Stable demand for television programming services
In German-speaking Switzerland, television reaches just under two out of every three people aged 3 and older on an average day. The average daily viewing time across all individuals (TV viewers and non-viewers) is two hours. Compared to the previous year, television’s reach and usage volume in German-speaking Switzerland have increased slightly. This is confirmed by usage data from the Mediapulse TV Panel for the second half of 2017.
Even 60 years after the start of television broadcasting in Switzerland, the medium of TV continues to shape and structure the everyday lives of a large proportion of the population. From July to December 2017, 64% of all people aged 3 and over in German-speaking Switzerland were reached by TV channels every day. In Suisse romande, the daily reach was 65% and in Svizzera italiana 72%. The average viewing time for all people in German-speaking Switzerland is 119 minutes per day. This usage volume is 134 minutes per day in Suisse romande and 157 minutes per day in Svizzera italiana.
Both reach and viewing time are strongly correlated with age in all three language regions, i.e. with increasing age, TV is used both more frequently and for longer. TV usage is lowest in the 15-29 age group, with a daily reach of just under 40% and a daily viewing time of around 50 minutes.
Few changes compared to the previous year
Compared to the second half of 2016, the figures reveal a very stable trend in television consumption. In the French-speaking part of the country in particular, daily reach and viewing time remained virtually unchanged. In German-speaking Switzerland, reach rose from 62.7% to 64.2% and viewing time also increased from 118 to 119 minutes in the same period. There was a slight downward trend in viewing time in the Italian-speaking region, which fell by a good 3 minutes.
Live use dominates TV consumption
TV households in all parts of the country make extensive use of the option of time-shifted or time-delayed viewing of television programs. Nevertheless, the majority of TV viewing takes place live, i.e. at the same time as the program is broadcast. In terms of total TV consumption, live viewing currently accounts for 84% in Svizzera italiana, 83% in German-speaking Switzerland and 82% in Suisse romande.
The figures reported by the Mediapulse TV Panel relate to television usage in private households in Switzerland. Out-of-home usage is therefore not included in the published semester figures. The same applies to TV usage via tablets and smartphones, which cannot yet be validly recorded for technical reasons.
