Markus Schächter

ZDF has long established itself as a leading destination for German viewers in search of quality programming. Its commitment to the best in news, documentary, drama and entertainment programming has helped ZDF make a smooth transition to the digital world. Today, its content is enjoyed not only on the linear network, but also online through the very popular ZDF Mediathek. Director-General Markus Schächter talks about the role of a public-service broadcaster in one of the world’s most competitive TV markets.

 

TV EUROPE: What contribution do public-service broadcasters make in today’s multichannel, multiplatform world, and why is it important to safeguard their existence?

SCHÄCHTER: The deluge of digital information is making it increasingly difficult for an individual to judge the reliability of news on the Internet. As a public-service broadcaster, we’re independent of both political and commercial influence. Our mission is to offer the public a picture of reality that is as objective as possible. In a world of information overload, we offer guidance and stand for credibility. The fact that our core funding comes from the licence fee gives us a large degree of independence from developments in the economy. So in these times of economic and financial crisis, we’re able to maintain a healthy production budget. This also means we’re lending stability to the wider content-production sector and a whole range of cultural activities that would have no chance without the public-service broadcasters.

 

TV EUROPE: What services and programming does ZDF offer viewers that they can’t get elsewhere?

SCHÄCHTER: Information-centered programs account for around 50 percent of ZDF’s total output. No other broadcaster can claim such a large share. We show roughly 500 documentaries a year, focusing on science, technology, history, politics and society. For the performing arts, we offer something that is unique worldwide: our digital ZDFtheaterkanal, which puts a wealth of stage productions on television and, by recording performances, also saves them for posterity. Together with the other public-service broadcaster in Germany, the ARD network, we run KI.KA, a children’s channel that is kept free of advertising and violence. We also offer an ad-free online service and, of course, the ZDF Mediathek, our platform for delivering high-quality, subscription-free and, again, ad-free VOD. And then there’s heute journal: ZDF’s flagship evening news magazine is the most successful in Germany. These are just a few examples, and I could mention many more.

 

TV EUROPE: What is ZDF’s strategy for digital channels?

SCHÄCHTER: ZDF has, for a number of years, been pursuing a long-term and carefully designed strategy for the digital future. It embraces every field: technology, organization and content. As part of this process we’ve taken steps in recent years to turn the existing digital documentary channel into a service that can also attract younger viewers. Relaunched as ZDFneo, it’s now enjoying a wide and very positive press response. ZDFneo shows young comedy formats, exciting docu-soaps and, of course, numerous documentaries, not to mention exciting international series, like 30 Rock or Spooks.

 

TV EUROPE: How is ZDF using websites and mobile phones to reach audiences in new ways?

SCHÄCHTER: By being present with our content on all the available platforms. On the Internet, we are achieving strong and sustained growth and now reach a large number of younger users who rarely watch the core channel on TV. As for our online video platform, many younger people prefer to access our content—like news, documentaries, series and comedy formats—on the ZDF Mediathek at a time that suits them and using a variety of receiver devices.

 

TV EUROPE: How popular is ZDF’s Mediathek? Do some segments of the audience prefer to watch programming online at their own convenience, as opposed to watching on the linear channel?

SCHÄCHTER: The ZDF Mediathek has been a real success story. Since the last relaunch at the end of 2007, the web traffic has soared: the hit numbers for our videos have more than doubled. The current figure stands at around 16 million a month. And we’re still technically upgrading the Mediathek to make it even more user friendly. We are, by the way, finding that viewers don’t simply migrate away from the linear channel to the nonlinear platform. It’s more the case with the Mediathek that we’re reaching viewers who simply haven’t been able to watch the linear broadcast or who’ve come across this service while surfing the web. But in the medium term, as we make more and more content available online, there will be a trend away from linear toward nonlinear use. On the other hand, I’m convinced that television will remain a successful medium in its classic form for a long time to come. Our latest figures confirm that online use has been increasing for years. But TV viewing time has remained constant—at exactly 212 minutes a day in the year 2009.

 

TV EUROPE: As young adults everywhere have more and more entertainment choices available, how is ZDF attracting the 20-to-30 age group?

SCHÄCHTER: The 20- to 30-year-olds have become difficult to reach. It’s a problem shared by all the public-service broadcasters but also by the daily press and weekly journals. For ZDF, it’s partly down to the high proportion of information in our programming. Although our digital channel ZDFneo aims, above all, at the 30-to-50 age group, we have also been quite successful at reaching younger viewers with certain formats, especially comedy, inter­national series and movies.

 

TV EUROPE: In today’s difficult economic climate, how important are partnerships and co-productions?

SCHÄCHTER: Partnerships have, for a long time, been an important pillar of our production philosophy. Together with the ARD network, we run a number of partner channels, like 3sat, ARTE, Phoenix and KI.KA, which we wouldn’t be able to afford individually. The same goes for productions of elaborate high-end documentaries or great event movies—a field where many projects aren’t feasible without national and international partners.

 

TV EUROPE: Has the economic crisis had an impact on viewers’ ability to pay the license fee, and how is this affecting ZDF’s financing?

SCHÄCHTER: The situation in Germany is that viewers who are unemployed or destitute do not have to pay the licence fee. So the more people who lose their job as a result of the economic and financial crisis, the greater the revenue losses for ZDF. According to independent estimates, we must expect to lose more than €100 million by the end of 2012. But we’re preparing for this shortfall. On the positive side, our advertising revenues have so far remained stable despite the economic crisis.

 

TV EUROPE: What challenges and opportunities do you see in the next 12 to 18 months?

SCHÄCHTER: ZDF is in good shape to face the digital future. We are strategically prepared. Two years ago I launched a major transformation project—a comprehensive change process to adapt our organization to the challenges of a digital media environment. Our strengths lie in our independence, our solid financial base and our many highly motivated and professional journalists, editors and producers. With these strengths, we’re proving—especially in these tough times—to be a factor for stability and a guarantor of quality in Germany’s media landscape. Building on the foundations of the old one-channel station, we are creating the new multiplatform ZDF and will continue to be a key player in the German media system. We owe that to our viewers.