Studio Guest: Holger Busch
- 00:09:03
- DW-World
Studio Guest: Holger Busch
Holger Busch is from the Association of German Magazine Publishers. He is responsible for marketing and advertising sales. DW-TV: The German creative economy had a turnover of 132 billion euros last year. Holger Busch, your are one of those who helped create that impressive amount - as the responsible for marketing and advertising sales at the German Magazine Publisher's Association. Did you know that you were part of such a strong industry? Holger Busch: Yes indeed, it's a very successful industry, we have a turnover of about 130 billion euros, about a million employees, and the figures of the last years were constantly increasing, so creative industry is an important factor not only for cultural life in Germany but also as an economic factor for growth and employment. DW-TV: But how do you explain this success? Holger Busch: You have to form new entities, you have to look for new intitiatives like the one from the federal government in Germany, speaking with the creative industry, their aims, their needs for the legislation, and I think we're on a good path. DW-TV: According to the German Ministry of Science and Technology, the creative sector consists largely of freelancers - they make up 28 percent there, which is quite a lot compared to other sectors. Freelancers pay tax like everyone else, but they're not part of many social schemes covering unemployment or sickness, for example. Is this the future model for success? Holger Busch: Yes, I think it makes the creative industry very vivid, flexible and very successful, but of course in problematic economic situations we also have to look for social solutions for these people. DW-TV: Let's take a closer look at one specific sector of the so-called creative economy - the print media. Here are some figures where it becomes clear that advertising revenue has dropped significantly for magazines, by 7 percent last year, followed by newspapers with a drop of 4 percent... whereas online is gaining 9 percent. It looks like it's right what we've heard, that the internet is to blame for the losses in revenue... What's your take on that? Holger Busch: Well, the Internet is not the enemy of magazines and newspapers, I think it's actually more of a friend. The business model of newspapers and magazines is not only to sell printed paper, but also to sell journalistic content via every media channel, magazines for the Internet, for mobiles and every other media channel you might choose. DW-TV: So if the Internet is a friend, can it be put to better use? Holger Busch: Yes I think it can, and at the moment we depend very much on advertising revenues, and they are not high enough to finance the amount of money the publishing companies need to finance the websites, so we have to strengthen online advertising and use new devices like the e-reader, like Kindle, where we can deliver the journalistic content to readers and target groups. DW-TV: So there's room for improvement, and there are opportunities to do this - Holger Busch, thank you very much. (Interview: Monika Jones)
DW-World | June 23, 2009
