About Die ganze Woche

Die ganze Woche

Die ganze Woche, in German “The Whole Week”, is an Austrian weekly boulevard magazine published in German in Vienna by Die Ganze Woche GmbH. It was launched in 1985 by the media entrepreneur Kurt Falk, who also co-founded the Kronen Zeitung and founded the daily Täglich Alles. Concentrating mainly on entertainment news while also dealing with significant political events, it became, in several measured years, the best-selling magazine in Austria: it sold 342,000 copies in 2003, 349,000 copies in the first quarter of 2004, and 402,000 copies in 2010 as the third best-selling general-interest magazine, with readership reported between 1 and 1.3 million in 2016. That scale — hundreds of thousands of copies for an illustrated weekly aimed at a broad, older readership — makes it one of the defining popular magazines of Austria, distinct from both the investigative profil and the society-led News. This profile records the verified history and states where recent figures are unavailable.

Founding by Kurt Falk in 1985

Die ganze Woche was launched by Kurt Falk in Vienna in 1985. Falk, born in Vienna in 1933 and deceased in 2005, was a major Austrian media entrepreneur: co-founder of the Kronen Zeitung, Austria's dominant tabloid daily, owner and publisher of Die ganze Woche, and founder of the daily Täglich Alles. The batch record for this directory notes that Falk also co-founded the Kronen Zeitung; reference sources confirm his ownership and publisher role at Die ganze Woche and his founding of Täglich Alles. The publisher and owner of the magazine is Die Ganze Woche GmbH. Senta Ziegler was editor-in-chief of the weekly until 1993 — a name that also appears in the early history of News, reflecting the small circle of senior Austrian magazine journalists of the period. The founding date of 1985 is a detail the directory batch record omitted; it is supplied here from the magazine's reference entry and should be treated as the corrected founding year.

A remarkable launch: 40 percent reach in nine months

Nine months after its establishment, Die ganze Woche reached 40 percent of the readers in the country, according to its reference entry. For a new weekly in a small market, that is an extraordinary figure, and it explains the magazine's subsequent history: a popular illustrated weekly, priced and presented for a mass audience, could out-circulate every political and business title. The formula built on Falk's tabloid experience at the Kronen Zeitung — accessible language, entertainment, human interest, television and service material for everyday life — applied in weekly magazine form. The magazine's German-language title itself promises completeness for the week, and its supplement tradition includes a television supplement, TV-dabei, listed among Austrian programme magazines as the Fernsehbeilage of Die ganze Woche. That TV guide function is a classic circulation driver for weeklies aimed at older, television-centred households.

Editorial profile: entertainment with political positions

Die ganze Woche concentrates on entertainment news. At the same time, the magazine deals with significant political events. Reference accounts record, for instance, that it opposed Austria's membership of the European Union. Although it does not support the right-wing populist Freedom Party, articles published in the magazine express similar views to the party on corruption, immigration, crime rates and cultural patriotism, according to its reference entry. Those characterisations should be read as outside descriptions of editorial tendencies, not as a party affiliation, which the same source explicitly denies. For this directory, the essential classification is the batch record's: a general-interest illustrated weekly for a broad, older readership, listed in the weekly nationwide section of the Austrian magazine list. Its politics are part of a popular, patriotic editorial voice aimed at readers who buy entertainment weeklies but also hold strong views on national questions.

Circulation: Austria's best-selling magazine in several years

The verified circulation sequence is exceptional. Die ganze Woche sold 342,000 copies in 2003 and 349,000 copies in the first quarter of 2004; in both periods it was the best-selling magazine in the country. Its circulation for the first half of 2007 was 325,794 copies, and it sold 396,000 copies in 2007. Circulation was 318,987 copies for the first half of 2008, and in 2008 it was again the best-selling magazine in Austria. In 2010 it was the third best-selling general-interest magazine with a circulation of 402,000 copies. In 2016 its readership was reported as ranging between 1 and 1.3 million. Different measures — sold copies in a quarter, a half-year or a year, and readership — are mixed in the sources, so the figures should not be read as one audited series; but their order of magnitude is consistent. No Austrian news or business weekly in this directory approaches them: News peaked at 285,000 in 2007 and profil at roughly a fifth of Die ganze Woche's sale.

