About kress

kress

kress is the information service for the media and communications industry in the German-speaking world, comprising the trade magazine Kress Pro, the website kress.de, the Kressköpfe people directory and several newsletters. Published by the Johann Oberauer GmbH, the Austrian media specialist publisher, kress emerged from the Kressreport, the legendary industry service founded in 1966 by the Stuttgart journalist Günther Kress. With ten magazine issues a year, a website reporting 252,955 monthly unique visits and 100,000 registered users, and a people register of around 30,000 media and advertising managers, kress is the central professional medium for journalists, publishers, PR professionals and media managers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Overview

kress is the German-language information service for the media and communications industry, addressing the professionals who make, manage and market media: journalists and editors, publishers and managing directors, PR and communications managers, advertising executives and media consultants. Its offerings include the industry magazine Kress Pro, the Kress-Dossier special supplement distributed as an insert and PDF, the website kress.de with industry news, a specialised job board and the Kressköpfe people register, as well as several newsletters serving different segments of the industry.

The magazine Kress Pro appears ten times a year in German, with a sold circulation of 3,310 copies. The website kress.de, established in 1996 as the first industry service with its own website, reports 252,955 monthly unique visits and 100,000 registered users. The Kressköpfe directory lists around 30,000 media and advertising managers with career paths and contact details, and the Kressköpfe industry yearbook appears annually. The editor-in-chief of the magazine is Markus Wiegand, and the editor-in-chief of kress.de is Marc Bartl.

The publisher is the Johann Oberauer GmbH, the Austrian media specialist publisher based in Freilassing, Bavaria, whose portfolio includes the medium magazin, the journalists' trade journal, alongside kress. The company's media brands serve the German-speaking media industry with specialist journalism, events and directories.

History

The history of kress begins in 1966, when the Stuttgart journalist Günther Kress founded his Kressreport. The service appeared initially as a newspaper, later as a weekly magazine, and became the indispensable industry read of the German media world, famous for its personnel news, its gossip and its founder's distinctive voice. Günther Kress, who died on 1 July 2023 at the age of 94, remained the publisher even after selling the service in 1995 to Peter Turi and Thomas Wengenroth.

In 2000 Wengenroth became the sole shareholder and managing director, while Turi launched the competing industry service Turi2. In 2008 the British magazine publisher Haymarket took over the publishing house, and in 2015 sold it back to the Austrian media specialist publisher Oberauer. The kressreport was relaunched as kress, with the first issue of the new magazine appearing on 16 February 2016. The transformation from the weekly Kressreport to the ten-times-yearly Kress Pro magazine reflected the shift of breaking industry news to the digital channel, with the print magazine focusing on background, analysis and the people of the industry.

Under Oberauer's ownership, kress developed into a multi-channel information service, with kress.de growing into the industry's leading news website, the Kressköpfe directory expanding to 30,000 entries, and the newsletters serving the daily information needs of media professionals. The publisher invested in the digital transformation of the brand while preserving the Kressreport's legendary personnel-news tradition, which remains the most-read section of the service. The brand's history, from Günther Kress's 1966 founding through the Haymarket interlude to the Oberauer era, mirrors the development of the German media industry itself.

Content and Sections

The content of kress covers the media and communications industry in all its facets. Personnel news, the legendary core of the Kressreport tradition, reports on appointments, departures and career moves among journalists, publishers and media managers. Industry news follows the business developments of publishers, broadcasters, digital media and agencies, from mergers and acquisitions to strategy changes and financial results. Media policy coverage addresses press law, regulation, press freedom and the political framework of the media industry.

The Kress Pro magazine delivers background reporting, interviews and analysis beyond the daily news cycle, with features on the strategies of media companies, the working conditions of journalists and the transformation of the industry. The Kress-Dossier special supplement provides in-depth coverage of focused topics as an insert and PDF. The website's specialised job board serves the industry's recruitment needs, connecting media employers with journalistic and managerial talent. The Kressköpfe people register documents the careers of 30,000 media and advertising managers, making it the reference work for the industry's personnel, used by recruiters, PR professionals and journalists researching their counterparts.

The newsletters deliver curated industry news to subscribers' inboxes, serving different segments from executives to PR professionals. The annual Kressköpfe yearbook compiles the people directory in print form. Rankings and awards coverage, from journalist-of-the-year elections to industry prizes, gives the service an agenda-setting role beyond news reporting. Together, the magazine, the website, the directories and the newsletters form the information infrastructure of the German-speaking media industry.

Publisher and Organization

kress is published by the Johann Oberauer GmbH, the Austrian media specialist publisher based in Freilassing, Bavaria. The company acquired the kressreport from the British Haymarket group in 2015, along with the PR Report and Druck and Medien titles. Oberauer's portfolio includes the medium magazin, the trade journal for journalists, making the publisher the leading specialist house for the German-speaking media industry. The first issue of the relaunched kress magazine appeared on 16 February 2016.

The magazine Kress Pro appears ten times a year in German, with a sold circulation of 3,310 copies and the ZDB identifier 2847279-2. The editor-in-chief of the magazine is Markus Wiegand, and the editor-in-chief of kress.de is Marc Bartl, leading the editorial teams that serve the industry's information needs across print and digital. The website reports 252,955 monthly unique visits and 100,000 registered users, with the Kressköpfe directory listing around 30,000 media and advertising managers. The brand's advertising clients come from the media industry itself, from publishers and broadcasters to agencies, technology providers and recruitment advertisers.

Digital Presence

The digital home of kress is kress.de, the industry's leading news website for the media and communications business, established in 1996 as the first industry service with its own website. The site delivers daily industry news, personnel announcements, background articles and the specialised job board, reaching 252,955 monthly unique visits and 100,000 registered users. The Kressköpfe people register, with around 30,000 entries documenting the careers and contact details of media and advertising managers, is the digital reference work of the industry.

The brand is active on the professional networks where media people communicate, with more than 21,000 followers on LinkedIn, sharing job postings, career content and industry news. The newsletters extend the digital reach into subscribers' inboxes, serving the daily information routines of media professionals, from morning briefing to specialised topic alerts. The digital archive of kress.de documents decades of industry history, making the site a research resource for media scholars and journalists. For the media industry's suppliers, from technology providers to event organisers and recruitment advertisers, the combination of the Kress Pro magazine, the kress.de website, the Kressköpfe directory and the newsletters offers the central platform for reaching the decision-makers of the German-speaking media business.