Advertising market March 2025: traditional media still under pressure
The Swiss advertising market recorded a year-on-year decline of 4.0% in March 2025. According to Media Focus, no traditional media channel was able to escape the downward trend - declines are also evident in the digital sector.
The advertising market in Switzerland remains in reverse gear in March 2025. Gross advertising expenditure in traditional media amounted to CHF 340.7 million, which corresponds to a decline of 4.0% compared to the same month last year. A decline of 3.2% was already recorded in February.
None of the traditional media groups were able to achieve a positive result compared to the previous year. However, the ranking within the media mix remains stable: TV is still ahead of print, followed by out-of-home, radio and cinema.
Accumulated gross value added for the first quarter amounted to CHF 859.5 million, which corresponds to a year-on-year decline of 4.3%.
The digital advertising market is also showing declining trends in the areas of search and display. With a share of 52.3%, search nevertheless remains the leader, ahead of display with 33.1%. Only YouTube recorded growth, with a market share of 14.6%.
Retail trade dominates - but with moderate growth
Only eight out of 21 sectors were able to grow in the traditional advertising market. With gross advertising expenditure of CHF 36.2 million in March, the retail trade remains in the lead, but only recorded an increase of 5.8%. Stronger growth was recorded by the media (+18.2 %), cleaning (+17.6 %) and digital & household (+17.0 %) sectors, among others.
Leisure, gastronomy, tourism (+6.4 %), pharmaceuticals & healthcare (+4.4 %), transportation (+13.7 %) and personal care (+2.1 %) also developed positively.
13 sectors showed a downward trend. Nevertheless, the food industry is in second place with a decline of 6.9%. Other sectors affected include construction, industry, furnishings (-9.6 %), vehicles (-9.1 %), initiatives & campaigns (-3.7 %) and finance (-1.1 %). At the lower end of the scale are energy (-58.8 %) and tobacco products (-29.1 %).
In the digital market, the leisure, gastronomy and tourism sector is at the top of both the monthly and annual rankings, while the retail sector leads the traditional market.
The rankings of individual sectors show parallels between the two markets: Beverages is ranked 14th in each case, while Pharma & Health and Cosmetics & Personal Care are in the midfield. While tobacco products bring up the rear in the traditional market, the cleaning sector occupies this position in the digital sector.
In the Display segment, mobile phone provider Spusu.ch is once again in first place. Booking.com remains at the top of the SEO rankings, while the nicotine brand Zyn achieved the top position on YouTube. The Swiss Airlines flight offering and the Swiss.com platform both appear in ninth place in both areas.
