The role of the media in society as a controlling authority (the so-called “fourth power”) is undisputed. In order to better understand the influence of media on the formation of public opinion, it is essential to have precise information on media use in the population, i.e. who uses which media to what extent. As one of the institutes carrying out the Media Analysis Switzerland (MACH for short), our data provide, for example, the basis for calculating the so-called reach, which provides information on the readership of newspapers and magazines in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. For both publishing houses and the advertising industry, reach is the central parameter for media planning.

We can record media usage with different methods. In addition to the actual measurement over a certain period of time, for example via cookie tracking, it is also possible to ask people about their media usage behaviour. The entire spectrum of methods (telephone, online and/or face-to-face, etc.) is available for the survey. Whether measurement or survey – the selection of respondents must meet the highest standards of representativeness in order to be able to make reliable statements. In addition to the random selection of telephone numbers (including mobile telephone numbers and households without a registered landline connection), it is therefore possible to use the LINK Internet Panel, the largest and most representative panel in Switzerland.