La Première most credible
SRG Radio La Première is the most credible media brand in French-speaking Switzerland. It leaves the daily newspaper Le Temps just behind. In this year's MediaBrands study, Publicom examined over 100 media brands for their qualitative appeal to the audience. For the first time, French-speaking Switzerland was also included.
Since 2013, Publicom has been investigating the qualitative assessment of media brands in Switzerland as part of the MediaBrands study. For the current study, over 4,800 representatively selected people were asked how they qualitatively assess the media they consume. This results in a differentiated brand profile for each of the 111 media brands studied.
Respondents in French-speaking Switzerland rated 44 media brands distributed in French-speaking Switzerland. In terms of credibility, RTS's first radio program, La Première, came out on top. The popular radio program, which broadcasts two-thirds information and tops the ranking of the radio stations with the widest reach, relegated the renowned daily newspaper Le Temps to second place. The two SRG television stations in French-speaking Switzerland follow in the other places. But smaller regional newspapers such as La Liberté in Fribourg and Le Nouvelliste in the Valais are also held in high esteem by the public, as is the weekly magazine L'Hebdo. Two local radio stations, RFJ and RadioFr, and the regional TV station Canal 9 are also among the ten most credible media brands in French-speaking Switzerland.
Strong overall performance of local radio stations
Even when overall qualitative performance (brand strength) is considered, the astonishing La Première, which has the highest word share of all radio stations in French-speaking Switzerland, takes the top spot in the rankings, ahead of the French-speaking first TV station RTS Un. The performance of the local radio stations RFJ (Jura), RadioFr (Fribourg), Rhône FM (Lower Valais), and the regional TV station Canal 9 is also strong, and they join the regional newspapers Liberté and Nouvelliste among the strongest ten media brands in French-speaking Switzerland.
Daily newspapers: Exclusively digital use remains an exception
In addition to the qualitative impact of the media brands, MediaBrands also examines their use. This reveals a characteristic difference to German-speaking Switzerland: French-speaking Swiss use the classic media of newspapers and radio, and above all magazines, significantly less than German-speaking Swiss. However, social media are slightly more popular in French-speaking Switzerland. As far as mobile Internet use is concerned, there are only minor differences between the language regions: Seven out of ten adults in French-speaking Switzerland also use the mobile Internet. Half of the population uses newspaper content via smartphone. As in German-speaking Switzerland, the complementary use of daily newspapers is becoming established in French-speaking Switzerland: These are consumed - depending on the everyday situation - in both printed and digital form. The exclusive digital use of daily newspapers remains the exception rather than the rule. Only every twentieth person in French-speaking Switzerland consumes daily newspapers exclusively in digital form.
MediaBrands is conducted annually by the media consultancy Publicom. The study provides media companies with the basis for successful brand management and creates transparency for advertisers and media agencies about the qualitative communication performance of the most important Swiss media brands.
