Look Carefully! It’s A New Digital Landscape

Michael Hedges January 25, 2012 Follow on Twitter

Where public broadcasters are ubiquitous and well-funded, private channels have a tough fight. But fight they will for audience and advertising. Some are turning in some quite good numbers by emphasizing local content, good marketing sense and a boost from digital platforms.

The Swiss radio market is tough, at least for private sector broadcasters. The regional Swiss public channels enjoy significant market dominance. The recently released (January 19) Publica Data / Media Pulse audience surveys for the second half 2011 shows marked improvement in market shares for private radio stations across the three linguistic regions.  Audience estimates are reported separately for the Swiss German, French and Italian speaking zones.

Being the country’s largest and most populous region, the Swiss German speaking zone has more radio stations, public and private. Public broadcaster DRS offers six distinct channels, two of which are available only on digital platforms. Its aggregate market share fell to its lowest in years, 60.6% from 61.3% one year on. Youth oriented DRS3 dropped to 17./% market share from 17.9%. DRS Musikwelle, the traditional music channel that dropped MW/AM for DAB+, was unchanged at 4.8% market share. Culture channel DRS2 was lower at 3.7%, from 3.9% year on year. Brand new all-news all-digital channel DRS4 was off, 0.7% market share from 3.9%.

Private sector broadcasters in the Swiss German speaking region, consequently, are rejoicing. Aggregate market share for the diverse private local radio broadcasters rose to its highest mark ever, 29.8% from 29.3% one year on. Notably, Zürich-based Radio 24 jumped to 3.4% market share in the region from 3.1%. Station program director Karin Müller credited the brilliant programming as well as increased coverage from DAB+ distribution. Private local radio stations in Switzerland are licensed, generally, to very specific coverage areas. To encourage digital radio take-up, regulator BAKOM allows regional coverage on the DAB and DAB+ multiplexes.

Similarly in the French-speaking region, aggregate market shares for private local radio stations rose while public radio channels fell. Total market share for public broadcaster Radio Suisse Romande (RSR) dropped to 57.1% from 58.6% one year on. Main general interest channel La Premiere posted 39.9% market share, up from 39.4%. But it was adult contemporary music channel Option Musique that precipitously crashed to 7.2% market share from 9.6%. Youth-oriented Couleur 3 gained slightly to 6.9% from 6.7% year on year.

Three private local stations licensed generally to Geneva-Lausanne saw bigger market shares; Rouge FM up to 3.6% from 3.1%, LFM up to 3.5% from 2.9% and One FM up to 2.4% from 2.0% market share one year on. Overall, the aggregate market share for private local radio in the French-speaking region rose to 24.0% from 22.2% year on year.

In the tiny Swiss Italian region public broadcaster Radiotelevisión suiza de lengua italiana (RSI) holds a staggering market advantage. The three RSI channels reached a 70.5% market share in the second half 2011, up from 70.1% one year on. General interest channel Rete Uno, long the region’s dominant radio channel, posted a 47.4% market share, up from 46.2% year on year. RSI’s hit music youth channel Rete Tre took a hit, dropping to 17.8% market share from 18.5%. Cultural channel Rete Due fell slightly to 5.3% market share from 5.4% one year on. 

Private stations in Ticino – there are two – saw market share increases. Radio Fiume Ticino (RFT) grabbed headlines for a big market share increase to 4.1%, up from 2.9% one year on. Commercial Director Duilio Parietti credited “contrast” with competitors. “This project is based on the elements of information and entertainment,” he said to web portal tio.ch (January 19). “The first is closely linked to the region. The second is the recognizable RFT style; sunshine, positively and daring.” Radio station 3i rose to 5.7% market share from 5.4%.

Foreign stations, those from outside Switzerland, attract a noticeable audience. In the Italian-speaking region bordering Italy and Austria 6.4% of radio listening was to foreign stations, down from 8.5% one year on. Listening to foreign stations in the Swiss-German speaking region bordering Germany, Lichtenstein and Austria was also lower, 4.6% against 4.8% market share one year on. French radio channels have long been a factor of some dimension in the French-speaking region of Switzerland. But that, too, has dropped; 10.4% aggregate market share, down from 10.7%.

The impact of digital platforms is not specifically revealed in the Publicadata/Mediapulse surveys. All Swiss public broadcasting channels are available in each of the linguistic regions, required by Swiss law. Most are offered on high-powered FM and DAB or DAB+, as well as cable, satellite and internet. A few are digital-only and some of those – like DRS Musikwelle – have sizeable audiences. Private broadcasters generally stick with FM, sometimes cable, increasingly DAB and almost always internet streaming. The expanded reach afforded by digital channels, intuitively, has given several private stations and digital-only public channels a real boost.

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