The study conducted by WemfExternal link, published on Tuesday, has analysed Swiss news reading behaviour over the last six months and found that despite the decline of print media in recent years, Swiss readers continue to leaf through physical newspapers more often than they read stories on the corresponding online news portals.
Whilst many newspapers have lost readers over the last few years, of those who do continue to read newspapers regularly, two thirds prefer to read the print rather than online version of their chosen newspaper. Only two Swiss newspapers, the French-speaking economics bulletin BilanzExternal link and the German-speaking tabloid BlickExternal link, had more online users than print readers.
Some regional newspaper even gained print readers last year, according to the survey. The Luzerner Zeitung, a local newspaper in central Switzerland, gained 5,000 readers last year for example, and now has 292,000 daily print readers.
Despite the print newspapers’ continued popularity compared to their online versions, long-established Swiss newspapers such the German-speaking TagesAnzeigerExternal link and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung External linkonce again lost more print readers last year; 37,000 and 13,000 print readers respectively.
Striking a balance
These losses were partly compensated by an increase in online news traffic, however. The Neue Züricher Zeitung and the French-speaking Tribune de GenèveExternal link were able to maintain readership numbers by gaining readers online.
The free daily newspaper 20 minutes which is distributed across all linguistic regions of the country also gained readers online and remains Switzerland’s most widely read newspaper with a readership of 1.9 million print and 1.3 million online.
This content was published on
The new "Swiss Football Home" football campus is being built in Thun. The centre, based on an international model, will include pitches for the senior national teams and the headquarters of the Swiss Football Association.
Report identifies gaps in Swiss anti-racism and anti-Semitism measures
This content was published on
Among other things, there are gaps in criminal and civil law protection against racism on the internet, a report published on Tuesday suggests.
This content was published on
AI tools like ChatGPT continue to gain ground in Switzerland: for the first time, a majority of the Swiss population is using them.
This content was published on
Almost two-thirds of the Swiss population would like more freedom to choose their retirement age, according to a survey by Deloitte Switzerland.
Swiss carbon offset foundation to cut 10% of staff
This content was published on
Myclimate will cut around 10% of its jobs by the end of the year. At the end of 2024, almost 200 employees were working for the foundation.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Media quality in decline, say researchers
This content was published on
The 2013 Yearbook from the Zurich-based Research Institute for the Public Sphere and Society, published on Monday, found that shrinking financial means, job cuts and the ready availability of free information print – both online and in print – have had a damaging impact on quality in the Swiss media sector. Presenting the report’s main…
This content was published on
The findings were released by the Zurich-based Research Institute for the Public Sphere and Society on Wednesday. Last year there were only 12 online news sites compared with 45 newspapers, falling short of high expectations of increased media variety, a key element in a democracy according to the researchers. “The opposite has happened. The internet…
Steady decline of Swiss media shows signs of stabilising
This content was published on
Readership remains stable, advertising revenues continue to fall: the latest appraisal of the Swiss media ecosystem by research group REMP.
This content was published on
The two most popular Swiss tabloids experienced a substantial drop in sales. The Le Matin newspaper in the French-speaking region has lost 21,000 readers since last October and now has a circulation of 275,000. In the German-speaking region, Blick lost 38,000 readers and now sells 617,000 every day. Most Sunday papers have also seen a…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.