14 billion Swiss francs in media investments in 2012

Consumers spent CHF 11.1 billion on media, which corresponds to a drop of 1.9%. They are significantly less erratic in their spending behavior than advertisers, who invested 7.5% less in media at 2.9 billion. On the provider side, the media performance of press products remains impressive. However, media providers also recognize that they need to realign themselves and remain flexible in the current upheaval. The Swiss Media Association publishes this data and analysis in its Media Budget and Media Trends studies.

Media budget stable

The Swiss Media Association presented its Media Budget study for the ninth time. It surveys user spending on content, access and hardware for media consumption and adds the results of the Swiss advertising statistics. This provides an overall picture of the income of the Swiss media industry as well as an insight into market shares, trends and long-term developments. A private household spent an average of CHF 3,093 on media consumption in 2012. The amount spent on traditional media such as press subscriptions, television and books was roughly the same as in the previous year, while the budget for radio and cinema was even slightly higher.

Mobile media boosted newsstand sales

The printed press achieved total sales of CHF 1.6 billion or 3.5% less than in the previous year. Press subscriptions just managed to maintain their position at CHF 1.1 billion. However, the strong increase in media consumption via mobile media weakened press sales at newsstands, where turnover fell by 9 percent to CHF 478 million. The largest area of expenditure, IT and telecoms, broke the 4 billion franc barrier and grew slightly by 0.7%. Sales of smartphones and tablets exceeded those of PCs for the first time. In consumer electronics, software sales are continuing to shift to the internet. The Swiss population is making intensive use of the new access channels and technical innovations and is expanding its media consumption.

Professional journalism no longer financially viable

The upheaval in the media industry is epochal, but the viability of the print media is not at risk. This is the conclusion drawn by the Swiss media managers who took part in the 2013 trend survey. The decisive factor for market success in the future will be to clearly position media brands and maintain the special trust in these brands. This, as well as the convergence of media, opens up the potential to sell existing and new products via digital channels. According to the respondents, there is a need for further action in marketing, which will have to focus more on consulting-intensive concepts and communication solutions across media and genres in the future. For the first time, a majority of respondents (51%) are convinced that professional journalism can no longer be financed through sales and advertising. There is therefore no way around the development of successful new business models to compensate for eroding revenues from the core business.