About procontra

procontra

procontra — "das freie Finanzmagazin" — is the German-language trade magazine for the finance and insurance industry, published by the Alsterspree Verlag GmbH in Hamburg. Founded in 2007, it appears six times a year with a print run of 41,000 copies (2015) — the distributed circulation stated at 40,600 (publisher's own data, 2015). Its audience: the advisors, brokers and intermediaries of the finance and insurance industry. Its goal: to present the industry's trends, developments, products and markets controversially, analytically and on a sound journalistic basis — the readers use procontra as an information source and companion for their daily advisory work. The editor-in-chief: Matthias Hundt (V.i.S.d.P.); the publisher (Herausgeber): Philipp B. Siebert. The portal: procontra-online.de.

Overview

procontra is a German-language bimonthly trade magazine for the finance and insurance industry, published by the Alsterspree Verlag GmbH — founded in 2008 — in Hamburg. It appears six times a year as the publishing house's in-house finance trade journal. The programme: the industry's trends, developments, products and markets — presented controversially (the "pro and contra" of the title), analytically and journalistically sound. The readers: the advisors, brokers and intermediaries — the insurance brokers, the financial advisors, the tied agents — who use the magazine as an information source and companion for their daily advisory work. The insurance brokers — the independent intermediaries — read procontra as the professional armoury: the product checks, the regulatory practice, the "Maklers Lieblinge". The financial advisors read the investment funds' pro & contra: the arguments for the client meeting. The tied agents read the industry's trends: the markets, the providers. The "free finance magazine" claim — the "freie" — signals the editorial independence: the intermediaries' own voice, not the product providers'. The sections (issue 5/2024): INVESTMENTFONDS (pro & contra), VERSICHERUNGEN (procontra, private health insurance, BRSG II, residential buildings, product check), BERATER (independent advice, continuing education, broker homepage, regulatory practice, "Maklers Lieblinge 2024"), SACHWERTE (European Long-Term Investment Funds, alternative investments), PRIVAT GEFRAGT, FOKUS. The investment-funds section — the "pro & contra" debates — is the title's namesake in action: the fund strategies argued from both sides. The insurances section — the procontra analyses — covers the brokers' core business: the health, the pensions, the property. The advisors section — the practice — serves the daily work: the education, the homepage, the regulation. The tangible-assets section — the ELTIFs, the alternatives — covers the yield hunt. The "Privat gefragt" and "Fokus" — the personal and the special — round out the issue. The print run: 41,000 copies (2015); the distributed circulation: 40,600 (publisher's data, 2015) — the intermediaries' scale, the Hamburg title's reach.

History

procontra's history begins in 2007 — the founding of "das freie Finanzmagazin" on the eve of the financial crisis. The 2007 founding's context: the German insurance and finance intermediation's upheaval — the EU Insurance Mediation Directive's implementation, the brokers' professionalisation. The 2007 moment — the directive's new qualification and documentation duties, the commission-disclosure debates — created the magazine's mission: the intermediaries' controversial-analytical forum. The financial crisis of 2008 — arriving a year after the founding — tested the "free finance magazine": the independence proving its worth in the storm. The publisher: the Alsterspree Verlag GmbH, founded in 2008 in Hamburg — the name joining the Alster and the Spree, the Hamburg-Berlin axis. procontra became the young publishing house's in-house finance trade journal — the title portfolio's core. The editor-in-chief: Matthias Hundt (V.i.S.d.P.). The publisher (Herausgeber): Philipp B. Siebert; the managing directors: Tilman J. Freyenhagen and Philipp B. Siebert. The ZDB identifier: 2444588-5 — the journal's library-catalogue identity. The 2007–2020s run spans the intermediation's transformation: the regulation (the IDD, the BaFin supervision), the digitalisation (the insurtechs), the consolidation. The 2010s: the regulation — the Insurance Distribution Directive, the documentation duties, the BaFin's growing grip. The digitalisation — the insurtechs' challenge ("Freund oder Feind? Wie Makler mit InsurTechs zusammenarbeiten können" — the booklet's question) — tested the brokers' business models. The 2020s: the consolidation — the broker pools, the private-equity buyers. The magazine accompanied each shift: the intermediaries' controversial-analytical chronicle.

