Cold advertising april
Declining advertising volumes could no longer be compensated with jobs
Declining advertising volumes could no longer be compensated for with jobsBy Daniel SchifferleA lack of weekend editions had a negative impact on the advertising volumes of the Swiss print media in April. They also registered an increasing decline in bookings of job advertisements. In recent months, they had largely been able to compensate for the weak growth in commercial advertising.
For the first time in a good three and a half years of uninterrupted upward trend, job advertisements in Swiss-German newspapers were down 7.4 percent. If the 7.2 percent drop in commercial advertisements is added to this, the total decline for Swiss-German newspapers was 7.3 percent.
In the other two language regions, however, job advertisements continued to support the overall result. In French-speaking Switzerland, they were up by 9.5 percent and at least cushioned the overall result to minus 5.7 percent. In Ticino, jobs grew by 8.6% and cushioned the dip to minus 5.1%.
However, the unsatisfactory results of the Swiss-German daily newspapers were also negatively influenced by mergers. In particular, the group of medium-sized daily newspapers (circulations between 10,000 and 50,000 copies) benefited at the expense of the smallest title category (circulations of less than 10,000 copies).
Restraint is concentrated in some sectors
Job advertisements in weekly newspapers plummeted almost catastrophically, falling by almost a third. Magazines fared far less dramatically, but not entirely satisfactorily either. They were down by 0.8 percent, although one issue less was published than in the same month last year.
The Publicitas index fell by 0.3 points to 135.8 points in April - the biggest drop since August 1997, when negative results were last recorded. The job advertisements sub-index only rose by 0.1 points, whereas in previous months the increase had regularly been several points.
Publicitas puts the poor result into perspective: April 2001 had one less Saturday and therefore had one less weekday with a high number of advertisements than the same month in the previous year. This was probably a major reason for the poor result. According to Publicitas, however, the slowdown does not extend to the entire market: in addition to a continuing decline in real estate advertising, it has noted a particular reluctance on the part of automobile importers, major distributors and telecommunications companies.
For the first time in a good three and a half years of uninterrupted upward trend, job advertisements in Swiss-German newspapers were down 7.4 percent. If the 7.2 percent drop in commercial advertisements is added to this, the total decline for Swiss-German newspapers was 7.3 percent.
In the other two language regions, however, job advertisements continued to support the overall result. In French-speaking Switzerland, they were up by 9.5 percent and at least cushioned the overall result to minus 5.7 percent. In Ticino, jobs grew by 8.6% and cushioned the dip to minus 5.1%.
However, the unsatisfactory results of the Swiss-German daily newspapers were also negatively influenced by mergers. In particular, the group of medium-sized daily newspapers (circulations between 10,000 and 50,000 copies) benefited at the expense of the smallest title category (circulations of less than 10,000 copies).
Restraint is concentrated in some sectors
Job advertisements in weekly newspapers plummeted almost catastrophically, falling by almost a third. Magazines fared far less dramatically, but not entirely satisfactorily either. They were down by 0.8 percent, although one issue less was published than in the same month last year.
The Publicitas index fell by 0.3 points to 135.8 points in April - the biggest drop since August 1997, when negative results were last recorded. The job advertisements sub-index only rose by 0.1 points, whereas in previous months the increase had regularly been several points.
Publicitas puts the poor result into perspective: April 2001 had one less Saturday and therefore had one less weekday with a high number of advertisements than the same month in the previous year. This was probably a major reason for the poor result. According to Publicitas, however, the slowdown does not extend to the entire market: in addition to a continuing decline in real estate advertising, it has noted a particular reluctance on the part of automobile importers, major distributors and telecommunications companies.
