Highlights in June 2023

The outcome of the first six months of the advertising year has been revealed – CHF 3,019 million gross. This represents a drop of 6.1 percent. A total of 14 sectors are lagging behind last year’s figures (YTD).

After May’s 9.3 percent rise, the dampening of advertising pressure in June once again heralded the arrival of the summer slowdown. In June, the advertising market showed a drop of 6.5 percent compared to the previous year, closing out at a gross figure of CHF 469 million. This development has certainly been driven by a disproportionate decline in searches*. The conventional channels have actually shown an uptick of 5.7 percent. The biggest influence here was the out-of-home media group, with an increase of 27 percent in comparison with 2022.

*Google has also integrated their AI “Bard” into Google Search since mid-May 2023. As a result, the internal structure of the HTML pages was adjusted in both desktop and mobile search.
We had to follow up on these changes in our system, which in some cases resulted in fewer ads being recorded in June than in previous months. This results in a break in the trend in June 2023. Ad capture is now back to normal levels. We regret the circumstances and will carefully monitor further changes from Google.

Advertising pressure in the market as a whole

Advertising pressure development up to June 2023 in CHF million gross

Strong performance in finance in June and in the YTD

In June, the finance sector recorded a significant increase in advertising pressure (+40.3%) and shows a strong presence in the sector ranking for the year to date with a rise of 31.7 percent. This means it comes up in second place in the mid-year financial statements.

Although retail has generated more advertising pressure in the YTD, it stagnated in June (-0.5%). The food industry managed to increase its advertising pressure both in June (+16.1%) and in the YTD (+1.9%), coming in at third place.

Compared to the previous year, only eight sectors achieved an increase in June. The tobacco industry, which, along with a noticeable increase in June (+64.4%), also enjoyed a considerable rise in the YTD (+76.9%), came out on top. With strong campaigns on climate protection legislation, the initiatives & campaigns sector was also able to record an increase (+22.2%), and cleaning also made considerable gains (+48.6%).

Cultural activities, including concerts, open-air shows and sports events such as the Weltklasse Zürich, fired up the events sector, which, like the food industry, rose by 16.1 percent.

Last but not least, advertising pressure in the public transport sector also rose in June (+3.4%).

Nine sectors record double-digit declines

A total of 13 sectors reduced their advertising pressure, and nine of those recorded double-digit declines.

The largest drop can be seen in the energy industry, which showed a decline of 36 percent in terms of advertising pressure. Even the construction, industry and furnishings sector, which made it into the top five in the YTD, saw a considerable drop (-34.8%).

As in May, the fashion and sports sector, with a reduction of 29.9 percent, showed the third-greatest decline, despite coming in at around average in the YoY comparison.

Despite summery temperatures, advertising activities in the leisure, gastronomy and tourism sector – with and without searches – remained quiet (-25.3%). The services sector (-25.0%) was also one of the five sectors with the biggest declines in June.

Top advertisers and products

The top advertisers and most advertised products and services (excluding range, image and other advertising) in June

Media mix

Media mix for June 2023

Contact: mediafocus@mediafocus.ch, Tel.: +41 43 322 27 50

Annual review 2022 Advertising Market Trend May

Highlights in May 2023

Both billboard advertising (+19%) and online advertising (+28%) drove the Swiss advertising market, resulting in gross advertising pressure of CHF 564.0 million, up 8.2 percent on the previous month. Compared to the previous year, the advertising market recorded an increase of 9.3 percent.

However, advertising pressure for the current year (YTD) is still 6.1 percent behind 2022 at CHF 2,546.9 million gross. In comparison, in 2019, the last year before the slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the CHF 3 billion mark had already been exceeded by May. We are eagerly awaiting June and the half-year results.

Advertising pressure in the market as a whole

Advertising pressure development up to May 2023 in CHF million gross

Top three sectors showing stability

A total of 13 industries increased their advertising pressure in May. The top three, retail (+14.9%), finance (+47.5%) and food (+21.6%), were also able to consolidate their leading position in May. As was the case in April, the finance sector was also able to report the third-highest increase in May. Only the tobacco sector (+120%) and the automotive sector (+52.4%) showed even stronger growth.

Other sectors with strong advertising performance in May were energy (+44.9%), media (+17.1%), cleaning (+14.3%) and services (+11.6%).