Coverage and Content

The magazine's programme is the finance and insurance intermediation's professional world. The investment funds: the "pro & contra" debates — the fund strategies argued from both sides. The insurances: the procontra analyses — the private health insurance, the company pension (BRSG II), the residential buildings, the product checks. The advisors: the independent advice, the continuing education ("Weiterbildung"), the broker homepage, the regulatory practice, the "Maklers Lieblinge 2024" — the brokers' favourites. The tangible assets: the European Long-Term Investment Funds, the alternative investments. The interviews: the industry's heads — the HanseMerkur's Heinz-Gerhard Wilkens on the PKV entry tariffs, the "Best Advice" selling. The Wilkens interview — the "Pro Fit" to "Start Fit" spectrum, the price-sensitive clients' existential-risk coverage — shows the magazine's advisory depth: the broker's questions answered by the provider's head. The events: the Alsterspree Gipfeltreffen — the omnichannel format (roundtable, print special-topic section, video format, podcast production) for 14,900 euros, with the 2023 topic plan (company pensions, property and commercial, old-age provision, health provision, biometrics, sustainability, corporate clients). The Gipfeltreffen's mechanics — the roundtable conversation with selected media partners, distributed across the print magazine, the video format on procontra-online and profino, the podcast on all platforms, the interview or advertorial, the newsletter-banner-social promotion — is the B2B content-marketing's full orchestra: the 14,900 euros buying twelve months' visibility across 300 channels and 200,000 contacts. The journalism is the intermediaries' trade press: the controversial, the analytical, the practice-oriented — the brokers' "free finance magazine", from the 2007 founding to the current issues.

Organization and Ownership

procontra is published by the Alsterspree Verlag GmbH, Hamburg (founded 2008). The publisher (Herausgeber): Philipp B. Siebert. The managing directors: Tilman J. Freyenhagen and Philipp B. Siebert. The editor-in-chief: Matthias Hundt (V.i.S.d.P.). The magazine is the publishing house's in-house finance trade journal — the title portfolio's core, alongside the profino portal. The commercial model is the B2B finance media's: the subscriptions, the industry's advertising, the events — and the Gipfeltreffen omnichannel packages (the 14,900-euro roundtable-to-podcast format, the 200,000-plus contacts across up to 300 channels). The subscriptions — the 41,000-copy print run — reach the intermediaries: the brokers' desks. The industry's advertising — the insurers, the fund companies, the pools — monetises the distribution channel: the providers' access to the sellers. The Gipfeltreffen packages — the roundtable participation, the print special-topic section, the video format, the podcast production, the newsletter and social promotion — monetise the content marketing: the 14,900 euros for twelve months' visibility. Current staffing beyond the above is not publicly confirmed in the sources available — the Hamburg house's discretion.

Digital Presence

procontra's portal is procontra-online.de — the online presence with the video formats, the interviews, the advertorials. The profino portal extends the brand. The podcasts: the Gipfeltreffen productions on all common podcast platforms. The e-papers: the SEO-optimised digital editions. In the German finance trade-press landscape procontra occupies the intermediaries' pole: the 2007-founded Hamburg title — the 41,000-copy print run, the "freie Finanzmagazin" claim, the controversial-analytical programme — on procontra-online.de, the brokers' magazine, Hamburg's free finance voice since 2007, six times yearly, controversially analytical, independently free, Hamburg-made, broker-trusted since day one, still independent, still free. The intermediaries' positioning — the advisors, brokers and intermediaries as the audience — is the title's niche: the sellers' magazine, not the providers'. The "pro and contra" programme — the controversial presentation — is the title's method: the arguments weighed, the readers deciding. The Alsterspree Verlag's ownership — the Hamburg house's in-house journal — is the title's home: the finance media's Hamburg base.