Swiss advertising market: December closes with growth

The traditional Swiss advertising market achieved gross advertising expenditure of CHF 367.4 million in December 2025, up 3.1% on the same month last year. This increase is the strongest of the year apart from July and is also one of three positive monthly developments over the course of the year.

Accumulated over the whole of 2025, traditional advertising expenditure amounts to CHF 3,930.8 million, which corresponds to a decrease of 1.7% compared to 2024. The YTD balance thus remains largely stable compared to the previous months of October and November.

Out-of-Home with strongest growth

At media level, the monthly comparison shows a differentiated picture: out-of-home recorded significant year-on-year growth of 26.2%. Print is also slightly up on the previous year at 0.8%. In contrast, TV (-2.8%), radio (-10.9%) and cinema (-23.4%) recorded declines, after all three media categories had shown a neutral to positive trend in November.

The bookings from December 29 to 31 are only published as part of the January month-end closing and are included in week 1 (January).

Tobacco industry with strongest growth

More than half of the sectors recorded significant year-on-year increases in December. The tobacco industry recorded the strongest growth with an increase of 145.6%, which was partly due to increased advertising activity for Velo Nicotine Pouches and Davidoff cigarettes.

The telecommunications sector (124.3%), driven by Swisscom's increased advertising commitment compared to the previous year, as well as the media (48.5%), transport companies (24.1%) and leisure, gastronomy and tourism (22.4%) also recorded significant growth.

Other clear winners in December included beverages (15.0%), pharmaceuticals & healthcare (9.2%), finance (9.0%) and construction, industry, furnishings (8.4%). The services (6.8%) and digital & household (5.9%) sectors also recorded moderate but stable increases.

Retail trade with declining development

Although the retail trade continues to occupy a leading position in 2025, it is down -8.8% compared to the previous year. This development is due in particular to the lower advertising volume of the major distributors Coop, Migros and Denner.

The food industry (-3.2%) and initiatives & campaigns (-9.0%) also saw a decline, despite their strong positioning in second and third place within the annual spendings. The cleaning industry recorded the most significant decline at -26.9%. Cosmetics & personal care (-14.9%), fashion & sport (-11.7%) and energy (-8.3%) were also well below the previous year's level.

Vehicles (-3.5%), personal requirements (-2.0%) and events (-0.7%) developed less strongly, but also declined.

Digital advertising market at a high level

The digital advertising market reached CHF 234.8 million in December, up 32.2% on the same month last year. Although digital advertising pressure declined slightly compared to the previous months, it remained at a high level overall. The cumulative digital market amounted to CHF 2,076.7 million in December, which corresponds to a decline of 3.8% over the course of the year.

For better comparability with the previous year, the traditional advertising market and the digital channels (search, YouTube, display) are reported separately. Fluctuations in online revenue can be exacerbated by external influences - in particular technical updates from major platforms such as Google or YouTube.

Different industry positioning

In the traditional advertising channel, the retail, food and initiatives & campaigns sectors lead the ranking. In contrast, the digital channel is dominated by leisure, gastronomy and tourism, followed by finance and retail. While food and initiatives & campaigns are only in the bottom half of the digital table, leisure, gastronomy, tourism and finance are ranked fourth and sixth respectively in the traditional channel.

The automotive sector is consistently positioned in seventh place in both markets, confirming its stable presence throughout the year. Fashion & sport, pharma & health and beverages are in the middle of both markets. At the lower end of the traditional ranking are media, energy and tobacco products - the latter despite the strong growth in the tobacco sector. In the digital market, events, tobacco products and the cleaning industry bring up the rear.