Number of streaming offerings in Switzerland rises to 720
There are 720 offerings from 335 providers on the Swiss streaming market. Together with Goldmedia, the Federal Office of Communications surveyed the providers and found out how the market is developing in this country.
In Switzerland, the range of audio and video streaming offerings is growing. The Streaming Media Monitor 2017 counts 490 offers for online audio and 227 offers for online video. The density of offerings per inhabitant is thus higher than in Germany or Austria. This is the conclusion of the study presented by the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) at Swiss Radio Day 2017.
The survey of the Swiss online audio and video market is based on a survey of all providers based in Switzerland. In addition to online surveys, the Goldmedia consulting and research group also conducted expert interviews with industry representatives.
22 percent of web radio stations also broadcast via DAB+
Just under two-thirds of the 490 online audio offerings (64 percent) come from classic FM/DAB+ brands. 22 percent of all web radio stations also broadcast via DAB+, 14 percent also offer podcasts or audio-on-demand content, and 6 percent also offer videos. Unsurprisingly, there is also a wide variety of languages in the Swiss online audio market: 46 percent broadcast in German, 30 percent in French, 17 percent in English and 4 percent in Italian.
36 percent of online videos are available as livestreams
188 providers are behind the 227 online video offerings. More than half are sub-brands of classic TV, radio or print brands. The rest are online-only web TV stations, corporate TV, and TV streaming portals and media libraries. More than one-third of online video offerings (36 percent) are provided as live streams. 64 percent broadcast in German, 17 percent in French and 14 percent in Italian. One-third of Swiss online video offerings provide broad information, while 16 percent have a predominantly regional focus. The survey also covered 1042 YouTube channels with more than 500 subscribers. The leader among the viewing figures is ESC with around 2.5 billion video views.
A look into the future shows: The online audio providers surveyed expect strong annual net advertising market growth of 37 percent through 2019, and online video providers 13 percent.
Mobile retrieval on the rise
According to the study, almost two-thirds of online audio providers are satisfied or very satisfied with the use of their offerings. According to their estimates, mobile use will increase sharply in the future. The providers also expect average usage time per call to double from 80 minutes today to 150 minutes in 2019.
Among online video providers, around half are satisfied or very satisfied with usage. Here, too, providers see an increase in mobile usage. For average monthly video views, providers expect annual growth of more than 16 percent by 2019.
For the 2017 Streaming Media Monitor, Goldmedia also asked about advertising forecasts through 2019, with respondents predicting strong annual net advertising revenue growth of 37 percent on average for online audio, from CHF 719,000 in 2017 to CHF 1.13 million in 2019.
The forecasts of the online video providers are more restrained. They see average annual net advertising market growth of 13 percent and an increase from CHF 13 million (2017) to CHF 16 million ( 2019).
Asked about important growth factors, 31 percent of online audio providers see unlimited use of audio streams as the key point. 20 percent see audio streaming in the car as the most important driver.
Among online video providers, 40 percent say that unlimited streaming is the most important thing for positive market development. 21 percent see the further spread of smartphones as particularly relevant and 19 percent the greater spread of public WLANs.
Where we prefer to listen to online audio content
Where we prefer to watch videos online
(pd/aks)
