Is the Nebelspalter a media startup - or a smokescreen?

Some time ago it became known that Nebelspalter, which claims to be the oldest existing satirical magazine in Switzerland, was taken over by a group of investors led by Markus Somm. It is not surprising that Somm, former editor-in-chief of the Basler Zeitung and almost editor-in-chief of the NZZ, is looking for a new field of activity. It seems to be in vogue for every journalist with a high sense of mission to found their own medium (Constantin Seibt die republic, René Zeyer Zackbum).

But why would a man like Somm buy a satirical magazine?

In the first project announcements he announced that Satire only a fraction of the contents of the newborn Mistsplitter. Rather, the focus should be on tough research, of course served in articles with a right-wing civil orientation. To do this, he gathered some excellent journalists such as Dominik Feusi around him, who regularly attracts attention with right-wing articles, but always delivers hard-hitting primers and good analyses.

Neither Somm nor his backers are digital natives, and the first impression of the website doesn't seem that way either. as if the creators knew a lot about the new world. Nevertheless, the editor-in-chief calls Nebelspalter a media startup. How does that fit together?

Since the new Nebelspalter went online on March 18, 2021, it has been clear: All articles are hidden behind a hard paywall, only the title and the first three lines are freely readable (the paywall is implemented poorly, the entire text is visible for free in the HTML source text). Most of the articles are political and so free of humor that they could also have been printed in Weltwoche. The first comments from Somm, Regula Stämpfli and Gottlieb F. Höpli don't really fit into a satirical magazine (although humor is a matter of opinion...). Podcasts and videos, including those with Laura Zimmermann (Operation Libero), Corona skeptic Reto Brennwald and Tamara Wernli, are freely available.

As a rule, a startup wants and needs to make money. Investors finance the company until it makes a profit and then demand a correspondingly high return. Watson and the Republic have shown how difficult it is to make money with journalism.

The Postilion, by far the most successful general interest satire site in German-speaking countries, comes according to Media data in the DACH region to 0.72 million users on desktop and 2.78 million unique users on mobile. The CPMs range between EUR 11 and EUR 73.

Such click numbers are of course not achievable for a satirical site in the much smaller Switzerland, especially if the target group is much narrower and the content is locked behind the paywall. Sure, right-wing content is to be expected at Somm, but I doubt that many people will just pull out their credit card.

The advertising rates that Nebelspalter calls for are between CHF 1,500 and CHF 30,000, whereby We deliberately avoided banner advertising becomes. Proud prices when you consider that probably only a few thousand users at most see the advertising behind the paywall.

But the real problem is different: Will paying users also accept advertising (and the associated advertising trackers)? At Spiegel, readers have to decide whether they want to consume the website for free but with advertising, or ad-free but pay EUR 4.99 per month. The first experiences are promising. Perhaps it would make more sense to rely on such a model, after all there are high fixed costs to cover - the journalists poached by established media are unlikely to bother with one Republic standard wage of CHF 8,000 let it be eaten.

I don't understand how break-even can ever be achieved.

Nevertheless, well-known investors have invested CHF 7 million in the Nebelspalter operating company Klarsicht AG.

This raises the suspicion that, unlike a classic startup, the Nebelspalter never wants to make money and - although the company name promises it - does not provide clarity, but is a smokescreen. With primitive, racist cartoons First and foremost, the limit of what can be said should be pushed further to the right. (The fact that this comic apparently dates from the pre-Somm era and is only now causing outrage is probably mainly due to the fact that the Mistsplitter usually gets far less attention than it does these days.)

The donors' calculation behind the editorial, non-satirical content is also likely to be simple: clearly liberal, libertarian or right-wing, and I dare to bet that - analogous to Weltwoche - the quality of a significant proportion of the articles will be high, and there will also be strong investigative pieces among them. However, the aim is not for as many Swiss people as possible to buy a single article for CHF 1.60 or a monthly subscription for CHF 16, but for other journalists to pick up the story. The story should make waves and the right-wing narrative should be spread further.

I'm sure that - just like World Week - excitement will be thrown in on a regular basis. The Swiss journalist bubble will be outraged on Twitter and in their posts about the Nebelspalter's right-wing provocations, and thus continue to spread Somm's actual message. The calculation that has worked for the SVP for thirty years, for Breitbart and also for fake news slingers could also work for Nebelspalter.

Dear journalists: Thank you for not jumping on every smokescreen that Somm throws at you!