Advertising market starts 2026 with growth

The traditional advertising market closed the first quarter of 2026 with a total of CHF 865.2 million and a slight increase of 0.6%. This is due to the strong figures in January and February. Although March generated the highest gross advertising expenditure of the year to date at CHF 334.8 million, as expected, this corresponds to a slight reduction of 2.0% compared to the previous year.

Out-of-Home grows significantly, cinema slumps

Out-of-Home continues to perform strongly with significant growth of 24.1%, driven in part by Migros image campaigns. By contrast, the other traditional media categories are all in decline. Cinema was hit hardest with a fall of 54.9%, followed by print with a fall of 10.1%, then TV with a fall of 8.4% and radio with a fall of 1.5%.

Digital market dominated by search

In the digital market, gross advertising expenditure amounted to CHF 189.4 million in March. This shows a channel-driven media mix: search continues to dominate with a share of 63.5%, followed by display with 27.7% and YouTube with 8.9%.

Nine sectors with positive development

Overall, nine sectors recorded a positive development. The energy sector recorded the strongest percentage increase at 39.1%, largely driven by campaigns for Axpo Energy Image, but remains in second-last place in the ranking. Beverages also performed strongly with 35.2 percent, personal needs with 24.2 percent and vehicles with 22.5 percent. Leisure, gastronomy, tourism is in third place with a moderate increase of 3.4%.

Twelve sectors reduce advertising pressure

In contrast, twelve sectors reduced their advertising pressure compared to the previous year. The most significant percentage decline was seen in the tobacco industry with a drop of 72.2% - after the strongest increase in the previous month. The media and fashion & sport sectors also fell sharply by 31.3% and 31.1% respectively.

Despite the downward trend, the retail trade (minus 3.1%) and food (minus 3.6%) are still among the sectors with the highest advertising pressure. The service sector and cosmetics & personal care also saw a double-digit reduction in advertising pressure, falling by 14.8% and 18.0% respectively. Finance with minus 3.9%, pharma & health with minus 3.2% and telecommunications with minus 3.7%, on the other hand, only recorded slight declines.

Comparison of different industry rankings

In March, retail led the traditional market, followed by the food industry and leisure, gastronomy and tourism. The latter took first place in the digital market, ahead of the finance and services sectors. In the traditional ranking, however, these two are only in fifth and ninth place, while retail and food fall back to fourth and twelfth place respectively in the digital ranking.

The Fashion & Sports and Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare sectors are positioned in the midfield in both markets. The tobacco, energy, media and cleaning sectors are in the bottom third in both markets. Telecommunications ranks fifth in the digital market, while it is only ranked 13th in the traditional market. The opposite is true for initiatives & campaigns: Here, the sector is ranked seventh in the traditional market, but falls back to position 14 in the digital ranking.

Channel-driven image in the digital advertising market

A clearly channel-driven picture emerged in the digital advertising market in March: While search continues to be strongly performance and travel-oriented, display and YouTube are dominated by a more diverse mix of different offerings.

As in the previous month, Spusu.ch leads the ranking in the Display segment, followed by Outdoor Chef gas grill and Coffee B coffee balls. In Search, travel provider Booking.com has been at the top since the beginning of the year, ahead of Yallo.ch and Opodo.ch. On YouTube, food manufacturer Knorr is in first place with Knorr Bouillion, having been in third place in the previous month. It is followed by Digitec.ch and Axa Private Vorsorge.

Neither a product nor a service is represented in the top positions in several channels at the same time. However, the global insurance company Axa is ranked fourth on Search with Axa.ch and third on YouTube with the Axa Private Pension product.