Media SRG SSR to cut a thousand jobs by 2029

According to its own estimates, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR will cut around a thousand full-time jobs by 2029. The media company confirmed a corresponding media report about the savings program to Keystone-SDA on Thursday.

According to the report, the estimated savings will be made as part of the "Enavant" transformation project announced by the new Director General Susanne Wille. This was reported by the Tamedia media.

Wille has been Director General of SRG SSR since November. On her very first day at work, she announced the "biggest transformation" in the company's history in a speech, according to the report. This involves savings of around CHF 270 million by 2029, which according to SRG corresponds to a budget reduction of around 17% compared to 2024.

Various factors put SRG under pressure

The reasons cited by SRG for the savings program are the gradual reduction in the media levy in accordance with the Federal Council's amendment to the ordinance (gradual reduction from CHF 335 to CHF 300 by 2029), a significant decline in advertising revenue and rising prices. The change in media usage by the population and international competition also made the adjustment process necessary.

At the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency, SRG broke down the stated savings of CHF 270 million into these various factors.

The reduction in the media levy planned by the Federal Council would result in around CHF 120 million less being available. This is because the group of companies that are completely exempt from the levy will also be broadened. The projected growth in households in Switzerland has already been taken into account in this estimate.

SRG puts the decline in commercial revenue, i.e. advertising and sponsorship income, at around CHF 90 million. And SRG estimates the increase in costs due to inflation at around CHF 60 million by 2029.

How to offer the audience added value in the future?

"Enavant" is new in terms of its approach, depth, complexity and speed, SRG had already communicated after Wille took office. Budget reductions would not only be distributed to the company units, but the company would be looked at as a whole.

The questions were which service strategy SRG should use to meet the demands of the public media service of the future and how the public can continue to be offered added value. They also looked at what structures and processes SRG will need in the future, how it will organize cooperation within the business units, how it will use technology and how the transformation will succeed within the specified time frame.

SDA