Golden times are characterized by the fact that you don't even realize that they are golden. This is especially true for the media industry. A few years ago, it was doing really well. People drank the most expensive champagne at publishers' conferences and talked about the big crisis that they believed would never happen anyway.
But now it has arrived. There is no more complaining and instead people are enthusiastic about new alliances and partnerships. 2017 will go down in history as the "year of great rapprochement".
Recent examples: Tamedia buys the advertising america rcs data agency Goldbach, AZ Medien forms a joint venture with the NZZ and the venerable SDA merges with the photo agency Keystone. Solutions – and this is completely ironic – that would have been unthinkable two or three years ago are now becoming reality. So much charity would make any #MeToo expert dizzy.
These mergers are not necessarily bad by definition. But not everything that is currently merging really belongs together, to belie this hackneyed Willy Brandt quote. One thing is clear: there will be a few surprises in the coming months. The idea that there will be no further job cuts is illusory; the drop in advertising is too great.
It really isn't easy: media consumers' desire to pay for content is decreasing at a horrendous pace. The SRG can also tell a story about this - with the No-Billag initiative. At the same time, an aversion to advertising is spreading.
But - and this is the consolation at the end of the year - our publishers continue to show a great willingness to invest in journalistic content. That is a lot in this day and age. They could also be property managers.