The Top 20 German publications every startup should know
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UPDATE: Dear readers, we’ve updated this list! Please see the latest version here: https://www.laika.berlin/en/blog/top-20-german-publications-every-start-up-should-know-about-2023
Germany is known for its vast media landscape. Tech and business media outlets are certainly no exception. This is great, as it means that there is the right publication, be it print or online, for everyone. Sometimes, however, it can prove quite challenging to pick the right type of media outlets for your needs – especially if you are a non-German speaker.
“If only there was a list with the best tech, startup and entrepreneurship media out there,” you say? Well, we hear ya!
Here it is, our list (in fair alphabetical order) of what we think are the best and most influential media outlets for (young) founders and anyone who loves technology!
brand eins is a monthly business magazine that deals with economic and (socio)political topics. Each issue has a specific focus such as “money”, “work”, “innovation” or “love”. With a circulation of 311K copies in 2019 and 300k monthly users online, it’s one of the most important business magazines in Germany. The periodical claims to strive for understanding the economy and create something new. The arty cover design usually really pops out at the newspaper stand!
While the German version of this internationally renowned business magazine isn’t as prestigious as its American older sister yet, it still should not go unnoticed. However, pitch the German editors of this outlet with in depth stories only - whether they are financial, from media, tech or other industry verticals. Their team might not be big yet, but is always on the lookout for exclusive stories.
In April 2020, the owner of Business Insider and Gründerszene, Axel Springer AG, decided to merge the two editorial offices. Although the chief editors and the two brands will remain, the publisher hopes that the physical merger of the editorial offices will allow both formats to benefit from each other. In future, they will be produced in the same building.
Business Punk is a young business lifestyle magazine with an edgy attitude and rebellious content. The magazine both addresses and writes about successful managers, young entrepreneurs, and business rebels. According to their motto “Work hard. Play Hard” Business Punk is for the creative doers and forward thinkers. Its print circulation runs at 35.000 copies and its website has approximately 300k unique users per month. Only approach Business Punk if you’re cool enough to pitch your startup to local pub visitors - as this is literally one of their magazine story formats for founders. Or share your embarrassing first job story with them - your call!
Capital published by Germany's second biggest publishing house, Gruner + Jahr, is a leading business magazine covering reports, analysis along with comments from the world of business and personal finance. The monthly circulation of their printed issue is more than half a million copies while Capital.de counts 880k monthly visitors. The newspaper had its peak in the 1970s. Back then with the motto: "The economic human and the human economic". Later, Capital’s editorial office was merged with the Financial Times Deutschland, Impulse and Börse Online. Following the closure of Financial Times Deutschland in December 2012, Impulse and Börse Online were sold and the editorial office of Capital moved to Berlin.
Computer BILD is one of the most read computer magazines in Germany and belongs to the Axel Springer media family. It is published every two weeks and reached 692K print-readers last year. The website has more than 50 million monthly readers. Apart from computer topics, it also addresses the subjects telecommunication, HiFi, video, and television. In the computer magazine sector, the magazine is considered one of the most important players. Nevertheless, please keep in mind that their audience is rather the average Joe than the techy nerd!
Computerwoche is a weekly published magazine for all those interested in IT topics as well as mid-management decision-makers. The focus of the IT-Fachverlag International Data Groups’ release is providing information to investors on the economic situation and technical trends of medium-sized and large companies in the IT sector. Other topics are analyses, case studies, industry news, project reports, portraits, and news. So here is your go to magazine for any SaaS news you might have. The publication had 20K print-sells in 2019, and 1.5 million monthly readers online.
Deutsche Startups is a business magazine published by Alexander Hüsting and Stefan Vosskötter. As one of the first covering the German startup scene both provide insights and information about trends, news, and investments. Founded more than ten years ago, the magazine became an important news platforms for startup related topics and has about 350K visitors monthly.
DIE ZEIT is one of the biggest and most important newspapers in Germany. It is published once a week, every Thursday, and is characterized as independent, liberal and often on the fence between political opinions. The newspaper deals with topics from all over the world and all areas of social life. If you get mentioned in an article, you can be sure that the whole country will read about you. Its website has more than 82 Million visits monthly and the print version was read by over 2.1 Million people in 2019.
DIE ZEIT is particularly well known for its feuilleton and politics sections, but a major strength area is the digital and ZEIT Campus section, which is an interesting target area for start-ups.
