Online advertising grows markedly

The statistics now also include projections for online advertising and advertising and promotional articles. The press remains the most important advertising category.

The Advertising Statistics Foundation has once again compiled net sales from the Swiss advertising market. Advertising sales totaling 5210 million Swiss francs were reported for 2015. This result is just below the previous year's level (-3 percent).

Since 2016, the advertising statistics now include figures on the development of online advertising. With an increase of 7 percent, sales in this area grew significantly compared with the previous year. The strongest growth can be seen in online display advertising, with +8 percent to 215 million Swiss francs. Sales of online directories were also up on the previous year (+5 percent).

Cinema and outdoor advertising with positive development

There were also positive developments compared to 2014 in outdoor advertising (+4 percent). Here, digital in particular increased, with a growth rate of 9 percent. Cinema advertising posted an increase in sales from CHF 28 million to CHF 34 million last year.

In contrast to online directories, business with printed address and telephone directories is declining (-12 percent). The TV (-3 percent) and radio (-5 percent) genres also recorded declining advertising sales.

As of this year, the advertising statistics now include the advertising and promotional products sector. Sales of these declined by 6 percent to 692 million Swiss francs.

Advertising pie remains stably distributed

Advertising revenues from the press declined year on year (-6 percent). However, with sales of over 1.4 billion Swiss francs, it remains the most important advertising category ahead of TV and direct marketing (see figure).

In recent years, the Stiftung Werbestatistik Schweiz (Swiss Advertising Statistics Foundation) has tried unsuccessfully to collect comparable revenues for display advertising. Due to an improved response rate from the market, the figures for online advertising can finally be reported in 2016. With the inclusion of Promoswiss, sales for the area of advertising and promotional items are now also reported. This means that even more relevant advertising media are represented in the statistics. As the previous year's figures were also collected for both newly included advertising categories, comparisons with 2014 are possible.

Detailed explanations of net advertising revenues

Declining advertising market in Switzerland

Following the massive slumps in sales in 2009, the situation in the advertising market has stabilized. Nonetheless, sales have been declining across the board since 2011.

Development of advertising revenues does not run parallel to GDP

According to the latest SECO figures, gross domestic product has increased every year since 2009. The positive economic development does not run parallel to advertising investments. GDP no longer seems adequate, if not unsuitable, as an explanatory factor for the development of net advertising revenues.

Press: Advertising revenues down again

At CHF 1,436 million, net advertising sales in the Swiss press were 6.5 percent below the previous year's level. With a minus of 8.2 percent, the decline is greatest in the category of daily, regional weekly and Sunday press. Revenues from job ads are now only of marginal importance (CHF 65 million) and, in the case of the daily press, just reach a share of 8.8 percent of the total advertising volume.

Television: slightly down

Overall, the figures for TV advertising (including sponsorship of broadcasts) were down on the previous year, with revenues of CHF 749 million (-3.0 percent). The SRG stations' market share shrank to 48.6 percent. The advertising windows of the foreign stations increased their market share to 42.2 percent. The market share of the private Swiss stations remained virtually unchanged at 9.2 percent.

New: Online advertising: Marked growth

For the first time, the 2016 advertising statistics also include separate figures on the development of online advertising. Overall, sales from online advertising were significantly above the previous year's level at CHF 572 million (+7.0 percent). The strongest growth can be seen in the area of online display advertising, with +8.2 percent to CHF 215 million. Sales of online directories were also up +5.2 percent on the previous year at CHF 127 million. The online classifieds markets (jobs, real estate, cars) also saw significant growth (+6.8 percent) with sales of CHF 230 million. Figures for the search engine advertising sector can still not be reported due to a lack of willingness to report.

Cinema a clear winner in electronic media

Of the other electronic media, only cinema advertising showed a positive development (+21.4 percent). The figures for radio (-4.6 percent) and teletext (-19.0 percent) were again down on the previous year.

Out-of-home advertising: solid increase compared to 2014

Overall, advertising revenues for out-of-home advertising were above the previous year's level at CHF 449 million (+3.8 percent). Analog billboard advertising generated sales of CHF 345 million (+2.8 percent), while digital out-of-home (incl. adscreen) posted a growth rate of 8.9 percent (sales: CHF 36 million).

Decline in printed address and telephone directories

In contrast to online directories, business with printed address and telephone directories is in sharp decline. Sales fell by 12.2 percent to CHF 85 million in 2015.

Minor revenue losses in direct advertising

Revenues from distribution costs for addressed and unaddressed advertising decreased by 1.1 percent to CHF 1047 million

New: Advertising and promotional items record decline

Another new feature of the 2016 advertising statistics is the area of advertising and promotional articles. Sales in this area declined significantly by 5.7 percent to CHF 692 million.