Annual Result 2025: Slight Deficit Amidst Transformation

2025 was dominated by major national events, including the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Basel, the UEFA Women's EURO held in Switzerland, and the Federal Wrestling and Alpine Festival (ESAF) in Mollis. SRG provided comprehensive coverage of these events, offering the audience memorable experiences. This is reflected in impressive viewer numbers: On average, 965,000 people watched the four matches of the Swiss national team at the UEFA Women's EURO 2025, representing a 59.1 percent market share during prime time. The Lauberhorn descent was followed by an average of 1,221,000 people, achieving a 77.5 percent market share. Overall, we reach our audience in all languages and regions, including younger viewers, thereby maintaining high use of SRG channels: 81 percent of the population aged 15 and over use SRG's offerings via radio, TV, websites, apps, or social media at least once a week.

2025 was already marked by Enavant. As part of the company-wide transformation, SRG is adopting new structures and processes, ensuring enhanced collaboration across all regions, and orienting itself towards the future by aligning with the changing needs of the audience. Simultaneously, cost-cutting measures have been initiated to address the household fee reduction decided by the Federal Council, which will take effect in 2027.

**Commercial Revenue Decline Mitigated by Major Events**

In 2025, SRG generated an operating revenue of 1.56 billion Swiss francs and ended the year with a loss of 2.9 million Swiss francs. Revenue from the media fee dropped by 33.4 million Swiss francs compared to the previous year. Advertising revenue was 4.1 million Swiss francs below the previous year's figure. However, this decline was somewhat offset in the reporting year by sponsorship income from major sports events and the ESC. Meanwhile, program revenue, for instance, due to higher revenue from retransmission rights, increased by 7.0 million Swiss francs compared to the previous year, resulting in an overall rise in commercial revenue by 3.1 million Swiss francs.

Other operating revenue also grew significantly by 26.8 million Swiss francs, partly related to services surrounding the ESC broadcast and thanks to a real estate sales gain.

**Decreasing Wage Costs and Reduced Workforce**

Operating expenses increased by 11.4 million Swiss francs compared to the previous year, mainly due to restructuring provisions related to the company-wide transformation. However, on an adjusted basis, a declining cost base is evident: Effective wage costs decreased by 15.6 million Swiss francs as the workforce was sustainably reduced by 248 FTE (-4.3 percent). With provisions amounting to 49.7 million Swiss francs charged to the 2025 financial statement, the social plan costs for further workforce reduction until 2029 have already been recorded in the balance sheet and will no longer burden future results. These provisions are also the reason why personnel expenses increased by around 23.0 million Swiss francs, despite falling wage costs. Thus, SRG creates room for forward-looking measures within the ongoing transformation.

Investments in tangible and intangible assets amounted to 105.3 million Swiss francs, which was 5.9 million Swiss francs higher than the previous year. Depreciations amounted to 74 million Swiss francs, 0.5 million Swiss francs above the previous year’s level. The new RTS location on the EPFL campus in Ecublens is currently being gradually put into operation, while the conversion of the RSI location in Comano is proceeding as planned. Through a consistent real estate strategy, SRG optimizes the locations, reduces areas, and thus lowers costs within the transformation framework. Furthermore, the sale of the RSI property in Lugano-Besso results in a sales gain of over 10 million Swiss francs.

**Outlook**

For 2026, stable revenue from the media fee is expected as it will only be reduced to 312 Swiss francs per household from 2027, and 80 percent of VAT-paying companies will be exempt from the fee. A further reduction of the household fee to 300 Swiss francs is scheduled for 2029.

The current media environment remains fraught with risks. One such risk is the fragile advertising market, characterized by high volatility and shifts towards third-party platforms. However, this year, the Olympic Winter Games and the FIFA World Cup are on the agenda, which will provide temporary support to the commercial sector.

With Enavant, SRG strategically aligns itself with the changing needs of the audience, adapts to the lower financial framework, and provides high-quality public service. Our focus in 2026/27 lies on the consistent implementation of the transformation project for cost reduction and future security.

The SRG annual report will be published at the end of April 2026.

Editor's note: Image rights belong to the respective publisher. Image rights: SRG SSR