Study: Meta & Co. threaten Swiss advertising industry

A new study by BAK Economics on the economic importance of Swiss advertising, commissioned for the second time by KS/CS Kommunikation Schweiz, shows: Online advertising has become much more important in recent years, especially on the platforms of international corporations such as Google and Facebook (Meta). An expert survey estimates the outflow of advertising money from Switzerland in the direction of the international tech companies at over 1.6 billion Swiss francs as early as 2019, which already significantly exceeds the advertising revenues of the traditional Swiss media channels of press, radio and television (2021: 1.5 billion Swiss francs).

Advertising runoff figures from 2020 and 2021 are not yet available, but the amount is expected to increase steadily. The loss of diverse marketing opportunities due to an increasing attraction of global advertising platforms is burdening the industry and limiting the domestic choices of customers. In addition, the financing of journalistic content in the various Swiss media channels is becoming increasingly difficult due to the outflow of advertising funds.

Advertising creates jobs

According to estimates by BAK Economics, the advertising industry creates a total of 18,700 jobs in Switzerland, which corresponds to the total of all jobs in a Swiss city, for example Frauenfeld. The more difficult financing of media channels has resulted in a possible thinning out of Swiss agencies and consolidation of Swiss advertising intermediaries. "To prevent such a drastic structural change from gaining additional traction, the Swiss advertising market must be strengthened with measures that allow sufficient advertising space and are not restricted with advertising bans," says Jürg Bachmann, president of KS/CS Kommunikation Schweiz.

The study also concludes that the activity of the advertising industry has an extremely positive impact on other industries and companies that are not directly linked to the advertising industry. Through the production, placement and distribution of advertising, the advertising industry generated indirect value added of CHF 1.45 billion in 2019 (the figures from 2020 and 2021 have not yet been collected). Thus, every franc in the advertising industry generates an additional franc in value added in other Swiss industries and shows how important the industry is for the overall economy.

Here you can download the study.