The magazine was founded in 1926 by Max Ras as Der Schweizerische Beobachter and first distributed in 1927 as a free newspaper to all households in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.

[3] Through its populist style and the high number of readers, which in 1994 was over a million, Beobachter secured an extensive advertising volume within Switzerland.

[3] From 2007 respectively 2010 (against media and political protests), the low-priced subscription magazine was published fortnightly by Axel Springer AG Switzerland.

[2] Beobachter also provides a particularly well-developed consultancy service for legal questions, information about employment, rental, consumer and family law for its subscribers.

[5] The newspaper hence actively supports the so-called Wiedergutmachungsinitiative started in April 2014 –[6] on 19 December 2014 the initiative was submitted at the Federal Chancellery (Bundeskanzlei).