Out-of-home flourishes, radio advertising proves crisis-proof

Summer slump and corona - not a good omen for the advertising market figures for July. At least out-of-home continues to flourish and is growing strongly. This is shown by the latest advertising market trend report from Media Focus.

Editorial - August 13, 2020

The annual summer slump did not stop at this exceptional year. At CHF 329.3 million gross, advertising pressure in July was only slightly above the annual low from April, when the nationwide lockdown caused the advertising market to collapse (Werbewoche.ch reported). The year-on-year decline amounted to -9.2%, which is less than a tenth of the previous year's figure for the first time since February. Accumulated advertising pressure in the first seven months of the year is around 18% below the previous year's figure.

Advertising pressure in the overall market

Development of advertising pressure as at July 2020 in million gross francs

Out-of-home still top, TV advertising flop

Out-of-home advertising continues to flourish. Following a recovery in advertising pressure generated by out-of-home advertising in June, the media group even recorded an increase of around ten percent in July compared to the previous month. Compared to the previous year, this corresponds to an increase in advertising pressure of a whopping 22.3%.

Meanwhile, advertising pressure in all other media groups continued to decline year-on-year. Television advertising was hit particularly hard in July: TV advertising pressure was around a quarter lower than in the previous year. The decline in TV advertising is also reflected in the media mix. In March, TV advertising was responsible for an impressive 34% of total advertising pressure. After a constant decline over the past few months, the figure in July was still 21%.

On the other hand, radio advertising is proving to be very crisis-proof and constant. This year, radio advertising pressure has consistently accounted for between 2% and 3% of total advertising pressure in the Swiss advertising market. With a slight decline of 3.4%, radio advertising pressure in July was almost at the previous year's level.

Top retail sector up again YTD

As in June, the cleaning sector and construction, industry, furnishings are up YTD compared to the same period last year. Thanks to the advertising pressure generated in July, the retail trade sector has now joined them. However, the majority of sectors are still facing a decline in advertising pressure YTD. The 18% year-on-year decline in cumulative advertising pressure from January to July is therefore not surprising.

Only six sectors increased their gross advertising pressure in July compared to the same month last year, while 15 of them reduced their advertising pressure. Accordingly, the overall market saw a year-on-year decline of 9.2% in July.

News from the Top 10

The Disney+ streaming service is the most advertised product in July. However, Disney just missed out on a place in the top 10 advertisers ranking, with the Walt Disney Company coming in 12th. After the Federal Office of Public Health's coronavirus information campaign recently occupied 4th and 1st place among the top products, it was ranked 6th in July. This means that the FOPH is once again not among the top 10 advertisers.

Advertising printing in the industries