Audience ratings stand on coverage

Michael Hedges January 23, 2009

Success factors for broadcasters, of the ratings variety, are many. Programming must be right. Marketing must be robust. Nothing, though, trumps plain and simple coverage.

Recent publicly released audience figures for Switzerland show, again, the unequal convergence of coverage and audience measurement. Radio channels with the greatest geographic coverage overwhelm local stations in audience surveys. This leads to the appearance that channels with this huge reach render local stations insignificant.

Certainly the service providing radio audience data in Switzerland – Mediapulse/PublicaData – offers to its subscribers more microscopic information, city-specific, that can be passed on to sales houses and advertisers. Little of that trickles down to the general public or, perhaps, those who might need to make media policy decisions. The big picture is rarely the whole picture.

Switzerland’s unique cultural and media landscape – three distinct linguistic zones and an incredibly well-funded public broadcaster – is a challenge for audience measurement. The French, Swiss German and Italian regions each have several channels from language specific public broadcasters and about four-dozen local private radio stations. In that mix also goes a smattering of French stations bordering Geneva, German stations bordering Basel and the greater Zurich area and the occasional Italian station near to Lugano. Add to that, the public broadcaster SSR-SRG is legally mandated to offer all channels in each region. (See market share and sector shares in Resources)

In the Swiss radio audience figures for the second half 2008, released January 20, channels of public broadcaster SSR-SRG are, as usual, overwhelmingly dominant. The channels of Radio Suisse Romande (RSR), the SSR-SRG French regional broadcaster, reported an aggregated market share of 57.5%, increasing from 56.9% one year on. The leading RSR general interest channel La Premiere overwhelms all others with a 39.4% market share, up from 39.2% year on year. (See market share and sector shares in Resources)

DRS, the Swiss German regional broadcaster, posted an aggregate 63.9% market share, off year on year from 65.3%. Main channel DRS1 dropped to a meager 38.2% market share from 40.3% one year on. That 2.1% market share loss is greater than the total market share of all but one of the private local radio stations. Zurich private station Radio 24 reached a 2,4% market share.  

The small Italian-speaking region of south-east Switzerland is special, as any visitor knows: Swiss manners, Italian food. Regional public broadcaster RSI has an aggregate 71.9% market share, up from 71.3% one year on. Main channel Rete Uno, perhaps the market share award winner for all European public broadcasters, has a 50.9% share, down a pinch from 51.1% year on year. 

The radio licensing regime in Switzerland has changed over the last two decades, since private sector broadcasting’s legalization. The Law on Radio and Television (2006) was intended to put the brakes on SSR-SRG expansion but promptly ignored. Last year the government ruled on new private local radio licenses and renewals. Two incumbent stations denied renewal – One FM in Geneva and Radio Energy in Zurich – were highly rated in their local areas, prompting some local outrage and questions about the governments’ motivation. Secrecy is not limited to the banking sector. A local Geneva newspaper reported that the government agency approving and denying radio licenses was unaware of One FM’s strong local following.

Dominance of the public broadcaster aside, interest in private local radio in Switzerland’s major cities is robust. Broadcasting pioneer – and former Sat1 managing director – Roger Schawinski bought a Zurich local station last year and promised competition for DRS. In the recent license renewal round his station – Radio 1 – was granted greater coverage.

The delicate task of measuring Swiss radio and TV audiences falls to not-for-profit Mediapulse Foundation, which recently acquired marketing arm PublicaData. Swiss radio audiences have been measured using the Radiocontrol electronic audio-matching technology for more than a decade.

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