2018: Mediaschneider Group has its nose in front
Media agencies tied back in their market penetration
We can divide media investments in the Swiss advertising market into those that are managed by media agencies and those that reach the media without using their services. Fig. 1: The share of media budgets managed by media agenciesWhen this market analysis was first conducted in 2012, the share of media budgets managed by media agencies was only 69%. Almost one-third of the total media volume passed them by at that time. In the following years, the share of media agencies climbed to over 80 percent. This trend came to a halt in 2017. In 2018, the share of media budgets managed by media agencies has already fallen back to the level of 2014.In absolute figures, this means: in 2012, more than 1 billion advertising dollars flowed past the media agencies to the media. By 2016, this amount had halved to just CHF 535 million. And now, in 2018, we are back at CHF 775 million.
The downward trend of network agencies stopped
If we allocate media investments in the Swiss advertising market to the individual agency types, we see that the agencies connected to an international network (10 agencies in total) have the largest market share. This has leveled off at 55 percent over the last three years. In 2012, however, it was still significantly higher (63.1 percent). Fig. 2: Development of market shares of the different agency types The situation is just the opposite for the network-independent media agencies (11 agencies in total). Their market share has increased from 37 (2012) to 45.1 percent (2016). And now this development has come to a halt. In 2018, their share is still 44.3 percent.So much for the general development. Now to the development of the individual agencies:
The Mediaschneider Group
Mediaschneider is not only the best rated individual agency by advertising clients, the Mediaschneider Group is also the largest media agency group. The Mediaschneider Group includes the three agencies Mediaschneider Zurich, Mediaschneider Berne and TWmedia. TWmedia is the Basel agency through which, among other things, the Coop Budget runs. The group handles a media volume of 480 million Swiss francs, giving it a market share of 21.3 percent. Fig. 3: The market shares of the individual media agency groups in 2018In 2016, the Mediaschneider Group was still in second place, trailing GroupM by 3.8 percentage points. In 2017, it managed to push past GroupM into first place by a very narrow margin (+0.6 score points). In 2018, the lead over the second-best agency group is already 5.6 percentage points.GroupM, which comprises the three media agencies MediaCom, Mindshare and Wavemaker, has returned to second place in 2018 after temporarily slipping to third. Its market share is 15.7 percent.The Publicis Media Group, consisting of the two agencies Zenith and Starcom, has moved up to third place. At 11.9 percent, it has returned to its 2012 level, after falling back to 7.3 percent in 2016.
Mediaschneider Zurich also largest media agency
In the last six years, since we started conducting this market analysis, Omnicom Media Group with OMD provided the largest single agency in the Swiss advertising market. In 2018, following the loss of MGB as its largest client, it was no longer able to maintain this top position. With a slight increase of 20 million, Mediaschneider Zurich took over the top spot. The second largest individual agency is now Zenith (+66 million). Dentsu Aegis moved up to third place with the biggest leap forward (+119 million). Fig. 4: The 10 biggest media agencies based on the media spendings of their clients in 2018
The network-independent media agencies are fully exploiting their potential
In addition to the Mediaschneider Group, there are other media agencies that do not belong to an international network. These do not form a media agency group in the true sense. They achieved a market share of 23 percent in 2018. Compared to the previous year, this is a further minus of 1 percent. This "tacit community" includes mediatonic, Mediakanzlei, ZipMedia, JBW Media, Konnex, mmb, AMS Media, and The Generation Media. Together, these eight agencies manage media budgets totaling CHF 515 million. By far the largest of these agencies is mediatonic, with a media volume of CHF 150 million. As a result of these size ratios, mediatonic will be reported separately from now on. Its market share is 6.7 percent, while that of the other seven is 16.3 percent.
About the study
In its annual advertising market study, the Media.Research.Group asks the top 750 clients in the Swiss advertising market about their communications budget and their collaboration with media agencies, among other things. Based on this information, important statements can be made about the media volume in the Swiss advertising market:- How many media investments are managed by media agencies and- How many flow past the media agencies directly to the Swiss media? How much of the total media volume is managed by media agencies that are connected to an international network and- how much by network-independent media agencies?- Which are the largest agency groups in the Swiss advertising market and- which are the largest individual agencies?- What does the agency constellation look like in the 35 individual sectors?This market analysis is being conducted for the seventh time in 2018.
