Why Watson is the most exciting Swiss media startup

I recently came across an article in the SonntagsZeitung in which I was asked about my media usage behavior. At that time I mentioned that - in addition to many blogs - I most often get information from Tages-Anzeiger.ch/Newsnetz and Spiegel Online. I don't use traditional media such as newspapers, radio and TV anyway - I only consume news online.

Something has changed significantly since this little article in October 2013: Watson went online. Watson is now the only news app on my phone's home screen, only Watson is allowed to send me push messages and I also get my first news overview in the morning from Watson.

Why do I use Watson so intensively? I think it's the mix that makes the difference: the various news tickers satisfy my need for the latest information. Maurice Thiriet and Philipp Löpfe write background reports and analyses of a quality that I miss in many other media. Thanks to the cooperation with Spiegel Online, I already read their best articles on Watson. Other information such as the weather forecast is not provided because a Meteo app is installed on every cell phone anyway.

I believe that Watson is doing a lot of things right: Back in February 2014, I... KleinReport said that I don't miss the classic navigation at all, which is not available in Watson. Consistent optimization on mobile devices is of course more important today than ever, and work has been underway on desktop displays in the meantime.

The web formats are also very interesting: Instead of bothering readers with flashing banners, the creators rely on native advertising. A good example is the current one Food theme week, which is not disturbing at all, but is at least partially informative.

Classic media companies may laugh at the forms of advertising and the still low user numbers compared to other Swiss news portals, as I always notice in conversations with publishers. I think that's a mistake: No other Swiss news site has such a handle on communication via social networks as Watson, and the editorial team keeps coming up with viral hits that also work outside of German-speaking Switzerland. Of course, this is not a coincidence, but rather hard work, supported by the consistent analysis of the data.

With these learnings, Watson is well prepared for expansion. At a conference in Vienna, founder and editor-in-chief Hansi Voigt recently said that Watson was released in 2016 Austria wants to expand - but before that we have to tackle Germany becomes. This is the right step: many articles are already of interest to German and Austrian readers. Of course, investments are also required in these markets, but Watson can scale into the DACH region much more easily than other media companies that rely much more heavily on local content and do not have the viral mechanisms under control.

Watson has the potential to become an important player in the German-speaking news portal market.