Search engine advertising fuels growth in the Swiss digital advertising market
The Swiss advertising market increased revenue by 1% in 2024. While the traditional advertising market recorded a decline, the digital advertising market continued its upward trend. Revenue from Google Search and YouTube grew in percentage terms.
6.12 billion Swiss francs - that's how much was generated in the Swiss advertising market in 2024. This was announced by Media Focus in its recently published annual résumé. The CHF 6.12 billion corresponds to an increase of one percent compared to 2023.
The market owes the increase in total advertising pressure primarily to the digital business. This is because the so-called traditional advertising market - which includes print media, cinema and out-of-home - shrank by 0.9% overall. The only exception: out-of-home (+4.9 percent) and cinema (+4.4 percent) benefited from a moderate increase, writes Media Focus.
By contrast, revenue in the digital advertising market increased by 4.6% and amounted to CHF 2.1 billion in 2024. The majority of this (66%) - or over CHF 1.4 billion - was generated by advertising on search engines ("Search" segment). This is followed by display advertising with a share of 25.7% (CHF 547 million). The last and smallest segment is YouTube - with a share of 8.2% and sales of CHF 175.1 million.
The ratio between the three segments remained largely stable compared to the previous year. In percentage terms, YouTube saw the strongest growth, with an increase of 9%. In the search segment, the increase was 5.5% and in display advertising 1%.
FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) products and retailers dominate the rankings of the most advertised brands and products, according to Media Focus. The Apple iPhone 16 Pro was the most advertised new product. Telco Swisscom secured a place in the top 10 most advertised brands in the Display Ads category, while rival Sunrise appeared in 3rd place in the Search Ads category. Temu, the Chinese online store, is also one of the most advertised brands and ranks in the top 10 lists for display ads and YouTube. (René Jaun/dwi)
