The Swiss use the media less and less for information. The willingness to pay for information has stagnated at a low level for three years, according to a study by the Center for Research on Public and Society (fög) at the University of Zurich.
Since 2016, the use of news sources has declined. Traditional channels such as television, the written press or radio are in decline, according to the Swiss national report Digital News Report 2024, underlines the fög on Monday.
In 2024, 69% of Swiss people use television, the written press or the radio at least once a week for information, compared to 88% in 2016. Digital sources of information (news sites and social media) are also less used: 74% in 2024 compared to 82% in 2016.
‘Exhausted by the amount of news’
In 2016, 59% of people surveyed in Switzerland said they were very interested in the news. They will only be 48% in 2024. More than a third of Swiss (36%) say they avoid the news ‘sometimes’ or even ‘actively’. The majority of those who avoid the news say they ‘feel exhausted by the amount of news’, according to fög.
In Switzerland, WhatsApp, YouTube and Facebook remain the main platforms for using news, notes the fög. TikTok and Instagram continue to grow in importance. According to the study, 78% of those surveyed say they get information from videos at least once a week. The most popular videos are short two-minute formats.
Confidence has declined
In total, 41% of those surveyed trust the majority of news media, a value slightly higher than the international average. However, confidence has declined over the past three years, according to fög. Respondents trust information from the SRF and RTS the most, regardless of their own political views.
In Switzerland, the willingness to pay for information has stagnated for three years, notes the fög. Only 17% of those surveyed said they had paid for online news in 2023. Among those who paid, around a third said they spent a maximum of 10 francs per month for the main online subscription.
57% do not want to pay
A third of those surveyed who do not pay for online news consider ‘a few francs a month’ to be ‘a fair price’ that they would be willing to pay and 57% would spend nothing at all. ‘For the media industry, attracting new paying consumers and generating sufficiently high revenues through online subscriptions therefore remains a big challenge,’ concludes Linards Udris, deputy research director at fög.
Since 2012, the Reuters Institute Digital News Report, produced by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, has annually documented different aspects of media usage based on a representative survey of the population of several countries. In Switzerland, the survey is carried out in partnership with fög. The fög national report is a supplement to the Digital News Report.
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