Warmer temperatures make people want to go on vacation, and this is also reflected in the leisure, gastronomy and tourism sector (+11.5%), and the top products with search (Ab-in-den-urlaub.ch) and without search (TCS ETI travel insurance).

Cosmetics and toiletries sees a further reduction

In May, a total of eight industries reduced their advertising pressure, although only three showed a double-digit reduction.

The telecommunications sector recorded the highest reduction with a drop of 17.5%. The cosmetics and toiletries sector also reduced its advertising pressure, as in April, recording a decrease of 10.9%. The third highest reduction was recorded in the fashion and sport sector, with a decrease of 10%. Interestingly, all three sectors also reported a year-on-year decline.

Top advertisers and products

The top advertisers and most advertised products and services (excluding range, image and other advertising) in May

Media mix

Media mix for May 2023

Contact: mediafocus@mediafocus.ch, Tel.: +41 43 322 27 50

Annual review 2022 Advertising Market Trend April

Highlights in April 2023

After a strong advertising month in March, advertising pressure decreased by 10% in April as usual, closing with CHF 520.1 million gross. Although 11 out of 21 sectors reduced their advertising pressure, the month of April was only slightly down on the previous year with minus 2%.

As in the previous month, public transport (+98.9%) and finance (15.5%) continued to increase their advertising activities in April, with the vehicle industry also strengthening its advertising (+28.5%).

The biggest decreases compared to the previous year can be seen in the personal care (-33.8%), digital & household (-27.5%) and cosmetics and toiletries (-22.7%) sectors.

At CHF 1,980.8 million gross, total advertising pressure for the first four months of the year is down by 9.8% on the annual advertising pressure of 2022.

Advertising pressure in the market as a whole

Advertising pressure development up to April 2023 in CHF million gross

Public transport and finance continue to increase

As in the previous month, public transport (+98.9%) saw a significant increase in April. The sector is therefore up 77.5% on the previous year’‘s value for the current year, recording the biggest percentage increase in comparison to all other sectors.

The vehicle industry also ramped up its advertising activities in April (+28.5%). With the VW California and the Opel Corsa Now+, two products from the sector are now among the top 10 most advertised products.

The finance sector recorded the third highest increase (+15.5%) in comparison to the previous year, coming in strong overall with a YTD increase of 24.6%.

Personal care still defensive in advertising in April

Of the 21 sectors, 11 reduced their advertising pressure in April. Particularly notable is the decline in the personal care (-33.8%) sector, a sector that had already recorded a decline of 43.3% in March.

Advertising continues its decline in the digital & household sector (-27.5%). Both sectors are therefore more than 20% down on the previous year’s value for the current year.

Other sectors recording two-digit decreases in April include cosmetics and toiletries (-22.7%), tobacco products (-16.3%), telecommunications (-15.6%), services (-13.1%), initiatives & campaigns (-12.5%), pharmaceuticals & health (–11.7%) and construction, industry and furnishings (-10.7%).

Top advertisers and products

The top advertisers and most advertised products and services (excluding range, image and other advertising) in April

Media mix

Media mix for April

Contact: mediafocus@mediafocus.ch, Tel.: +41 43 322 27 50

Annual review 2022 Advertising Market Trend March

Highlights in March

by Alicia Görlitz

As in previous years, the Swiss advertising market once again recorded significant March growth in 2023. The spring month closed on a high of CHF 572.1 million gross, representing an increase of 30.5 percent compared to the previous month. Nevertheless, this trails behind the figure for March 2022 by 16 percent.

The public transport (+72.2%), events (+20.6%) and finance (+18.6%) sectors in particular saw a sharp increase in advertising impact in March, contributing to this positive trend.

The Swiss advertising market received a boost during the first quarter of 2022, closing with CHF 1,444.2 million gross.

Advertising pressure in the market as a whole

Advertising pressure development up to March 2023 in CHF million gross

Public transport recorded a significant increase

The largest increase in advertising pressure was recorded by the public transport sector, with an increase of 72.2 percent, followed by the event sector with an increase of 20.6 percent. Also among the winners in March was the finance sector, which increased its gross advertising pressure by 18.6 percent, followed by automotive (+13.4%), beverages (+5.6%) and food (+3.4%).

