Highlights in February 2024
In February, the “traditional” advertising market recorded gross advertising pressure of CHF 260.4 million, an increase of 3.0 percent compared to the previous year. However, this also marked a drop of 4.7 percent compared to the month prior, January.
Out-of-home (+13%) and radio (+10%) grew in comparison to the previous year, while print and TV remained stable. Cinema fell by 30 percent, according to current data. However, this number is not definitive, as we have not yet received information for every week in February.
Please note that the data for Livesystems is currently only available for 2024. The increase in out-of-home advertising without Livesystems is +3.8 percent. Growth in the traditional advertising market without Livesystems is at 1.1 percent.
Once again, search engine advertising took the lion’s share in the field of online media this month, making up 72 percent, followed by display (21%) and YouTube (7%).
From 2024, we will be reporting the traditional advertising market and digital channels (search, YouTube, display) separately to ensure better comparability to the previous year. Volatility in recording in the online sector, due to external influences such as adjustments made by Google, can lead to larger fluctuations throughout the year. In the search sector in particular there were numerous adjustments and changes made by Google in the last half of the year, which made comparing gross advertising spending with the previous year difficult.
Advertising pressure in the traditional market
Advertising pressure development in the traditional market in February 2024 in CHF million gross
Positive trends in 11 sectors
The “traditional” advertising market recorded an increase of 3.0 percent in February, which can be attributed to the positive trend in 11 sectors. With 103.4 percent, public transport notched up the biggest percentage upswing in comparison to the previous year. Cleaning (+68.4%), tobacco (+63.3%), media (+44.7%), pharmaceuticals and health (+37.8%) and leisure, gastronomy and tourism (+36.5) all grew more than 30 percent.
Ten sectors performed more weakly than the previous year
A total of ten sectors showed a decrease in comparison to the previous year. The largest percentage downturns were in finance (-28.7%), closely followed by digital & household (-27.5%) and personal care (-21.7%).
Other areas experiencing reductions included retail (-13.5%), fashion & sport (-9.0%), initiatives & campaigns (-8.1%), services (-7.6%), cosmetics & toiletries (-3.3%), telecommunications (-2.6%) and beverages (-0.9%).
Sector ranking in the traditional market
Top of the month
The top advertisers and most advertised products and services (excluding range, image and other advertising) in February
Media Mix Traditional
Media mix for February 2024
Advertising pressure in the digital market
Advertising pressure development in the digital market in February 2024 in CHF million gross
Sector ranking: traditional vs. digital channels in comparison
The top three sectors for digital channels were retail, leisure, gastronomy and tourism, and finance.
While retail and leisure, gastronomy and tourism were strongly represented in traditional channels, the food sector sat head and shoulders above the rest. Interestingly, this industry was only ranked 11th with respect to digital channels.
Services took fourth place in digital channels, while initiatives & campaigns took this spot for traditional channels. The construction, industry and furnishings sector ranked fifth on the traditional and digital leaderboards alike.
Despite having products in the top 10, tobacco sat in the bottom three of the sector rankings for both the traditional and digital spheres. Media, tobacco and energy brought up the rear for traditional channels, while energy, tobacco and cleaning did so for their digital counterparts.
Industry ranking in the digital market
Top products
The most advertised products in the Search, Display and YouTube segments in February
The most advertised products differed substantially in parts for digital channels. None of the products were in the top 10 across all three channels.
Only Temu.com and Disney+ were to be found on two of the three channels, with Temu taking third place in display and tenth place in search. Disney+, meanwhile, was ninth in display and seventh in YouTube.
While the online retailer amazon.de took first place in search, it was otherwise predominantly providers from the leisure, gastronomy and tourism sector – namely ab-in-den-urlaub.ch, booking.com and migros-ferien.ch – that featured.
Media Mix Digital
Media mix for the month of February
Contact: mediafocus@mediafocus.ch, Tel.: +41 43 322 27 50
Annual review 2023 Advertising Market Trend January 2024