FOPH's Corona campaign with highest advertising pressure in March

While gross power printing usually skyrockets in the third month of the year, the 2020 figure of 455.5 million is only slightly higher than in January.

The year-on-year gap in March was minus CHF 90 million or -16.4 percent. This means that the first quarter of 2020 is 114 million behind the prior-year figure. This corresponds to a decline of -8.2 percent.

Development of advertising print in the overall market as of March 2020 in millions of gross Swiss francs

Media groups affected to varying degrees

In percentage terms, cinema advertising fell the most in March (-77%), followed by radio advertising (-49%). Print declines by around 20 percent, with daily, regional weekly and Sunday press and trade press hit hardest. The general, financial and business press, on the other hand, remained at the previous year's level. Internet (-17%) and TV advertising also suffered noticeable losses (-15%).

Only out-of-home advertising print in March remains overall at the level of the previous year (-0.7%). The media group has made an extremely strong start to the new year and can still cushion the losses from calendar week 12, which are around 10 percent. It will be exciting to see when and how strongly effects arrive.

With the declaration of the "extraordinary situation" in Switzerland on March 16, 2020, calendar week 12 shows the biggest drop in advertising pressure across all media groups. However, there are differences to be observed between the individual media. While cinema advertising drops to zero after the closure from week 12 onwards, as expected, the decline in the other media groups is already less pronounced in the following week. After the initial shock, it becomes clear that a disruption, which the current exceptional situation undeniably represents for the advertising industry, creates obvious winners and losers.

Crisis winners: cleaning and tobacco products

A glance at the industry trend reveals. Mr. and Mrs. Swiss are encouraged to do two things in particular in March - clean and smoke.

Cleaning experienced the highest boost in March with a plus of 33.2%, followed by tobacco with plus 24.2 percent. Both sectors were still clearly in the red year-on-year in February.

Initiatives & campaigns strong through BAG campaign

Due to the FOPH's Corona campaign, the "product" with the highest advertising pressure in March 2020, the Initiatives and Campaigns sector also experiences a significant increase in advertising pressure (+5.7%) and the Financial sector also closes slightly up (+1.9%). However, looking at the year-to-date performance, this should be interpreted as a standstill. The industry started January and February with a good 20 percent more advertising pressure than in 2019.

Vehicle industry without auto show push

However, the fact that campaigns were stopped at short notice from calendar week 12 can so far only be observed with a few advertisers. One example of this from the automotive industry, the sector that has to contend with the highest absolute year-on-year decline, not least due to the discontinuation of the Motor Show, is VW.

It is true that the VW Golf 8 is on the silver podium of the top 10 products in March. However, a closer look at the placements shows that the advertising offensive in TV, OOH and cinema is short-lived and comes to an abrupt end in week 12. Only online advertising continues as before. Whether this was planned can at least be questioned.

Leisure, gastronomy, tourism in decline

The sector that loses the most ranks in March compared with the year to date is Leisure, Catering, Tourism. Clearly ranked #1 in January and February, this drops to #10. Advertising pressure has fallen steadily by a third since January.

Year-to-Date continues to have the highest advertising pressure, the year-on-year decline comes to -12.7%. March 2020 is around 40% below the prior-year figure.

Outlook

However, the crisis offers good short-, medium- and long-term positioning opportunities to those who communicate agilely, be it by adjusting the advertised product range (bicycles: +41%), highlighting services such as the online store (SportXX, from 23.3.2020), or image building (partnership rules of conduct: Coop/Migros/Denner).

And a simple logic should not be forgotten: If the competition reduces its activities, then its own "advertising voice" will carry more weight in the market while the advertising pressure remains the same (SOV%). It should not be due to the time and attention that the Swiss population devotes to the media in times of home office and quarantine.

Advertising printing in the industries

Top of the month

The top advertisers and most advertised products and services (excluding assortment and image advertising) in March.

Media Mix