Advertising market weakens again in May

Following the dip in April, the Swiss advertising market continued to slow in May. Compared with the same month last year, advertising spending fell by 4.4 percent to 419 million francs.

Editorial - June 16, 2015

The advertising market also shrank cumulatively from January to May by 1.3 percent to 1.989 billion Swiss francs, as the market research company Media Focus announced on Tuesday. The consumer electronics (down 40 percent to CHF 4.7 million), tobacco products (down 37.8 percent to CHF 1.6 million) and services (down 30.7 percent to CHF 17.9 million) sectors suffered a particularly severe slump. The energy sector (down 23.4% to CHF 2.1 million), the watch and jewelry sector (down 20.1% to CHF 7.6 million) and cosmetics and personal care (down 17.3% to CHF 24.2 million) also suffered significant losses. On the other hand, advertising for household articles (up 49.5% to CHF 7.3 million) achieved the greatest growth, ahead of transport companies (up 18.4% to CHF 6.7 million).

More money for food advertising

The most money was spent on food advertising in May, which increased by 5.7% to CHF 47.7 million. This was followed by vehicle advertising, which, however, suffered a decline of 5.1% to 35 million francs. Retailers once again stepped on the gas, investing 13.1% more money in advertising with 33.1 million francs. Advertising for political campaigns grew by 3 percent to 8.5 million francs. Most of this was attributable to the referendum proposals from last weekend. At CHF 3 million, the most money was spent on the inheritance tax reform, ahead of the bill on the Radio and Television Act (RTVG), which accounted for CHF 1.4 million. The RTVA bill was the dominant voting topic in the online media. The weakest advertising was for the scholarship initiative (CHF 73,000) and the vote on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) with CHF 99,000. (SDA)

Advertising pressure in the overall market