Traditional advertising market stabilizes in April

After a decline in March, the market restabilized in April: the current month generated CHF 335.3 million, up +0.6percent on the previous year’s figure. Compared to the previous month of March, gross advertising pressure remained almost unchanged at a high level. In April, the traditional advertising market reached a cumulative gross advertising pressure of CHF 1’200.6 million, remaining slightly above the previous year (+0.6 percent).

The picture remains mixed across the traditional media categories. Among traditional media groups, out-of-home remains the key growth driver, growing by 20.7 percent in April compared to the previous year. The other traditional media categories, by contrast, recorded declines: print saw a decline of 8.4 percent, radio declined by 4.6 percent, TV by 3.3 percent and cinema by 2.8 percent.

In the digital market, the gross advertising pressure in April amounted to CHF 222.5 million, putting the digital market well above the previous month of March (CHF 190.0 million). The comparison with the previous year remains limited. Search dominated with a share of 73.1 percent, followed by display (19.9 percent) and YouTube (7.0 percent).

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Advertising pressure in the market as a whole

Advertising pressure development up to April 2026 in CHF million gross.

A growing number of positive sectors

In the traditional market, 11 out of 21 sectors performed positively in April. The industry picture is therefore broader than in March, when only nine sectors were up on the previous year. The largest percentage increase was recorded by public transport companies, with an increase of 101.3 percent, followed by vehicles (+43.8 percent) and digital & household (+34.8 percent). Services (+14.6 percent), pharmaceuticals & health (+12.8 percent) and personal care (+11.7 percent) also showed significant positive growth.

Leisure, gastronomy, tourism also remained in the black with +9.7 percent and maintained its third place spot in the traditional sector ranking YTD. Telecommunications grew by 9.5 percent in the current month, cosmetics & toiletries by 5.4 percent, cleaning by 2.8 percent and building, industry, furnishings by 2.0 percent.

Declines continue to affect high-volume sectors

In contrast, ten sectors recorded a decrease in advertising pressure compared to the previous year. The largest percentage declines were seen in energy, with a fall of 29.3 percent, followed by food (-18.7 percent) and retail trade (-17.8 percent). Despite these declines, retail trade and food remain the sectors with the highest advertising pressure YTD in the traditional market.

Tobacco products (-15.8 percent), initiatives & campaigns (-11.1 percent), fashion & sport (-6.6 percent), beverages (-5.7 percent), media (-4.1 percent) and events (-2.6 percent) also declined. At -1.1 percent, finance was only slightly below the previous year’s level.

Sector ranking

Sector ranking for April 2026.

Top advertisers and products

The top advertisers and most advertised products and services (excluding range, image and other advertising) in April 2026.

Media Mix

Media mix for April.

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Advertising pressure in the digital market

Development of advertising pressure up to April 2026 in CHF million gross.

*The traditional advertising market and the digital channels (search, YouTube, display) are shown separately to enable better comparability with the previous year. Fluctuations in online recording can be exacerbated by external influences – in particular, by technical updates undertaken by major platforms such as Google or YouTube. This applies in particular to search, which sees regular changes that may affect the ability to compare gross advertising pressure with the previous year.

Sector ranking YTD: traditional vs. digital channels in comparison

As of April, retail continues to lead the traditional market, followed by food and leisure, gastronomy, tourism. In the digital market, on the other hand, leisure, gastronomy, tourism leads the ranking, just ahead of finance and services.

The different weighting of individual sectors remains striking: in the digital market, finance ranked second, but in the traditional market came fifth. Services ranked third in the digital market, but eleventh in the traditional market. Conversely, food took second place in the traditional market, but had a much weaker position in the digital market. Retail trade remains relevant in both markets, but fell to fourth place in the digital market.

Telecommunications continued to have a much stronger presence in the digital market, reaching fifth place, while being only in the middle of the pack in the traditional market. Sectors such as media, energy, tobacco products and cleaning remained at the bottom of both markets.

Sector ranking

Sector ranking for April 2026.

Top digital products

The most advertised products and services (excluding range, image and other advertising) in April 2026.

Search clearly dominated the media mix at 73.1 percent and continued to be heavily influenced by travel, comparison and financial services. Display and YouTube, on the other hand, demonstrated a broader mix of telecommunications, mobility, consumer goods, entertainment and tourism.

As in the previous month, SPUSU.CH led the ranking in display, followed by OUTDOOR-CHEF GASGRILL. Among others, these were followed by OPEL FRONTERA GELAENDEWAGEN, SWISS CASINOS PFAEFFIKON-ZUERICHSEE, LEXUS RZ 450E SUV ELEKTRO, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2, E-FRAMER E-BIKE, DENNER SPONSORING, ZYN TABAKFREE NICOTINE POUCHES and TOURISMUS WALLIS.

When it comes to search, BOOKING.COM remains the clear leader, followed by COMPARIS.CH, SKYSCANNER.CH and AXA.CH. Also in the top 10 were TRIVAGO.CH, OPODO.CH, EDREAMS.CH, CREDIT-NOW.CH, YALLO.CH and FINANCESCOUT24.CH.

On YouTube, POKEMON POKOPIA took first place and replaced KNORR BOUILLON, which was still at the top in March. They were followed by TOMODACHI LIFE, CHICOREE BEKLEIDUNG DAMEN, DIE POST MOBILE APP, AXA PRIVATE VORSORGE, TOURISMUS GRAUBUENDEN, ZYN TABAKFREE NICOTINE POUCHES, PEPSI ZERO and LG 4K UHD OLED 65C57LA TV.

With AXA.CH in the search ranking and AXA PRIVATE VORSORGE on YouTube, AXA was once again visible on several digital channels. ZYN TABAKFREE NICOTINE POUCHES was also represented in the display and YouTube rankings.

Media Mix

Media mix for April 2026.

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