TV and radio still more popular than online media

Video and music streaming services like Netflix and Spotify are becoming more and more popular amongst the young. Keystone

Streaming services like Netflix and Spotify are increasingly popular in Switzerland, especially among the young, but television and radio remain the most popular media across the whole population, a survey has found.

Netflix has strongly increased its number of users this year, according to the Electronic Media Interest Group (IGEM) “digiMonitorExternal link” survey published on Wednesday. The video streaming service recorded nearly 600,000 new subscribers and now has 1.5 million occasional users, it said. The music streaming service Spotify has some 1.3 million users. 

More than half of young people aged 15 to 24 watch films or series on Netflix at least occasionally, the survey found. Spotify does not reach as many people, but its services tend to be used more intensively. 

Despite new services, traditional media are still the most popular overall in Switzerland. 92% of people surveyed said they watch TV from time to time and 62% said they watch every day. For radio, 91% listen occasionally and 66% every day. 

Next comes online video platform YouTube, with 66% occasional users and 25% daily users. According to the survey, this is two million less than for television. 

People still like going to the cinema, however. In the past six months the survey found that 48% of people had been to the cinema at least once. This figure rose to 80% for people under 25. 

Facebook continues to lose popularity  

Nearly all young people use WhatsApp messaging, with 96% saying they do so occasionally and 89% every day. Next come social media sites Instagram (73% occasional users) and Snapchat (71% occasional users). 

In comparison, Facebook continued to lose ground. Four years ago more than 80% of young people said they were occasionally active on the site, but now it is only 50%. The average age of Facebook users is now 40, which is eight years older than the average Instagram user and 15 years older than the average Snapchat user. 

The IGEM digiMonitor has been published every year since 2014. This year’s survey is based on telephone interviews with 1,772 people aged 15 and over in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland.