Corona crisis provides SRF with many viewers
SRF reports positive viewership figures for 2020, a year heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company recorded a market share of 30.7 percent in television and 54.8 percent in radio, as well as a renewed increase in interest in its online offerings, it announced on Tuesday.
SRF 1, SRF zwei and SRF info achieved a total market share of 30.7% in 2020 despite the cancellation of major sporting events. In prime time, the most important broadcasting time in the evening, the market share of the three TV channels was 39.7%.
With 1.493 million viewers, the main edition of "Tagesschau" on March 19 was the most-watched program in 2020 in the first few days after the nationwide shutdown. At the same time, it was the most successful "Tagesschau" ever since the measurement method was changed in 2013.
With an average of 811,000 viewers, never before since 2013 have so many people watched the main edition of "Tagesschau" as last year. According to the report, "Tagesschau" exceeded the million mark 62 times.
Due to the great interest of the population in information offerings throughout the year, SRF 1's market share of 22.2 percent was significantly higher than the previous year's figure (2019: 19.5 percent), while SRF Zweit lost market share due to the temporary discontinuation of live sport (2020: 6.4 percent; 2019: 9.8 percent).
Online offering also in demand
SRF's information offering also attracted a lot of attention online: on 16 March, the day the Federal Council announced the nationwide shutdown, the SRF News online offering reached 2.1 million visits, the second-highest figure in 2020. Around the peak of the second coronavirus wave in October, November and December, there was an average of 1.4 million visits per day.
On November 4, one day after the US elections, the SRF News online offering recorded 3.2 million visits, the highest figure since measurements began.
The SRF News app was also very popular in 2020. It recorded an average of 477,000 visits per day. This corresponds to growth of 160 percent compared to the previous year.
The increase was less pronounced at Radio SRF, where the market share rose from 54.4% in 2019 to 54.8%. Radio SRF 1 remained the market leader in all concession areas in German-speaking Switzerland. (SDA)
