Rising digital advertising revenues in 2017

The latest publication from the Swiss Advertising Statistics Foundation shows: Online advertising continues to experience an increase in sales and for the first time accounts for the largest share of the Swiss advertising market.

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The Advertising Statistics Foundation has once again compiled net advertising sales from the Swiss advertising market. Advertising sales totaling 6389 million Swiss francs were reported for 2017. Due to unrecorded outflows abroad and the exclusion of search engine advertising in the calculation of the change in advertising investment, the advertising sales reported for 2017 are again down and do not develop in parallel with gross domestic product.

Net advertising revenues 2017 Swiss Advertising Statistics Foundation
Net advertising revenues 2016 in Net advertising sales 2017 in Deviation compared to 2016
Net advertising revenues million CHF million CHF -3.3%**
Press Total 1264 1117 -11.70%
Daily, regional weekly and 783 692 -11.60%
Sunday press, general, financial and business press 304 267 -12.20%
Special press 89 81 -9.00%
Trade press 87 76 -12.80%
Television (incl. sponsorship) Total 791 774 -2.10%
public broadcasters 360 330 -8.40%
Private Swiss channels 100 109 8.90%
foreign advertising window 330 335 1.40%
Radio (incl. sponsoring) 159 151 -5.00%
Cinema 29 31 6.90%
Online Total 1094 2100* 5.9%**
Online display (incl. moving image) 247 265 7.20%
Online directories 130 131 0.10%
Online classified markets 245 264 7.60%
Search Engine Advertising*** 450 1418* n/a
Affiliate Marketing*** 21 22 6.70%
Outdoor advertising Total 449 452 0.60%
Poster advertising (analog) 335 331 -1.30%
Digital Out of Home 42 49 16.60%
Transport advertising 71 71 0.00%
Directories (printed) 74 75 2.00%
Direct mail 1017 984 -3.30%
Advertising and promotional items 713 706 -1.00%
Source: Swiss Advertising Statistics Foundation

* Not comparable with previous year

** The figures for search engine advertising were excluded when calculating this rate of change.

*** Source: Media Focus "Semester Report Online 2017/02".

Continued growth in online advertising revenues

Overall, sales from online advertising account for the largest share of the Swiss advertising pie for the first time, at CHF 2.1 billion. Search engine advertising, online display advertising, online directories, and online classified markets (jobs, real estate, cars), as well as the affiliate marketing sector, are all reporting growth.

There were also positive developments compared to 2016 in cinema advertising and printed directories. With sales of CHF 31 million, cinema advertising showed growth of 6.9 percent compared with the previous year. Sales figures for printed address and telephone directories saw a slight increase last year to 75 million Swiss francs.

Stable result for out-of-home advertising

Compared with the previous year, out-of-home advertising recorded stable figures overall (total CHF 452 million). Analog billboard advertising saw a slight decline in sales (-1.3 percent), while digital out-of-home can look back on strong growth with an increase of 16.6 percent. Transit advertising remains stable at CHF 71 million.

Declining advertising sales were recorded in the categories of television, radio, direct mail, and advertising and promotional items. In terms of TV advertising, sales at public stations fell significantly (-8.4 percent). The private Swiss stations again increased their market share to 14.1 percent, and the market share of foreign advertising windows also experienced a slight increase. For the first time, the share of foreign advertising windows is higher than that of SRG stations. Radio advertising, with revenues of CHF 151 million, was below the previous year's level. Revenues from direct advertising fell slightly to CHF 984 million, and those from advertising and promotional items to CHF 706 million.

Press: Advertising revenues down again

At CHF 1117 million, net advertising revenues in the Swiss press were 11.7 percent below the previous year's level. With a drop of 12.8 percent, the decline is greatest in the trade press category. Revenues from job ads (37 million Swiss francs) still account for 6.5 million Swiss francs of the total advertising volume in the case of the daily press.

Advertising statistics Switzerland

The Swiss advertising statistics provide information on the net amounts invested by advertisers in the distribution of their advertising messages in the most important advertising media. Sales are measured each year according to the same rules. The data is collected by WEMF AG für Werbemedienforschung on behalf of the Stiftung Werbestatistik Schweiz.

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