Gründerszene is the leading online magazine for the startup scene and the digital economy in Germany. With news, stories, video streams, opinion pieces, analyses, investigative stories as well as background articles Gründerszene reaches more than 2 million unique users per month. Gründerszene also cooperates with several media outlets among them DIE WELT, Berliner Wirtschaft and others which has led to articles getting published in those outlets as well. Nice amplifier effect for your startup news so to say. Gründerszene is also closely interlinked with NGIN Food and NGIN mobility, two online publications that are also published by Vertical Media that focus on, surprise, the food tech industry, and mobility topics.
The editorial offices of Gründerszene and Business Insider have been merged (see Business Insider). In the course of this, Vertical Media GmbH was dissolved.
Handelsblatt is a daily newspaper that reports on economic and financial topics. In 2017, it was awarded “Europe’s best newspaper” as well as the “most trustworthy daily” one year earlier. Handelsblatt is one of the national journals for statutory notices of the Frankfurter Wertpapiersbörse (Frankfurt Stock Exchange). Their website has more than 20 million views monthly and the printed paper was sold more than half a million times last year.
Horizont is a weekly trade journal publication covering the topics of marketing, advertising, and media. The papers sold in Germany and Austria are produced by different publishers respectively. The print version had 72K sales in 2019 and the website 1.6 million readers monthly. Getting your story placed in their daily focus newsletters provides an extra nice awareness push as those are a must read on many managers to do list.
Impulse is a monthly business magazine reporting on new business, management, financing and provisions, as well as tax-related topics. The paper addresses mid-sized entrepreneurs and sold 91K copies last year. The website has about 1.4 million readers monthly. If you want to understand the German Mittelstand then start checking this one out.
Internet World Business is a brand journal published every two weeks. It is a B2B paper, addressing readers who sell or promote products online. Key subjects are online-marketing, webshop-systems, online-payment, e-commerce, research, internet legislation, and trends in the world wide web. The website has 615K visits monthly and the print version, which is available via subscription only, had a circulation of 20K copies last year. Their daily newsletter is on the subscription list of many ecommerce managers in DACH.
LEAD digital belongs to the Werben & Verkaufen media group but is edgier than it’s mother ship W&V. It is an important German marketing and business platform that primarily focuses on digital life, with topics from tech and marketing, as well as job listings in these sectors. The website is aimed both at professionals, as well as private readers and counts 1,9 million monthly visits.
Manager Magazin is a monthly released journal with a focus on company reporting and economy. The magazine is part of the German Spiegel Media Group and sold about 500K print-copies last year. The online version reaches 6.27 million readers monthly.
The internet version of Der Spiegel is one of the highest-reach German news portals. Its predecessor was Spiegel ONLINE, which was separated from the print version (Der Spiegel). From 2020, both media divisions will be published under the same name and corporate design. The news portal has an immense traffic of more than 222 Million visits per month and covers all topics of national and international importance. Der Spiegel is strongly interwoven with German history. Here again: If Der Spiegel writes about you, the whole republic knows it!
t3n is a printed magazine and an online outlet covering topics like e-business, startups, social media, computer games, and web design. With more than 6.5 million online visits each month and a print circulation of more than 150k (in 2019), it is Germany’s no.1 publication for all topics digital. In the past, publications such as Spiegel Online, Zeit Online, and Die Welt have adopted content from t3n.de, where the pieces oftentimes received broad media coverage. Aside from that t3n is also hosting its own podcast, that deals with topics from the digital economy and society, as well as their pioneers network, an online platform for the digital economy.
WirtschaftsWoche is Germany’s leading business journal, published once a week by the Handelsblatt publishing group. The main topics addressed are economics, business, and financial issues. In 2019 the publishers sold about half a million print-copies and had 5.5 million online-readers monthly.
Wirtschaftswoche is an important player in the German media scene. When you’re in there, you’ve made it big!
WirtschaftsWoche (WiWo) Gründer is a subsidiary website with startup related publications. A variety of information-articles, news, analysis, and tips on the most important topics related to the startup scene are published on a daily basis. The medium addresses founders, investors and those interested in setting up a business by providing insights from the initial idea to financing possibilities and market entry.
The weekly B2B print publication “W&V - Werben und Verkaufen" is a trade journal for the communication and media industry and provides news and background stories on international and German marketing, advertising, media, digital and social media topics. With a weekly circulation of 20.060 copies, W&V magazine is one of the biggest B2B print publications for media and marketing in Europe. The magazine is part of the Werben und Verkaufen media group which itself is part of Süddeutsche Zeitung, and is in line with the British "Marketing Week", "adage" in the US or "cb news" in France. W&V readers work for agencies, media companies and in the marketing departments of various industries. The website has about 350.000 Unique Users and more than 1.2 million online visits per month.