Zurich/Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss newspapers’ print versions are seeing their circulations rise, albeit a slight 0.6 percent. The most recent figures from the Remp survey, done by the Swiss advertising media’s independent research organization, shows that 92.4% of Swiss people over age 14 read a newspaper “more or less regularly,” without defining the frequency. Remp notes that figures for the number of readers has remained “remarkably stable” over the past 10 years.

Le Temps and 24 Heures are the winners for growth in French-speaking Switzerland, among the for-pay newspapers.

Le Matin remains the largest newspaper, but its circulation is sliding, the exception, with all other French language papers gaining readers. The two free newspapers, Le Matin Bleu and 20 Minutes are the best-read papers, with well over 500,000 readers each, more than the double of the readership of Le Matin.

German-language newspapers in Switzerland are seeing the same picture, with overall readership growing. 20 Minuten is the country’s best read paper, with 1.4 million readers, followed by Blick, with 670,000 and Tages-Anzeiger with 487,000.

Le Temps has 148,000 readers and Neue Zürcher Zeitung has 315,000; the two are generally considered the two top quality papers in Switzerland.

The survey was carried out in March and April 2009, with more than 23,000 people taking part. Online newspaper readership is not included in the survey.

Remp published its annual figures for advertising revenue for its member newspapers, in July 2009, a total of CHF79 million, down 22.7 percent from July 2008. Revenue had begun to climb from its low point in May 2009, however.

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