After the strong March, advertising pressure declines again somewhat in April
Following March, which had been the month with the highest advertising spend to date, April—as in previous years—was again somewhat weaker. With advertising spend totaling 619.9 million Swiss francs, April recorded a 11.4 percent decrease in advertising spend compared to the previous month.
Compared to the previous year, data integration has resulted in a 24.7 percent increase. Excluding this integration, advertising volume remains at a comparable level (+0.7 percent). The top three industries remain unchanged. The IT hardware and software product group recorded the largest increase in April.
Data integration: Internet and TV
The Internet media group has been reported in the Trend advertising market since January 2017, including search desktop advertising. Search Mobile was also integrated into the Media Focus advertising statistics as of the July 2017 data cut-off date. In January 2018, Search was integrated for French-speaking Switzerland on the basis of tens of thousands of French search terms (share of Search YTD: 87% DE/13% FR).
Since March 2018, YouTube data (display and video) has also been reported retroactively from January 2018 in the advertising market trend (share of media mix YTD 1%).
From January 2018, the TV media group will also include TV sponsorship and the pre-split, post-split, single split and time advertising formats.
Information About YouTube
Improvements in the query based on customer feedback have led to adjustments in the evaluation. Comparability over a defined time series is still guaranteed at all times. Currently, lifestyle/tech brands still tend to be overrated on videos with extremely high reach (e.g. Apple). In order to reflect reality as closely as possible and to do justice to these extreme cases, we will constantly optimize the valuation. There may therefore be further adjustments to the rating method in the near future.
Advertising pressure in the overall market
Trends in Advertising Spend as of April 2018
Construction, Industry. The organization solidifies its bronze status
Of the top 10 industries, only [...], in April—a month with lower advertising spending compared to the previous month, March— Digital & Household as well as Initiatives & Campaigns exert greater advertising pressure. The industries Leisure, Dining, Tourism and Service Although they remain firmly in first and second place, they have lost more than 20 percent of their advertising presence compared to March. Construction, Industry, Interior Design It declined by only about 8 percent during the same period and secured its place on the bronze podium with the highest advertising spend of the month. The food industry also managed to close the gap on the automotive sector ahead of it in April. With about 10 million francs more in advertising spend, the gap has narrowed to less than half a million gross advertising francs.
IT hardware and software with the largest increase
The service sector (+72.6 percent), the digital and household sector (+64.4 percent), and the leisure, hospitality, and tourism sector (+54.2 percent) recorded the highest year-over-year increases. The development of the Digital and Household sector is particularly interesting, as its product groups—IT, hardware and software, and TV & home entertainment—are moving in opposite directions. The former recorded the highest year-over-year increase (+128.6 percent), while the latter saw a significant decline in advertising spending (-10.9 percent).
Sharpest decline despite upcoming referendums
The “Political Campaigns” product group recorded the sharpest year-over-year decline in April 2018 (-30 percent). Advertising activity in April of last year was dominated by the federal referendums of May 21, 2017 (proposal for the Energy Act, EnG). However, the referendums on June 10, 2018—on the Gaming Act and the Sovereign Money Initiative—did not generate the same level of advertising pressure in April as in the previous year. The media industry and the TV & Home Entertainment product group also recorded double-digit percentage declines.
Advertising printing in the industries
Advertising pressure in the sectors with year-on-year comparison
Top 10 of the month
The top advertisers and the most-advertised products and services (excluding product line and image advertising) in April
Media Mix
The integration of Search (January 2017) and Mobile (July 2017) data into the Media Focus advertising statistics has led to a significant increase in the share of Internet in the media mix. Since January 2018, Search data has also been collected for French-speaking Switzerland (Search share: 87 percent DE/13 percent FR).
