A top vintage for advertisements
Last year, the Swiss print media experienced a string of successes in the advertising market
Swiss print media experienced a number of highs in the advertising market last yearBy Daniel SchifferleThe year 2000 was an absolute peak year for the advertising market. The booming job market led to positive growth rates for almost all title groups. However, although December was rather weak, the overall positive development is expected to continue in the current year.
December was one of the weakest months ever in the advertising market last year. Newspapers lost a total of 5.7 percent of commercial advertisements. And job advertisements also achieved a below-average result with an increase of "only" 25.6%, which was not able to compensate for the decline in commercial advertisements.
Newspapers ended the last month of the old year with a slight decline of 0.9%. However, this result should be put into perspective, as fewer issues were published in total. Magazines (minus 6.2 percent), gazettes (minus 12.1 percent) and the agricultural press (minus 5 percent) also closed the year down. However, this sluggish development at the end of the year cannot hide the good result for the year as a whole.
Only the agricultural press declined
The agricultural press was the only print category to record a negative result last year (minus 8.9%). All others enjoyed positive growth rates. Newspapers improved by 6.3% overall, with Ticino posting a below-average increase of 4.7%. However, this good result is due in large part to job advertisements, the volume of which increased by 31.2 percent in 2000, slightly more than in 1999 (plus 28.4 percent).
Without the booming job advertisements, growth would have been razor-thin at just 0.6%. And this is due exclusively to the weekly newspapers, which published 14.3 percent more commercial advertisements and massively boosted the overall result with this top result. However, the weekly titles in German-speaking Switzerland also achieved top growth of almost 200 percent in job advertisements thanks to the new Executive Plus management job market.
The Anzeiger were also strong in 2000. Thanks to the new commuter newspapers, they achieved an increase of 11.1 percent. However, the job market also played a major role here, as more than half of the 3494 pages of advertisements published by 20 Minuten and Metropol were job ads.
Magazines did not perform particularly well last year (up 4.2%), although it should not be forgotten that they have to make do without the booming job market. German-speaking Switzerland achieved growth of 5.3 percent with one additional title, while French-speaking Switzerland only saw an increase of 0.4 percent with one additional title. Ticino, on the other hand, performed best, with its two magazines printing 12.3 percent more advertisements than in 1999.
Publicitas Index achieves its best result to date
However, all print media can be pleased about one thing: the number of four-color advertisements increased significantly in 2000, by over 25 percent for newspapers and 9.8 percent for magazines.
The Publicitas index of advertising expenditure in the daily press rose from 124.5 points to 134.9 points in 2000. This corresponds to an increase of 10.4 points or around CHF 200 million. The index thus achieved by far the best result ever since its introduction in January 1995.
Only in the previous year had growth been as marked as in the record year 2000, with an increase of 9.3 points. The job advertisements sub-index also achieved a record increase, climbing 66.4 points to 320.1 points in 2000. Expressed in monetary terms, the print media received around CHF 140 million more from the job market than in the previous year.
Publicitas is optimistic about the current year. Despite some signs of an economic slowdown, the advertising market is dynamic. Publicitas therefore expects commercial advertising to continue to develop well in 2001, and the dynamic growth in job advertisements is also likely to continue in the medium term "due to the low unemployment rate", writes Publicitas.
December was one of the weakest months ever in the advertising market last year. Newspapers lost a total of 5.7 percent of commercial advertisements. And job advertisements also achieved a below-average result with an increase of "only" 25.6%, which was not able to compensate for the decline in commercial advertisements.
Newspapers ended the last month of the old year with a slight decline of 0.9%. However, this result should be put into perspective, as fewer issues were published in total. Magazines (minus 6.2 percent), gazettes (minus 12.1 percent) and the agricultural press (minus 5 percent) also closed the year down. However, this sluggish development at the end of the year cannot hide the good result for the year as a whole.
Only the agricultural press declined
The agricultural press was the only print category to record a negative result last year (minus 8.9%). All others enjoyed positive growth rates. Newspapers improved by 6.3% overall, with Ticino posting a below-average increase of 4.7%. However, this good result is due in large part to job advertisements, the volume of which increased by 31.2 percent in 2000, slightly more than in 1999 (plus 28.4 percent).
Without the booming job advertisements, growth would have been razor-thin at just 0.6%. And this is due exclusively to the weekly newspapers, which published 14.3 percent more commercial advertisements and massively boosted the overall result with this top result. However, the weekly titles in German-speaking Switzerland also achieved top growth of almost 200 percent in job advertisements thanks to the new Executive Plus management job market.
The Anzeiger were also strong in 2000. Thanks to the new commuter newspapers, they achieved an increase of 11.1 percent. However, the job market also played a major role here, as more than half of the 3494 pages of advertisements published by 20 Minuten and Metropol were job ads.
Magazines did not perform particularly well last year (up 4.2%), although it should not be forgotten that they have to make do without the booming job market. German-speaking Switzerland achieved growth of 5.3 percent with one additional title, while French-speaking Switzerland only saw an increase of 0.4 percent with one additional title. Ticino, on the other hand, performed best, with its two magazines printing 12.3 percent more advertisements than in 1999.
Publicitas Index achieves its best result to date
However, all print media can be pleased about one thing: the number of four-color advertisements increased significantly in 2000, by over 25 percent for newspapers and 9.8 percent for magazines.
The Publicitas index of advertising expenditure in the daily press rose from 124.5 points to 134.9 points in 2000. This corresponds to an increase of 10.4 points or around CHF 200 million. The index thus achieved by far the best result ever since its introduction in January 1995.
Only in the previous year had growth been as marked as in the record year 2000, with an increase of 9.3 points. The job advertisements sub-index also achieved a record increase, climbing 66.4 points to 320.1 points in 2000. Expressed in monetary terms, the print media received around CHF 140 million more from the job market than in the previous year.
Publicitas is optimistic about the current year. Despite some signs of an economic slowdown, the advertising market is dynamic. Publicitas therefore expects commercial advertising to continue to develop well in 2001, and the dynamic growth in job advertisements is also likely to continue in the medium term "due to the low unemployment rate", writes Publicitas.
