This puts electronic media well ahead of entertainment-oriented streaming services. For the latter, the increase in importance reaches 31 percent, as Publicom announced on Wednesday based on the MediaBrands study, which has been conducted annually since 2013. The increase for social media was 27 percent, and 26 percent for paid newspapers, it said. Free newspapers and portals have increased by 25 percent.

The Swiss population continues to regard regional, subscription-based daily newspapers and publicly financed radio and television stations as particularly credible, according to Publicom.

The population gave the highest credibility to the SRG medium RTS Radio La 1ère, just ahead of Radio SRF 4 News and Radio SRF 1. Overall, La 1ère is almost on a par with the Fribourg regional newspaper La Libertéwhich leads the nationwide ranking, according to the report. The most credible private radio station is the Bernese-Jurassic station RJB.

More trust in domestic media

In general, the population trusts domestic media far more than foreign media - only the TV station ARD made it into the 50 most credible media brands. The Swiss population continues to regard social media as less credible. This year, Facebook was once again far behind in last place.

 

Radio usage remains stable

84 percent (previous year: 83 percent) of respondents tuned in to a radio program at least once in a three-month period in the spring. Radio thus reaches more people than printed newspapers (72 percent), social media (59 percent), magazines/magazines (50 percent), streaming services (new: 40 percent) or movie theaters (10 percent). (SDA/swi)

The top media brands in Switzerland 2019. Listed are the media brands that were rated by their users with the highest value achieved across Switzerland in the respective dimension. (Minimum number of cases: n=50)

 

This is the result of the latest Mediabrands study by Publicom. Publicom has been measuring the brand images of Swiss media brands every year since 2013. With over 4,800 interviews and 172 media brands included, mediaBrands is the largest qualitative media study in Switzerland. It analyzes the assessment of media brands by the population in all language regions.

In terms of the quality criterion "credibility", this year the RTS radio station La 1ère and the traditional newspaper Le Temps The Swiss population ranked SRF 4 News at the top of the nationwide ranking - ahead of last year's frontrunner SRF 4 News. The Swiss population considers social media to be less credible, especially Facebook, which once again came in last place this year, lagging far behind.

 

Credible regional newspapers and SRG media

mediaBrands cannot confirm the often claimed loss of media credibility. On the contrary, the average credibility of media brands is unchanged compared to 2018 and previous years. The Swiss population continues to consider regional, subscription-based daily newspapers and publicly funded radio and television stations to be particularly credible. In general, the Swiss trust domestic media far more than foreign media. ARD is the only foreign medium to make it into the top 50 most credible media brands. (Regional) Swiss media brands are also ahead in terms of other journalistic and functional quality features: La 1ère leads the ranking in two other quality dimensions (relevance of information and utility value). Further absolute top positions are occupied by New Zurich Newspaper (competence), the bilingual regional television station TeleBielingue (proximity to the audience), the newcomer Republik.ch (uniqueness), SRF Virus (youthfulness) and SRF Musikwelle (entertainment value). The Ticino SRG television channel RSI LA 1 creates the strongest brand loyalty. The Fribourg daily newspaper La Liberté achieved the highest popularity rating. Of the global internet offerings, only YouTube and Instagram achieved top rankings in the dimensions of entertainment value and youthfulness respectively.

 

Magazines and cinema suffer the most from digitization

In addition to individual brand profiles, mediaBrands also tracks general usage trends. Digitalization continues to leave its mark. Magazines in particular are experiencing a noticeable loss in reach, having lost five percent since 2017. Cinema is suffering from Netflix and other streaming services and has lost three percent of its reach in the last two years. Newspapers are holding up comparatively well, but their use is increasingly shifting to digital editions, even though the majority of the population still (also) reads newspapers in paper form. Those who only consume newspapers digitally still form a small minority.

With Polzer, IPG Mediabrands is bringing on board an expert with proven know-how in integrated brand management and communication strategy and international experience. "Katrin convinced us with her strategic vision, her many years of experience and her personality. We are looking forward to her enriching the network's transformation process with new approaches. With her, we have hired an extremely experienced manager with a clear vision. Her experience will sharpen our teams' understanding of current client issues - to the benefit of our current and future clients," says Michael Dunke, CEO IPG Mediabrands DACH. Polzer will join the network, which includes Initiative, Reprise and UM, on October 1, 2019.

