The advertising market was on the upswing in March - albeit more subdued than in the previous year
Gross advertising expenditure in March totaled 659.6 million Swiss francs. Following the first two months of the year, gross advertising expenditure rose significantly in March, as expected. However, compared to the same period last year, there was a slight decrease of 5.2 percent.
The annual advertising pressure is 1,760.6 million gross francs, which corresponds to an increase of 7.1% compared to the previous year. This growth is still attributable to the surprisingly strong January.
Advertising pressure in the overall market
Development of advertising pressure as at March 2019
Leisure, gastronomy and tourism remain at the top
Looking at the annual advertising pressure of the individual sectors, the picture is similar to that of the first two months of the year. Leisure, gastronomy & tourism is in first place, practically on a par with the second-placed service sector. Third place again goes to the automotive industry. Fashion & sport is now just ahead of the food industry. Beverages and transportation, as well as the cleaning and media sectors swapped places.
Small changes within the sectors
In March 2019, gross value added in most sectors showed little change compared to the previous year. This is also reflected in the low growth of 1.6% across all sectors. The largest year-on-year increase was recorded by the political campaigns product group (+27.2%), although this did not prevent the slight reduction in advertising pressure from initiatives and campaigns. The energy sector (+7.5%) and the vehicle sector (+4.9%) also saw a slight increase in gross advertising pressure. Despite the two most advertised products of the month, the telecommunications sector only increased by 6.3% overall compared to the same month last year.
Media sector remains weak
The media industry is continuing its downward spiral. As in January and February 2019, it also reduced its gross advertising pressure in March, this time by a whopping 30.8% compared to March last year. As a result, it slipped one place behind the cleaning industry in the rankings. The tobacco industry also reduced its advertising pressure in March by 31.6% compared to the previous year and remains in last place in the industry ranking. Personal care (-23.8%) and fashion and sport (-20.7%) also lost ground compared to the same month last year.
Advertising printing in the industries
Advertising pressure in the sectors with year-on-year comparison
Top 10 of the month
The top 10 advertisers and most frequently advertised products and services (excluding product range and image advertising) in March
Media Mix
The integration of search data, desktop (January 2017) and mobile (July 2017) into Media Focus's advertising statistics has led to a significant increase in the internet's share of the media mix. Since January 2018, search data has also been collected for French-speaking Switzerland (share of search: 85% DE/15% FR).
