Screenforceday 2026: Are you watching already, or are you still scrolling?

When the asphalt shimmers outside and the TV glows inside – With temperatures outside over 30 degrees and the hall feeling significantly less chilly than last year, Screenforceday 2026 kicked off at the Kongresshaus Zürich with an almost fitting contrast. Outside, summer heat; inside, the burning question of whether TV can still be the great gathering fire of advertising in a fragmented world of moving images—or whether the screen has long since shattered into a thousand tiny displays.

The response that morning was, as expected, confident. Of course, there was a lot of TV propaganda. After all, it was Screenforceday. But anyone who listened closely quickly realized: It was no longer just about traditional television. It was about the big screen. About Connected TV. About YouTube on the TV. About attention rather than mere playback. About measurability, reach, impact, and the question of who actually still has control in the new moving-image market.

And then Jean-Rémy von Matt came along.

The Man Who Explained TV Through a Kids' Olympics

Jean-Rémy von Matt could have taken the easy way out. A bit of advertising legend, a few high-profile campaigns, a few old-school punchlines. But he did the opposite. He didn’t talk about «Grandpa’s war stories,» but rather, as he himself put it, «Grandpa from his childhood.».

The first lesson took place in kindergarten. Another boy had something that back then was a sign of social status: a TV. Matt didn’t. His mother organized a “Kids’ Olympics.” The result: the other child’s “TV advantage” faded as more and more families got TVs of their own. But the Kids’ Olympics remained something special.

The punchline was simple, yet it struck right at the heart of the industry today: Technology creates a competitive edge. Creativity makes the difference.

That was precisely the central theme of this Screenforceday. After all, the industry is currently engaged in a highly anxious debate about channels, screens, platforms, CTV, AI, reach metrics, measurement standards, and advertising currencies. All of this is important. All of this is valid. But amid this technical cacophony, we sometimes risk forgetting that advertising doesn’t get better simply by being delivered more precisely. Rather, it gets better when people still want to see, hear, feel, and remember it.

The best cure for advertising fatigue is a good idea

Von Matt struck a chord when he asked where all the unforgettable marketing experiences had gone. Where were the iconic visuals? Where were the powerful slogans? Where were the jingles that stick in your head?.

Many modern campaigns, he argues, are more reminiscent of a nervous twitch than of lasting brand-building. One might add: If advertising today is increasingly well-targeted but increasingly forgettable, that’s not just a media problem. It’s a creative problem.

This is exactly where his presentation tied in with the Screenforce study. The study demonstrated why TV continues to play a central role in the media mix: TV quickly builds reach, provides planning certainty, supports brand awareness, is effective throughout the funnel, and can evoke emotions that give brands their identity. But the study primarily answers the question of why TV is still relevant. Von Matt answered the more important question: What needs to happen on that screen for relevance to arise in the first place.

After all, a big screen is no guarantee of a big impact. It’s just a better stage. The play still has to be performed.

Big Screen Beats Small Scroll

The Screenforce study, conducted in collaboration with the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, involved focus groups of strategic media planners. The starting point was a real-world media briefing with a budget of two million Swiss francs for video campaigns. The finding: TV remains a key medium for many objectives—not in isolation, but in combination with other video channels.

TV raises awareness, supports other touchpoints, can trigger search behavior, and drive people to physical or virtual stores. TV remains particularly effective where reach, trust, editorial context, and attention all come together.

Or, to put it more succinctly: Big Screen beats Small Scroll.

This shouldn’t be seen as a nostalgic defense against social media. Rather, it’s a reference to a different way of using it. Scrolling often means skimming. Watching, on the other hand, is more about taking it in. The big screen can still be a shared space—especially for live events, sports, major shows, or programs that spark conversation.

But the same applies here: Anyone who sees the big screen merely as an extended display area is wasting its potential.

Media Focus: TV Remains the Tough Nut to Crack

Tina Fixle of Media Focus provided the figures for the Swiss advertising market in 2025. The measured media mix totaled 4.7 billion gross advertising francs. TV remained the strongest media category, with 1.4 billion francs and a 29.7 percent share. Although TV is under pressure in the DACH region, the decline in Switzerland—at minus 2.8 percent—was more moderate than in Germany and Austria.