Overall decline in 15 sectors

No less than 15 sectors recorded a decline in gross advertising pressure in March . The cleaning sector was the most affected, with a drop of 58 percent, followed by the personal care sector, with a decline of 43.3 percent. Other sectors that saw a decline in advertising pressure were energy (-43.1%), telecommunications (-40.4%), digital and household (-39.3%), construction, industry and furnishings (-33.8%), media (-29.4%), services (-27.3%), leisure, gastronomy and tourism (-23.9%), cosmetics and toiletries (-19.5%), pharmaceuticals and health (-15.8%), retail (-15.2%), fashion and sport (-15.1%), initiatives and campaigns (-11.8%) and tobacco products (-2.3%).

Top advertisers and products

The top advertisers and most advertised products and services (excluding range, image and other advertising) in March

Media mix

Media mix for March

Contact: mediafocus@mediafocus.ch, Tel.: +41 43 322 27 50

Annual review 2022 Advertising Market Trend February

2022 Annual Summary

by Tina Fixle, Chief Analytics Officer (CAO)

CHF 6.926 million of gross advertising pressure was generated in 2022 (+21.8%). The media channels of global tech giant Google (SEA, YouTube) accounted for around a third of this (35.8%; CHF 2.483 million).

Excluding this advertising space, the gross advertising pressure generated by the media categories of print, TV, radio, cinema, out-of-home and display advertising statistics is CHF 4.443 million.

This corresponds to a 3.8% (+CHF 162 million) increase on the previous year.

Media mix developments compared to the previous year

Internet will remain the dominant media category in 2022, with a 41% share of the media mix*. TV advertising comes second, at 23%. In third place, print generates around a fifth of the advertising pressure (21%), followed by out-of-home (12%), radio (3%) and cinema (0.4%).

Looking at how advertising pressure has developed in the individual media categories, it is noticeable that only TV advertising is slightly below the previous year’s value (-2.3%). Internet advertising (search, display and YouTube) experienced the greatest growth, at 67.1%. Cinema came second, with growth of 46.8%. The figures are still well below the pre-Covid figures from 2019 (CHF 28 million vs. CHF 49 million), but the trend is heading in the right direction, not least due to the blockbuster movie Avatar 2. Out-of-home completes the list of media groups, with double-digit growth (+13.1%). Following its significant increase last year, radio again grew by 6.3% thanks to the integration of new stations in western Switzerland. Print advertising was also slightly up, at 1.2%.

The long tail is growing – top 100 advertisers still generating 42.7% of the advertising pie

In 2022, around 28,400 advertisers in Switzerland placed advertising. Of these, 4,306 were new entries in the statistics in 2022. The growth in online advertising is strengthening long tail advertising. The top 10 advertisers are generating proportionally less advertising pressure than in the previous year (16.4%). In 2021 they accounted for 18.9%, and in 2020 19.3% of the total advertising pressure. The top 20 are still responsible for 22% of the advertising pressure (2021: 24.6%, 2020: 25.1%), the top 100 for 42.7% (2021: 47.4%, 2020: 48.2%).

There is hardly any movement among the leaders of the top 10 advertisers. Coop and Migros remain unchallenged in the top two spots, followed by Procter & Gamble, Ferrero and Swisscom. Contrary to the market trend, the latter three companies reduced their advertising pressure in 2022 compared to the previous year, in some cases significantly (-13.3% to -25.3%).

Ikea (6, 2021: 13) and Sunrise (9, 2021: 17) moved up a few places compared to the previous year. Aldi (2021: 10) did not appear in the top 10 in 2022.

Top advertisers & products

Top advertisers and most advertised products and services (excluding assortment, image advertising and collective categories) 2022.

Coop and Migros leading the pack in sustainability communication

Analysis of the advertising activities of large retailers in Switzerland shows that Coop and Migros are ahead of the competition in 2022 when it comes to advertising communication relating to sustainability issues. Coop (“Actions, not words”) is just ahead of Migros (“Generation M” and “M-Check”). Third place goes to Migros subsidiary Denner (whose slogan translates as “Putting everything into the future”), followed by Lidl (“Said and done”) and Aldi (“Working today for tomorrow”).

Sector trends in 2022

Retail continues to occupy pole position. In second place is now the Leisure, gastronomy, tourism, which jumped up four places in total compared to the previous year. Only service industry (+5 places) climbed by a higher number of places. This is mainly due to the above-average online focus of these two sectors. In addition, the fashion and sport (+3 places), telecommunications (+2 places), transport companies (+2 places) and events (+1 place) also saw increases.

