Covid boosts TV consumption among Swiss

The live broadcast of news conferences by the government might have been a factor of the higher television consumption. Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott

Statistics show television viewing increased slightly in Switzerland during the Covid-19 pandemic last year – the first time in more than a decade.

Researchers found that notably the over 60 age group contributed to the hike.

Overall Swiss consumers spent an average of 127 minutes a day in 2020 watching television both analogue and online. That’s eight minutes more than in the previous year, according to the Federal Statistics OfficeExternal link.

The use of public channels funded by a licence fees for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation – swissinfo.ch’s parent company – accounted for between 28% and 30% depending on the language region.

As in previous years, the fiercest competition came from TV channels in neighbouring France, Italy and Germany.

The use of radio in Switzerland remained stable last year at around 92 minutes a day.

Public radio in German, French, Italian and Romansh made up between 64% and 80% of the share compared foreign providers.

The survey published on Monday is based on data by the leading media research company MediapulseExternal link.