Gross advertising market in the DACH region down 3.5 percent

Media Focus Switzerland, Nielsen Germany and Focus from Austria have examined the developments on the advertising market in the DACH region for the first half of 2023. In addition to media mix and seasonality, the analysis also includes the current top advertisers, the advertising motifs, and the advertising drivers with the greatest absolute increase per country compared to the first half of 2022.

According to the results of the study, the gross advertising market in the DACH region fell by 3.5 percent to EUR 18.7 billion in the first half of 2023. This development is largely driven by declines in Germany and Austria of -4.0% and -4.5% respectively, which cannot be offset by the slightly positive trend in Switzerland of +1%.

At 14.7 billion, advertising pressure in Germany is 8 times higher than in Austria (1.9 billion) and 7 times higher than in Switzerland (2.1 billion). Per capita, Germany spends the least at 175 euros. In Austria, the figure is 208 euros, and in Switzerland as much as 241 euros.

Coop, Migros and Procter & Gamble are among the top 3 advertisers in Switzerland. Compared to the first half of 2022, however, the advertising pressure of all three companies has decreased, especially for P&G with -39 percent. In Germany, on the other hand, P&G is the top advertiser, while in Austria it is XXXLutz.

In Switzerland, according to the survey, it was mainly the Barbecue campaign with the CGI bumblebee as well as the Easter campaign by Coop generated a lot of advertising pressure. In third place is a campaign by Vicks VapoRub. In both Germany and Austria, an Ikea campaign is in second place.

Compared to the first half of 2022, the companies Jumbo, Beiersdorf and XXXLutz in particular increased their advertising pressure in Switzerland. In Austria, the private TV station Puls 4, which is owned by the ProSiebenSat.1 Group, comparatively increased its advertising pressure the most. And in Germany, Lidl increased its advertising print particularly sharply, by EUR 95.6 million, compared with the previous year.

The advertising presence of the companies is measured in gross advertising print. This is the equivalent value according to the media tariff f or the individual placement and not the actual expenditure, costs or budgets. Volume discounts, customers or special conditions are not taken into account.

A whole range of other media channels are available in the individual countries, especially in the online sector (search, YouTube, social media). To ensure comparability between the countries, the largest common denominator was chosen for harmonizing the data worlds: Print, OOH, TV, Radio, Internet and Cinema. The Swiss franc was equated with the euro.