German publisher Süddeutsche Zeitung set up a specialised, daily information service for policy makers called Süddeutsche Zeitung Dossier in 2023. The object: to publish up-to-the-minute expert dossiers on future-oriented issues, such as digital transformation and “geoeconomics,” a cross between geopolitics and economics. 

“We decided that Berlin needs a politics and a policy briefing that is short, concise, still also a little bit tongue in cheek, in the same style as the policy documents themselves, trying to be also entertaining in the morning,” said Digitalwende team leader Gabriel Rinaldi.

Each daily briefing has a conversational, personal tone. It is published around 6 a.m., with most of the content finalised by about 8 p.m. the previous night. It contains a personalised introduction, one lead story, three or four short pieces that take a couple of minutes each to read, one deep dive which takes about five minutes to read, plus shorter snippets from other outlets. 

The average reading time is 15-16 minutes, containing everything important to know on that topic in a format that is more concise than the competitors’ content. The average open rate is an astounding 60% to 70% in a market where anything above 30% is deemed high.

Another draw: events. For example, each briefing organises an event once a month. The organisers invite just 20 to 30 people and wrap it up after 40 minutes. The events are intended to be exclusive, intimate, and brief. They are geared toward busy policymakers and create a sense of FOMO for those who are not in the know.

“Our target group and our subject matter are overlapping,” Geoökonomie team leader Finn Mayer-Kuckuk said. “The people they write about very often are the people who are supposed to subscribe to it. So, just by mentioning a CEO in an article or doing an interview, we generate interest inside that organisation. I think it is valid to say that this leads to trial subscriptions because people need to read what their boss said or how their organisation is mentioned.”

SZ has a team of 11 working on the briefings and charges ⁠€80 per month for the events, the policy briefings, and the newspaper. 

The team deliberately does not use AI for its briefings, Mayer-Kuckuk said. 

“Very often, we experimented with how AI can help in our work. We found it to be pretty useless because LLMs have a tendency to create a lot of text that superficially looks like a text but information density is low. What we do is create very high information density. Also, with a hint of irony … LLMs are still very bad at both of these points.” 

The SZ team is now considering producing an audio version of the briefings.

Wondering if this kind of newsletter could be an option for you? These specialist briefings illuminate, maintain domain expertise, offer potential for new business models, and work in almost any niche, Rinaldi said. What you need is to have exceptional access and contacts to the subjects and a target audience with a need for that in-depth, sharply focused information.

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Banner art: Adobe stock image by Pressmaster.

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