Initiatives & campaigns recorded the biggest decline, falling five places. The food sector slipped down four places. The vehicle industry dropped three places, followed by beverages (-2 places), cleaning (-2 places) and personal needs (-1 place).

Conclusion

Despite the multi-pronged crisis that the world is undergoing at present (the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, inflation, etc.) and the general sense of uncertainty, the Swiss advertising market regained strength in 2022. The year-on-year comparison is particularly positive. However, advertising volumes in most media groups, with the exception of out-of-home (with and without the integration of live systems) and online, are still below the values seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.

In addition, advertising activities are increasingly shifting into the digital space, where foreign players skim off the advertising pressure. “Traditional media” will have to come up with strategies if they are not to lose even more relevance.

*To ensure comparability with the previous year, the programmatic data integrated into the display delivery statistics since 2022 were excluded. With these included, the display media category shows an increase of around 30%.

Highlights in December

Compared to the previous year, figures for the month of December are 13.4% higher, with 747.4 million gross advertising pressure. Nevertheless, this trails behind the figure for the same month in 2021, by 2.5%. A total of 15 industries were able to increase advertising pressure again in the final month of 2022. Only six of the 21 sectors reported a decline.

Advertising Pressure in the market as a whole
Development of Advertising Pressure as per December 2022 in million francs (gross)

Cleaning sector shows strong growth

In December, the largest increase was achieved by the cleaning sector, with 68.6%. This was closely followed by the previous month’s leader, energy, at 64.8%. Other sectors that were once again able to significantly increase advertising pressure are leisure, gastronomy, tourism (46.6%), telecommunications (43.3%), services (31.4%) and vehicles (25.2%).

Tobacco industry sees over 50% drop in advertising pressure in December

With gross advertising pressure of CHF 1.0 million, the tobacco industry experienced the greatest decrease in advertising pressure when compared against other sectors, at -64.1%. The food (-9.9%), digital & household (-6.7%), cosmetics & personal care (-5.8%), personal needs (-5.0%) and initiatives & campaigns (-0.4%) sectors recorded a much smaller decline.

Top of the month

The top advertisers and most widely advertised products and services (excluding range, image and collective categories) in December

Media Mix

Media Mix for the month of December

Annual review 2021 Advertising Market Trend November

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Highlights in February

by Alicia Görlitz

The Swiss advertising market closed February on CHF 436.6 million gross, down by 9.4% compared with the previous year. Compared with January 2023, however, gross advertising pressure increased slightly (+0.7%).

Meanwhile, the year-to-date gross total of CHF 870.4 million was down 11.6% compared with the previous year.

This decline can be attributed to the total of 15 sectors that generated lower gross advertising pressure in February. Just six sectors recorded an increase.

The top advertiser this month was Coop, and the most advertised product (without search) was the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Advertising Pressure in the market as a whole
Development of Advertising Pressure as per February 2023 in million francs (gross)

The tobacco industry records a significant increase

As in the previous month, January, the largest increase in advertising pressure was recorded by the tobacco industry, with an increase of 239.9%, followed by the transportation sector with an increase of 44.9%. Also among the winners in February was the financial sector, which increased its gross advertising pressure by 38.1%, followed by events (+16.5%), leisure, tourism, gastronomy (+10.9%) and vehicles (+6.2%).

Total decline of 9.4% across all sectors

No less than 15 sectors recorded a decline in gross advertising pressure in February. The personal care sector was the most affected, with a drop of 32.8%, followed by the cleaning sector, with a decline of 30.7%. Other sectors that saw a decline in gross advertising pressure were construction, industry, furnishings (-28.6%), fashion and sport (-28.4%), energy (-27.7%), pharmaceuticals & health (-22.8%), digital & household (-20.0%), telecommunications (-19.3%), services (-17.3%), food (-16.7%), retail (-11.4%) and drinks (-10.2%).

Top of the month

The top advertisers and most advertised products and services (excluding range, image and other advertising) in February

Media Mix

Media Mix (classic media) for the month of January

Contact: mediafocus@mediafocus.ch, Tel.: +41 43 322 27 50

Annual review 2022 Advertising Market Trend January