Katrin Polzer has held various positions at the Ikea Group in Switzerland in recent years. In the last five years, she managed the marketing transformation at Ikea, from classic mass communication to customer-centered, digital and data-driven brand communication. For Polzer, collaborative relationships with customers and employees are the key to success in an increasingly digital world. Her background will stand the future agency manager in good stead. "In the last ten years at Ikea, I have not only experienced the requirements of customers from my own perspective, but also driven the transformation from a classic retailer to an omnichannel company. I am now looking forward to using this expertise for IPG Mediabrands and the success of our clients," says Polzer.
 

Swiss advertising revenues remained flat (+0.5%) at CHF 4.1 billion (USD 4.2 billion) in 2019, following slight declines (-1%) in 2018. Switzerland has one of the highest advertising spend rates per capita in the world (USD 493 compared to a Western European average of USD 252) and some of the highest media costs in the region: USD 91 is the typical CPM for a 30-second spot on free TV, well above the regional average of USD 18; the French-speaking region, which includes Geneva and Lausanne, tends to have higher rates than the German- and Italian-speaking regions.

Digital advertising formats saw the strongest growth in 2019 (+11%), followed by TV (+6%) and OOH (+1%). Print is still a fairly large part of the media mix. Compared to the Western European average (30% vs. 16%), however, it continues to decline, as advertising money is shifting to digital media, among other things. Social (+22%) and digital video (+17%) are the fastest growing formats within digital media, while search (+7%), which already accounts for a quarter of digital ad spend, is gradually losing momentum. Magna expects digital video and social to continue to gain market share at the expense of search and display over the next five years, reaching almost CHF 950 million, 60 percent of digital NAR.

The elections in October 2019 are unlikely to be a major driver of advertising expenditure. Political advertising is not permitted on television, although parties are allowed to advertise in all other formats with some restrictions. Newspapers may refuse to run political ads, and political ads may not be placed along highways and other major roads.

Swiss media brands have not lost credibility with their audience in recent years. This is one of the findings of Publicom's latest MediaBrands study.

Publicom has been measuring the brand images of Swiss media brands annually since 2013. With over 5,000 interviews and 180 integrated media brands, mediaBrands is the largest qualitative media study in Switzerland and maps general trends in addition to individual brand profiles.

The study cannot confirm the often claimed loss of credibility of the media. Although fluctuations can certainly be observed for individual brands, the trust of the audience in the media brands they use - viewed across the board - proves to be surprisingly stable. However, there are sometimes striking differences between the individual brands and media types. For example, regional subscription newspapers and publicly financed radio and television stations are among the most credible media brands. However, the Swiss rate tabloids and social networks as much less credible. The latter, on the other hand, score highly in other image dimensions, such as entertainment value.

The most credible regional language brands: NZZ, La Première and Rete Uno

In the current survey year 2017, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung is the most credible national medium in German-speaking Switzerland. In French-speaking Switzerland, the SRG radio program La Première occupies the top position, and in Italian-speaking Switzerland, Rete Uno, an SRG radio station, is also ahead. Somewhat surprisingly, these assessments are independent of the age of the respondents, i.e. the younger generation also trusts the established quality media far more than the new digital media brands.

With the MediaBrands study, Publicom annually determines the brand performance of media brands among the Swiss population. The 2017 survey was conducted in April and May and is based on a representative sample of 5,098 people aged 15-79. The statistical margin of error is +/- 1.4 percent.

Further details on the study can be found at Publicom.ch/mediabrands.

Radio remained a constant companion through everyday life for many people in 2017. 85 percent of Swiss people have used a radio program at least once in a three-month period. This puts radio far ahead of social media, which have a quarterly reach of only 59 percent.

As part of this year's MediaBrands study, over 5,000 people across Switzerland provided information on their media usage and qualitative perception of a total of 180 media brands. Radio's qualitative strengths were particularly surprising. When asked about the subjective importance of the media in everyday life, classic radio usage achieved the second highest value, directly behind the Internet. This means that radio use is "more important" to the Swiss than television and clearly "more important" than newspapers or social media. It is clear that traditional radio use on a special stationary or mobile radio set (FM or DAB+) is still far more important than the use of streaming offers from the internet: Four-fifths of the adult population use radio at home or on the move via a traditional radio set, while only 30 percent listen to radio via the (stationary or mobile) Internet. The number of people who listen to the radio exclusively via the Internet is even a tiny five percent. So when people listen to Internet radio, it is mostly in the form of parallel use, i.e. they listen to the radio both in the traditional way and via the Internet, depending on the usage situation.

