and categorisation."
"Cooperation is essential, especially for independents like brand eins, as we don't always have all the necessary skills and resources in-house to develop innovative offerings. The partners then contribute their expertise and we can focus on the content and communication with the target group."
"I know few freelance journalists who work purely as journalists because it's too difficult to make a living from it alone. Some shift their focus to the training sector, for example, for reasons of financial security."
"Colleagues from product, technology and editorial often speak a completely different language and work at different times. That's why we need a shared vision, but above all a lot of communication and a coffee in between to avoid misunderstandings."