Readership: broad and older

The batch record describes Die ganze Woche as a general-interest illustrated weekly for a broad, older readership, and its reported readership of 1 to 1.3 million in 2016 — in a country of under nine million people — supports the “broad” part of that description with a dated figure. An older, loyal print readership has commercial advantages: habitual weekly purchase, high pass-on and household reading, and strong response to television listings, competitions, health, celebrity and service content. It also carries a long-term risk shared by all popular print weeklies, as younger audiences form habits online. This profile does not assert a current readership figure, because none is verified in the sources consulted after 2016. What can be said is that the magazine's historic audience was mass-market in a way Austria's political magazines never were, and that its publisher, Die Ganze Woche GmbH, is built around that single popular title rather than a portfolio.

Kurt Falk and the Kronen Zeitung connection

Understanding Die ganze Woche requires the Falk context. Kurt Falk co-founded the Kronen Zeitung with Hans Dichand; the Krone became one of the highest-reach tabloid dailies in the world relative to population, at times reaching over 40 percent of Austrian households. Falk brought that popular formula — and a famous rivalry and partnership history with Dichand — to magazines. He founded the daily Täglich Alles as well. Austrian journalism histories list Falk as owner and publisher of Austria's largest weekly newspaper/magazine in Die ganze Woche. The magazine therefore belongs to the Dichand-Falk tabloid tradition rather than to the Bronner magazine tradition (profil, trend) or the Fellner group tradition (News, TV-Media, Woman). Austria's three magazine traditions map neatly onto its popular press history, and Die ganze Woche is the clearest magazine expression of the tabloid one.

Ownership and publishing structure

The publisher and owner is Die Ganze Woche GmbH, based in Vienna. The magazine is published weekly, in German, nationwide. Unlike VGN titles, it does not belong to a large multi-title group in the sources consulted; unlike Styria titles, it is not part of a Catholic-foundation-owned media house. A single-title GmbH owned around a founder's popular weekly is an older Austrian publishing model, closer to the Kronen Zeitung's family-company structure. Editorial leadership after Senta Ziegler's tenure, which ended in 1993, is not documented in the sources used here, and current editors, managers and cover price should be confirmed from the magazine's own imprint. This profile does not fill those gaps with invention; the absence reflects the limited international reference coverage of a magazine whose importance is commercial and domestic rather than political-intellectual.

Vienna base and nationwide sale

Die ganze Woche is based in Vienna, in the state of Vienna, and listed in the weekly nationwide section of the Austrian magazine list, meaning it is sold across all federal states rather than as a regional title. Vienna gives it access to national celebrity, television and political life — the raw material of a boulevard weekly — while nationwide distribution through Austria's newsstand and subscription systems gives it the scale its circulation figures require. Its television supplement and entertainment focus suit a country where the public broadcaster ORF and German-language television have historically structured the viewing week. The magazine's name and promise — the whole week in one issue — is a pre-digital proposition: one printed package organising entertainment, television and popular reading for seven days.

Position among Austrian magazines

In circulation terms, Die ganze Woche has repeatedly been Austria's number one magazine, ahead of News in the years compared above. In cultural terms it occupies the opposite pole from Datum or profil: entertainment first, large type, celebrity and human interest, with populist-inflected political commentary. Austrian media analyses often focus on political titles, but by sales the popular illustrated weekly is the larger phenomenon, and any directory of Austrian magazines that omitted it would misrepresent what Austrians actually buy. Its longevity since 1985 — through EU accession debates it opposed, the rise of the Freedom Party whose themes its articles sometimes echo, and the digital transformation of popular reading — shows the durability of a simple, habitual weekly product for an older mass audience.

Limits of this profile

Open limits: circulation and readership figures end in 2016 in the sources consulted, and no current sale is claimed. Editorial leadership is verified only to 1993. The batch record listed no website and no founding year; the founding year 1985 is supplied from reference sources, and no official website is asserted here because none is verified in the batch data or the reference entry excerpt. Political characterisations are attributed to reference descriptions, which also state the magazine does not support the Freedom Party. The verified core remains strong: Die ganze Woche is a German-language weekly boulevard and general-interest magazine from Vienna, launched by Kurt Falk in 1985, published by Die Ganze Woche GmbH, focused on entertainment with coverage of major political events, and in 2003, 2004 and 2008 the best-selling magazine in Austria, with sales around or above 300,000-400,000 copies in its documented peak years.