Main image: GA Bonn created an Audiences map that allows them to track the specific audiences they target with dedicated products or verticals.
The German publisher’s second year in Table Stakes Europe allowed it to spread the audiences-first approach further in the newsroom, build on its existing audience-focused products and launch new projects.
General-Anzeiger Bonn is the leading daily newspaper in Bonn and the surrounding area with a total of 67,500 subscribers, of which 50,000 are print subscribers, 10,500 digital-only and 7,000 e-paper. The company has over 130 employees, of which around 90 editorial staff. In addition to the main editorial office in Bonn, the publisher has local offices in five other locations.
General-Anzeiger has twice been a participant of our Table Stakes Europe programme, taking part in our second edition of TSE in 2020/21, and then again participating in the fourth round of TSE in 2023.
We asked Sylvia Binner, Head of Editorial Development of the Bonn-based General-Anzeiger (GA) and who was a member of GA’s first team to tell us about how they kept the momentum going in their newsroom after the first round came to a close a few years ago.
“The most important flywheel for us was certainly the fact that we now use the working method we learned, which is geared towards measurable goals, encourages expermentation and seeks cross-departmental solutions, in almost all of our projects,” Binner said. “At some point, this becomes second nature. We also still meet regularly in our internal Table Stakes team. And in order to inject this hard core of convinced drivers with a fresh cell cure, a second GA team took part in Table Stakes this year. So the fan base continues to grow.”
“We try to gradually involve all colleagues, pass on knowledge and encourage them to work independently,” she added. “This can be done in one of our three mini-publishing units covering Foodies, Young Parents or Health, in one of our now 15 newsletters or four podcasts, but also in smaller projects, such as series, books or live campaigns with our readers. We learn together and it’s also fun. It’s only different when we have to bury one of our darlings because they didn’t go down as well with the audience as they did with us. Then we have to have a minute’s silence together and mourn.”
In particular, newsletters have been a special area of interest and success for GA, which launched a popular foodie newsletter called Bonn Appetit during their initial participation in TSE, which went on to win WAN-IFRA’s European Digital Media Award for Best Newsletter in 2022, the first year that newsletters were a category in our awards line-up.
Today, 6,200 foodies get Bonn Appetit every Thursday.
“That makes us proud, but we are far from satisfied,” Binner said. “So we are continuing to work on increasing our subscriber numbers and expanding our community. We see the greatest short-term leverage in raffles, quizzes and participation campaigns. But long-term relationship management also pays off. At the moment (early December 2023), we are selling a Christmas wine package at a special price in cooperation with a wine merchant and winegrowers from the flood-damaged Ahr, a tranquil little river in our distribution area that swelled to a flood wave in the summer of 2021 and cost at least 135 people their lives. This helps the hard-hit region and creates closeness, also between the users and us.”
New success with real estate newsletter, special events for foodies
GA has since launched several other topic-specific newsletters, the most recent of which is about real estate and called Lebens-Räume (Living Spaces). It was launched on 1 September 2023 and is published every Friday afternoon. There are already more than 700 subscribers on the mailing list, Binner said.
“It is striking that the number of paying customers that we have generated for our digital GA+ subscription with this newsletter is higher than for other editorial newsletters,” she added. “We were able to acquire 205 paying customers in two months via this newsletter. We are now trying to find out why. Is it the real-life topic that appeals to so many people who don’t otherwise use our products? Is it the design of the newsletter or its topics? Are we getting better because we work with user needs? As always, there are numerous questions so that we can learn how to turn success into series. And the next newsletter is already in the pipeline: In the new year, we’re launching a newsletter for animal lovers.”
As a tie-in to their foodie newsletter, General Anzeiger launched related events as the hard lockdowns in Germany came to an end. Events for foodies have continued, Binner told us.
“In November, my colleague Kai Pfundt prepared lobster and other crustaceans with readers, in cooperation with a local cookery school. That was another big hit. But we also chartered a bus to get everyone home safely after an Ahr wine tasting, tasted Kobe bark together with a star chef, tasted craft beer and much more. Afterwards, it’s not just our readers who are enthusiastic and write us rave reviews, but also our team. There is no substitute for personal contact – not even in digital times,” she said.