Best study results for our media brands

We are delighted that the «Neue Zürcher Zeitung», the «NZZ am Sonntag» and «Le Temps» have once again achieved top positions in the Media Quality Rating 2024, which determines the quality of the Swiss media.

In addition to quality, since the last Media Quality Rating in 2022, the social impact of the media analysed has also been recorded. Both the «Neue Zürcher Zeitung» and the «NZZ am Sonntag» once again ranked first in their respective categories. Our counterpart in French-speaking Switzerland, «Le Temps», took second place.

Impact-Score

Quality media are indispensable for the democratic formation of opinion. But they are only effective if they are utilised and understood. The Media Quality Rating therefore determines the impact score. This measures the influence of 42 media brands from German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland on the formation of public opinion and will. The focus is on political and economic reporting. The impact score is based in equal parts on reach and frequency of use as well as the gain in information and understanding.

Daily and online newspapers
In the group of daily and online newspapers, the «Neue Zürcher Zeitung» and «Le Temps» are characterised by their high impact. Both media brands achieve a comparable reach in their respective language regions and make an above-average contribution to the gain in information and understanding.

Sunday newspapers and magazines
Among the Sunday newspapers and magazines, «NZZ am Sonntag» is at the top of the list. Although it does not have the highest reach and frequency of use, it contributes significantly to information and understanding from the perspective of its readership.

The Media Quality Rating has been carried out every two years since 2016. It analyses the qualitative changes in Switzerland’s most important media, based on scientific methods. The Research Centre for the Public Sphere and Society at the University of Zurich carried out representative content analyses of 42 media titles to record the quality of reporting. In addition, the University of Fribourg and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts surveyed the quality perception of these media using representative population surveys.

The previous separate presentation of print and online media was removed in the Media Quality Ranking 2024, as the print and online content of the media analysed is increasingly being produced in an integrated manner. However, the methodology has not changed, so that comparisons over time are still possible.

Click here for the detailed rating.

WEMF MACH Basic 2024-2

Contact and title quality (click here for the file)

Since publication 2022-2, MACH Basic has reported key figures on contact and title qualities (CTQs) at individual title level. The data on reading volume, reading time, number of pick-ups and title loyalty show how readers use their press titles and how strongly they feel connected to them.

Of all 114 newspapers measured, the «NZZ am Sonntag» is read the longest, with an average reading time of 55.3 minutes. The «Neue Zürcher Zeitung» is only three places behind, with 39.6 minutes. «Le Temps» is read for an average of 29.1 minutes.
Excellent loyalty ratings emphasise the quality of the newspapers. 84.3% would miss the «Neue Zürcher Zeitung» and 78% the «NZZ am Sonntag». In French-speaking Switzerland, «Le Temps» enjoys the highest level of loyalty with 85.8%.

Readership figures MACH Basic 2024-2 (click here for the PDF)