A look at the major advertisers was particularly revealing. In 2025, all of the top 20 used TV—accounting for an average share of about 50 percent of their media mix. P&G, Ferrero, and Henkel stood out with particularly high TV shares. At the same time, the top 20 were also active on YouTube. However, the average share of YouTube was significantly lower.

The message: YouTube has long since become part of the media mix. TV, however, remains the heavyweight among major advertisers.

Or to put it another way: The future isn’t just TV or YouTube. It’s TV, YouTube, CTV, streaming, and movie theaters—and the smart question of which screen creates which effect.

CTV: Euphoria, Reconstruction Efforts, and a Swiss Reality Check

During the panel discussion, it became clear that CTV in Switzerland has not yet reached the same level as it has in the U.S. or the U.K. Gerhard Low described the Swiss CTV market as underdeveloped—not as a criticism, but as an observation. Andrea Haemmerli from Seven.One pointed to Joyn as part of a broader distribution chain. Nicola Peretti of SRG emphasized differentiation through Swiss content. Uli Weber of Media Focus characterized CTV as a market reminiscent of the early years of YouTube and mobile: the technology and usage are there, but the advertising market still needs to catch up.

An important point: Starting January 1, 2027, Media Focus plans to report CTV separately in its gross advertising expenditure statistics. This could be a decisive step for the Swiss market. After all, as long as CTV is discussed but not clearly quantified, part of the debate will remain in the realm of industry speculation.

Stefan Kühl also made an important clarification: CTV is, first and foremost, a TV set connected to the internet—not necessarily a clearly defined advertising offering. Whether someone watches “Tagesschau” via Zattoo, uses YouTube on their TV, or streams a series, these are very different usage scenarios. That is precisely why it’s not enough to treat CTV as just a buzzword.

Control is good. Losing control is more creative.

This brought us full circle back to Jean-Rémy von Matt. For while media planning, measurement, and advertising currencies seek control, he reminded us that creativity cannot exist without a loss of control.

Courage, he said, in essence, is the willingness to let go of control. Those who have everything under control are moving too slowly. For an industry that wants to measure every impression, every second, every interaction, and every franc, that’s an uncomfortable statement. But perhaps that’s exactly why it’s so important.

After all, the future of TV advertising isn't determined solely by whether CTV is measured accurately. It isn't determined solely by whether YouTube is growing on the big screen. It isn't determined solely by whether TV continues to hold a high gross share in the media mix.

It depends on whether brands have the courage to show things on these screens that don't conform to category standards, AI-driven ideals, and PowerPoint logic.

If you drive along the ideal line, you won't pass anyone

Matt's motorsports photo was a surprisingly good fit for this morning. The ideal line is the fastest and safest route. But it has one drawback: Everyone drives there. If you want to pass, you have to take the racing line.

The same applies to video advertising. Today, the ideal approach is: data-driven, efficient, optimized, format-appropriate, channel-specific, and measurable. All true. But if everyone follows that path, it won’t result in a brand—it’ll just be traffic.

The strategy is this: a unique promise, a distinctive tone, an unexpected image, a phrase that sticks. Maybe even a tagline that outlasts the next round of flight optimization.

That's exactly what's often missing right now. There are lots of ads, but few taglines. Lots of assets, but little personality. Lots of variations, but hardly any that anyone is talking about.

After TV is before TV

Screenforceday 2026 therefore highlighted not so much the end of television as its transformation. TV isn’t going to disappear. But TV will have to be thought of less as a channel and more as a usage scenario. The big screen remains valuable because it can capture attention, evoke emotion, and foster shared experiences. CTV will grow, YouTube will become more important on TV, international platforms will attract more advertising revenue, and Swiss providers will have to do a better job of explaining why their content, their environments, and their reach remain distinctive.

But the real highlight of the morning wasn't a curve, a chart, or a panelist's answer. It was this creative principle: Technology creates a competitive edge. Creativity makes the difference.

So anyone who wants to know how TV advertising can become more effective again shouldn't just study the latest measurement methods—they should also look for the next big idea.

Because in the end, perhaps the best tagline of the day really is:

Are you watching already—or are you still scrolling?