High acceptance of radio advertising

The qualitative strength of radio is also evident when it comes to the acceptance of advertising. Advertising in the form of radio spots is far better accepted than TV advertising or even advertising on smartphones - and in all age groups. Only print advertising in particular has even greater advantages in this respect.

With the MediaBrands study, Publicom annually determines the brand performance of media brands among the Swiss population. The 2017 survey was conducted in April and May and is based on a representative sample of 5,098 people aged 15-79. The statistical margin of error is +/- 1.4 percent.

It is true that the performance of licensed commercial Swiss private radio stations is regularly analyzed and evaluated on behalf of the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM). But these surveys have always suffered from restrictions imposed by Bakom, for example the limitation of the evaluation period to the so-called prime time. According to the statement, this makes it impossible from the outset to determine the real contributions of private radio stations to the comprehensive regional public service throughout the day.

In the upcoming public service discussion, the distorted perception of the commercially licensed private radio stations now threatens to cause tangible political disadvantages for their future from 2019, it continues. The VSP has therefore commissioned René Grossenbacher and his Publicom Institute to determine the position of Swiss private radio stations, particularly in the regional media environment.

Publicom has fulfilled this mandate by conducting a secondary analysis of the MediaBrands study. With 4,800 interviews, MediaBrands is the largest qualitative media study in Switzerland and offers a highly representative and meaningful database. Three groups of private regional media, namely commercial private radio, regional television and regional daily newspapers, are distinguished and compared with the average values of all surveyed media brands.

The VSP summarizes the most important results of the Stuide:

The private radio stations reach more people together than the SRG's first and third radio channels and more than twice as many as the regional television channels.

Private radio stations are not only more likeable, younger and more entertaining than all other regional media, but also especially above average credibility and competent.

Private radio stations are more competent and more useful as a regional television station. They are more distinctive and closer to the public than the regional subscription newspapers.

In addition to the other regional media, private radio stations contribute significantly to a diverse and functioning media landscape with their services, which meet the expectations of the audience to a high degree. With this study, VSP wants to contribute to an objective perception of the licensed commercial private radio stations. They create jobs for young people in the media industry and are a significant factor within the framework of the service public régional.

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.

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 people were asked how they qualitatively assess the media they consume. This results in a differentiated brand profile for each of the media brands studied.

In view of the digital flood of information and increasing media blunders, the credibility of a media brand is of great importance in both the audience and advertising markets. In German-speaking Switzerland, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung received the best marks in terms of credibility. It has even improved somewhat compared to the previous year. It is closely followed by Radio SRF 1, with respondents also giving high credibility ratings to NZZ am Sonntag and SRF 1 (TV). Some regional media brands are also held in high esteem by their audiences. The Berner Bund and Zentralschweiz am Sonntag, for example, but also the small local radio station Radio BeO, are considered particularly credible.

Amazing development of Watson

Even when overall qualitative performance (brand strength) is considered, the SRF and NZZ brands share the top spots ahead of the Tage-Anzeiger, as in the previous year. An astonishing development is being experienced by the online portal watson, which has continuously increased its brand image in recent years and this year has made the leap into the top ten strongest media brands in German-speaking Switzerland. With its infotainment mix, Watson manages the balancing act between serious information and palatable entertainment, especially with a young mobile audience.

The rising star of the year among regional media brands is Bernese Oberland's Radio BeO, which immediately took first place among the ten strongest regional media brands. Its local roots are reflected in the high esteem in which it is held by the audience. Zentralschweiz am Sonntag also made strong gains, significantly sharpening its brand profile. In the Zurich area, Planet 105 is experiencing a marked upswing. The youth radio station is winning over audiences much more strongly than in the previous year.

Digital use of media brands increases strongly

In addition to the qualitative impact of media brands, Mediabrands also examines their use. This shows that digital use via the Internet and smartphones is becoming increasingly important. Almost three quarters of German-speaking Swiss now use mobile Internet. However, this does not mean that traditional use is being displaced by digital use. Rather, the various channels are being combined. For daily newspaper brands, complementary use, i.e. print and digital, is already standard. More than half of the German-speaking Swiss now also use newspaper brands on their smartphones. A generational change is nevertheless emerging: For the under-30s, traditional (analog) media are of little importance; much more important to them than newspapers, radio, and TV are social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

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 communications performance of the most important Swiss media brands.