Saanenland local newspaper launches TV service

When you ask most people why they read the Anzeiger von Saanen, our local newspaper, they'll tell you it's for the ads. When you ask people what they don't like, they'll often say the articles are too long, or that's its restrictive to only have news on Tuesdays and Fridays. Well, the Anzeiger seems to be listening to both the kudos and the critics, with the launch this week of Anzeiger von Saanen TV, a new local info service broadcast onto digital screens positioned in public places around Saanenland.

If you are here right now you might have seen them already - for example while taking a coffee at Charly's, picking up some bread at Brot Bar, working out at Move it, filling up at Overlap, waiting for Dr Amiet or Dr Hauswirth at Chalet Sante, or up at the Hotel Kernen in Schönried. And according to the Anzeiger there are many more locations coming onto the network over the coming weeks and months, including the new Landhaus in Saanen, the MOB station in Gstaad, Raiffeisenbank, the Alpenland in Lauenen, the Molkerei in Schöenried and Glacier3000, to name a few.

Top: Stefan Romang with his new screen running the Anzeiger von Saanen TV local info service at Charly's. Above, regulars at the bar in the Hotel Kernen in Schönried catching up on their local news.

The screens themselves display a mix of local and regional news next to local ads and offers. The cool thing is -- and this we haven't seen anywhere on our travels at home or aboard -- the ads aren't just generic national campaigns...they're are all those useful bits of information masquerading as advertising that appear week in, week-out in the paper. And on top of that, each screen is slightly different, with offers from the local venues where the screen hangs such as items on sale, daily menus, ski conditions, immunization advisories and the like.

While the Anzeiger is a sister publication of this website -- and while we've had issues in the past with the publication's sometimes annoying sense of conservatism -- we have to say that the whole thing all looks quite slick, certainly not the stuff of a sleepy local newspaper. With all the news from the region uploaded every weekday in short summaries, we're psyched that we no longer have to restrict our news intake to twice a week. Right now everything is in German but we are working on getting our hands on it, at least in the high season, so you don't have to rely on your German skills. There's lots in today's newspaper about what this all means for local business and advertisers, but from our consumer perpsective, we say bravo to the Anzeiger. More after the jump.

Below Frank Müller talking (in Swiss-German) about his latest step forward in the local news business:

Below some translated and paraphrased bits of the article that appeared in Friday's Anzeiger about the new TV service (click here to read the original German):

Phase 1: 15 locations across Saanenland: Anzeiger von Saanen TV is broadcast over digital screens which are positioned across Saanenland. Not only meeting points such as bars and cafés but also businesses as well as banks and doctors' waiting rooms are amongst the first venues. "The idea is to find places where there are many people, where one waits, or where one has time to watch the info service", says publisher Frank Müller in his interview. They are starting with 15 venues all over Saanenland, the first ones were turned on this Wednesday and more are to follow until the end of the year.

Anzeiger von Saanen Allmedia: a completely new concept: A year after the launch of the German webpage, Müller Marketing & Druck AG (owner of the Anzeiger) is taking a step into the future of local media with a completely new allmedia concept. Now the local newspaper can be consumed in many different ways: be that in the established print version, online on AnzeigervonSaanen.ch or on the screens of Anzeiger von Saanen TV. This way the reader is always informed - at home and on the road.

 

Your ad in the Anzeiger reaches even more people: With the new allmedia system every ad placed in the newspaper ad is also automatcially displayed online and the screens of Anzeiger von Saanen TV for a small surcharge of SFr 17. For that you get much more visbilitiy for you ad, reaching the several thousand people who read their news online, or folk who otherwise do not come into contact with the newspaper, such as young people and visitors.

 

Innovation for local media - made in Saanenland: Anzeiger von Saanen Allmedia is based on an online publishing system for local media by Consenda AG. The software company, which is based in Gstaad, works with local and regional newspapers across Switzerland. Consenda developed its LocalPoint allmedia system in collaboration with Publicitas, the leading media group in Switzerland, and the company is run by Xavier Ferguson who has lived here in Saanenland with his family for the past six years: "Gstaad has always been a pioneering community, be that it in tourism, the preservation of architecture, or more recently the construction of the Fernwärme heating system", he commented at the launch of Anzeiger von Saanen Allmedia. "We are proud that the hometown of our company can now also be considered an example of innovation in the local media sector."

For more, see www.anzeigervonsaanen.ch/allmedia. (German only)

Or click here to download a copy of todays newspaper in PDF.