Highlights in April

Advertising pressure declined again in April, compared with the previous strong month of March, and the advertising market closed at CHF 520.8 million gross.

The biggest annual slump was seen in April 2020, due to the pandemic. The advertising market recovered slightly in April 2021 and this continued in 2022. The advertising month of April recorded an increase of 34.0%.

The short appendix regarding federal referendums reveals that gross advertising pressure was considerably lower, at around CHF 1.7 million, than for the February bills (CHF 14.4 million).

At CHF 2,160.8 million gross, cumulative advertising pressure for the first four months of the year was 57.0% up on the annual advertising pressure of 2021.

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

Much more advertising pressure of tobacco goods

As in previous months, the events (+176.3%) and leisure, gastronomy and tourism (+117.3%) sectors continued to recover, following pandemic-related low levels of advertising, and advertising pressure rose sharply again in April. YTD, the events sector shot up by 193.5%, while leisure, gastronomy and tourism also delivered a much improved performance YTD (+167.2%).  However, these sectors were just pipped to a place on the podium by retail, construction, industry, furnishings and the service sector.

The absolute leader in terms of percentage growth compared to the same month last year was the tobacco sector, however, whose advertising pressure rose by 448.7%, making clear gains YTD (+65.5%).

Automotive and cleaning decline again

As in March, the cleaning (-49.3%) and automotive (-27.3%) sectors declined again in April, making them the only sectors to reduce their advertising pressure YTD. While automotive was only slightly down on last year’s value, with a drop of 5.0%, the cleaning sector fell sharply (-42.1%).

Despite the federal referendums in May, the initiatives & campaigns sector reduced its advertising pressure slightly in April (-4.2%) and the energy sector also failed to reach its 2021 value (-8.2%).

Top of the month

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

Media Mix

Media Mix for the month of April

Appendix: referendums on May 15, 2022

On May 15, 2022, the Swiss electorate once again went to the ballot box. At federal level, there were referendums on a change concerning the film industry, adoption of the EU regulation on the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex expansion), and a change to the law on organ transplants.

With advertising pressure of around CHF 1.7 million, gross advertising expenditure for these federal referendums was much lower than the expenditure (CHF 14.4 million) for the February bills. “Yes”-camp advertising campaigns generated considerably more advertising pressure than those of the “No” camp. The “Yes” campaigns succeeded accordingly, as all three bills were endorsed by voters. Gross advertising expenditure for the Frontex expansion was in first place, at CHF 715,000, including just under CHF 18,000 from the “No” camp. The change concerning the film industry came second, with cumulative advertising pressure of CHF 653,000. Here too, “Yes”-camp advertising was clearly more visible (72%). The change to the law on organ transplants came in third (CHF 304,000), with the “Yes” camp responsible for 68% of advertising visibility. 

Please note that the final figures with May’s complete advertising pressure will not be available until mid-June.

Annual review 2021 Advertising Market Trend March