Despite increasing sales revenues, many media companies are threatened with insolvency

The coronavirus crisis is thus accelerating structural change, and many media offerings relevant to democracy will soon no longer be financially viable without additional funding. This is the result of a new expert survey conducted by Publicom.

SRG and streaming services among the winners

The coronavirus crisis has increased the Swiss population's need for information, from which paid media in particular can benefit in terms of usage: The Delphinarium experts from Publicom see the strongest increase in usage among SRG media (for the media types radio, TV and online - 92% of respondents see a "slight" or "strong increase"). Paid newspapers (printed or online) and social media (74% "slight" or "strong increase" each) are among the winners, as are regional radio and TV stations (71%). Only free newspapers and free information portals are predicted to stagnate. According to the experts, streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify (89% increase in usage), which offer entertainment and entertainment during the crisis, are also among the big winners.

Loss of trust for free newspapers

According to experts, the coronavirus crisis has also led to a gain in trust for SRG media, paid newspapers and, to a lesser extent, regional radio and TV stations. Free newspapers, free information portals and social media, on the other hand, have suffered a loss of trust.

The public service mission of SRG SSR and the regional radio and TV providers is gaining momentum thanks to increased use and greater public trust. And apparently readers are also prepared to pay more for newspaper content: A total of two thirds of the Delphinarium experts predict an increase in subscription income and sales. More than half see a slight increase of up to 10 percent, while a further sixth expect an even greater increase.

Gloomy future prospects

However, increased sales are nowhere near enough to compensate for the sometimes dramatic drop in income in the advertising market. The economic success of media companies is suffering as a result of the coronavirus crisis, which is leading to drastic measures and consequences: All experts are of the opinion that media companies will respond to the crisis with redundancies (100 percent agreement with the scenario in the "definitely true" and "probably true" categories), and 96 percent state that the manifest trend towards short-time working will intensify.

In addition to the measures, some of which have already been implemented, the experts paint an alarming picture of the future: A full 86% expect that companies in the media and advertising industry that are existentially affected could go bankrupt due to the corona crisis. A clear majority (78%) believe that the current events will further accelerate the ongoing structural change in the media industry, and only 22% see the coronavirus crisis as a temporary severe slump from which the industry will recover to pre-crisis levels. For almost three quarters of the Delphinarium experts, it is also becoming increasingly difficult or even impossible to finance democracy-relevant media offerings via the market and they expect the federal government to provide the media companies with additional funding.