About Moritz

Moritz

Moritz — MORITZ Das Stadtmagazin — is the free city magazine for the Heilbronn-Franconia region and the greater Stuttgart area, published by the MORITZ Verlags GmbH. With eleven regional editions covering Stuttgart, Reutlingen/Tübingen, Heilbronn-Franken, Neckar-Odenwald, Göppingen, and Ostwürttemberg, Moritz has been, in its own motto, "immer vorne dabei" — always at the forefront — for over 30 years: the monthly guide to city life, culture, gastronomy, shopping, partying, and the region's events. The first issue, Moritz Heilbronn und Region, appeared in October 1993; since 2016 the publishing house has been based in Ellhofen. Distributed free at selected outlets and valid for a full month, the magazine's heart is the big event calendar — a month of event dates and daily tips. The online city magazine at moritz.de, a brand of the MORITZ Verlags GmbH, extends the print editions into the digital event guide, with current event listings dated October 2026.

Overview

The magazine presents itself as the Stadtmagazin for Germany's southwest — the free monthly that delivers everything the regions offer in events and leisure. Its editorial program covers city life and culture, gastronomy, shopping, partying, and the training and job offerings of the region; each month brings stories on current local topics and outstanding personalities. The heart of the magazine is the large event calendar: a month packed with event dates and daily tips — the planning tool for the region's leisure.

The readership, per the media data, is outgoing, educated, culturally and sports-interested — in a word: active. The Moritz readers want to be informed in advance about what is happening in their region and spend their above-average income on leisure, culture, going out, and shopping. The magazine is free at selected distribution points and stays current for a full month; the many event previews, current topics, and above all the big event calendar mean the issue is consulted several times a month — so advertisements and promotional messages are noticed repeatedly.

The format is A4 plus (220 × 297 mm), printed throughout in four colors with a glossy cover; since 2009 the logo has used the Moritz colors red, yellow, and black. The eleven regional editions — Stuttgart, Reutlingen/Tübingen, Heilbronn-Franken, Neckar-Odenwald, Göppingen, Ostwürttemberg, and others — make Moritz broadly positioned across the southwest, with double issues in December/January and July/August for the Stuttgart and Ostwürttemberg/Göppingen editions.

History

The first issue of Moritz Heilbronn und Region appeared in October 1993. The distribution area covered the city of Heilbronn and the district, extending to Mosbach, Sinsheim, and Öhringen; in 1994 the area was extended south to Ludwigsburg. The Moritz edition Neckar-Odenwald and Kraichgau was created in October 1994 through the takeover of the team of the former Mosbacher Stadtzeitung. As a cooperation model with two Hohenlohe businesswomen, the first Moritz edition Hohenlohe appeared in April 1996. In the summer of 1998 the building at Heilbronner Kreuzenstraße 94 was occupied; in the same year the Hohenlohe/Tauber-Franconia edition first appeared under the direction of the Moritz-Verlags-GmbH, which took over the Hohenlohe team. In November 1999 the first issue of Moritz Stuttgart appeared, from which a year later the editions Tübingen/Reutlingen and Ludwigsburg/Rems-Murr were split off. Since 2016 the publishing house's headquarters have been in Ellhofen; since October 2017 the Esslingen edition has appeared.

The magazine's growth mirrored the German city-magazine market's regionalization: from the Heilbronn single edition to the eleven-edition network covering the Stuttgart metropolitan region and the Heilbronn-Franconia area. The online city magazine at moritz.de extended the brand into the digital event guide, with the site's event database, location guides, and party photos forming the digital complement to the print calendar. The 30th anniversary — "30 years of everything the regions offer in events and leisure" — marked the magazine's position as the southwest's established free city magazine.

Coverage and Content

The magazine's coverage follows the city magazine's classic departments. Event coverage is the core: the big monthly calendar with event dates and daily tips, previews of concerts, parties, theater, exhibitions, and festivals — the planning infrastructure of the region's leisure. Culture reporting covers the theaters (such as the Theater Heilbronn, whose history the magazine documents from the medieval mystery plays to the present), the concert venues, and the art scene; the cinema pages review the current films.

Gastronomy coverage presents the region's restaurants, bars, and cafés — from the Heilbronn riverside restaurants to the Stuttgart scene; shopping pages cover the retail landscape; the party pages document the nightlife with photos. Special topics, regional stories, and editorial tips ensure the magazine is read with pleasure — and that the advertisements reach the target group. The training and job offerings address the young readership's career questions. The journal section extends the magazine into the economy and society pages: the "Wirtschaft & Gesellschaft" features on regional employers — from the Cordes Group's training programs to Hänel's intralogistics and Wittenstein's talent arena — and the annual training-and-career specials serve the school-leavers and young professionals of the region.

The online magazine at moritz.de extends the coverage into the daily event guide: the location database (theaters, restaurants, parks — from the Theater Heilbronn to the Wertwiesenpark), the event listings with dates, tickets, and the "versäumte Bilder" (missed pictures) features, and the ticket raffles and partner blogs. The current listings — October 2026 events from the "Versäumte Bilder" exhibition at Heilbronn University to the silent-film concert at the Kilianskirche — document the living event calendar. The journal's interviews — such as the conversation with the basketball coach on his philosophy and youth development — show the magazine's reach into the region's sports life.

Organization and Ownership

Moritz is published by the MORITZ Verlags GmbH, based in Ellhofen since 2016 (previously at Heilbronner Kreuzenstraße 94, occupied in summer 1998). The online city magazine is a brand of the MORITZ Verlags GmbH. The publishing house's eleven regional editions — Stuttgart, Reutlingen/Tübingen, Heilbronn-Franken, Neckar-Odenwald, Göppingen, Ostwürttemberg, Esslingen, Ludwigsburg/Rems-Murr, Hohenlohe/Tauber-Franken, and others — form the southwest's free city-magazine network.

The magazine's partnerships — with event organizers, ticket raffles, and the partner blogs on the Moritz website — form the commercial network in which the title operates. The media data (moritz_mediadaten_2024) documents the title's positioning: the free monthly with the big event calendar, consulted several times a month, carrying the advertisers' messages to the active, above-average-income readership.

Circulation figures for the current year are not publicly confirmed in freely available sources. The commercial model is that of a free city magazine: advertising from the region's event organizers, gastronomy, retail, and service businesses, sold against the eleven editions' regional reach and the event calendar's repeated use.

Digital Presence

The brand's digital home is moritz.de — "MORITZ Stadtmagazin: Veranstaltungen, Konzerte, Partys, Bilder" — the online city magazine and brand of the MORITZ Verlags GmbH. The site functions as the digital event guide: the location database, the event listings with dates and ticket information, the editorial content on culture and leisure, and the party pictures form the online complement to the print calendar. The current content — October 2026 event listings, from university exhibitions to church concerts — documents the continuously updated operation.

The site's service functions — the event submission, the ticket raffles, the partner blogs — engage the region's event organizers and the readers in the digital space. The print magazine's monthly rhythm and the website's daily updates combine into the cross-media city guide: the free monthly in the distribution points, the daily event database online. For over 30 years "immer vorne dabei" — in print, and now online, Moritz remains the southwest's city magazine.