A Presentation of the Authors
The analyses of the media market – newspapers, magazines, radio and television – pre- sented on the following pages are the products of a collaboration with organizations and individuals in the Nordicom network. The country descriptions for each market are written by each national expert below. The general introductions – Nordic elements in each national market – are written by the Nordic coordinator (Eva Harrie), but are also the fruit of teamwork among the Nordic partners. All members of the network have read them, commented on them, and, not least, filled them out with facts and updates.
The Danish contributions are also written by the Nordic coordinator, with invaluable help from Erik Nordahl Svendsen, Chief consultant at the Danish Agency for Libraries and Media (the Media Secretariat), who has commented on the drafts and provided valuable insights regarding the Danish media market.
The Nordic Market, Introductions
Eva Harrie, Nordic coordinator, Nordicom, Göteborg University, P O Box 713, SE-405 30 Göteborg; [email protected]
Denmark
Eva Harrie, Nordic coordinator, Nordicom, Göteborg University, P O Box 713, SE-405 30 Göteborg; [email protected]
Finland
Tuomo Sauri, Senior researcher, Statistics Finland, Media Statistics, P O Box 5 B, FIN-00022 Statistics Finland; [email protected]
Iceland
Ragnar Karlsson, Researcher, Statistics Iceland, Borgartúni 21 A, IS-150 Reykjavík;
Norway
Nina Bjørnstad, Project manager, medianorway, Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, P O Box 7800, N-5020 Bergen;
Liv Mari Bakke, Information officer, medianorway, Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, P O Box 7800, N-5020 Bergen;
Sweden
Ulrika Facht, Information specialist, Nordicom, Göteborg University, P O Box 713, SE-405 30 Göteborg; [email protected]
The Newspaper Market 132
The Magazine Market 146
The Radio Market 159
The Television Market 171
References 191
The Nordic Media Market
Here, newspapers are classified in terms of two cat- egories: dailies (4-7 issues per week) and non-dailies (1-3 issues per week), respectively. Daily papers may have national, regional or local distribution, whereas most non-daily papers are local. Most Nordic newspa- pers are morning papers, i.e., general interest papers sold primarily on subscription; a minority (a couple of widely circulated titles in each country) are popular tabloids and are mainly sold on a single copy basis.
Naturally, these characterizations do vary somewhat from country to country. In addition, all the Nordic markets have free papers of various kinds. See further under the heading,”The free paper market”.
Newspapers, among the oldest of mass media in the Nordic countries, have time and again met challenges from newer media. For nearly a century they have withstood the changes relatively well. Newspaper reading continues to be a widespread activity among the people of the region; many subscribe to a daily paper, and several newspaper companies are profit- able enterprises.
This said, the difficulties for the branch are several and severe. The entrance of internet and free papers in the mid 1990’s impacted on people’s willingness to pay, and the digital age’s increasing and fragmented media output pose formidable challenges. Under the competition, newspaper publishers have adopted new strategies such as creating other platforms than con- ventional papers for the presentation of content and collaboration with, acquisition of, or fusion with other companies.
Nevertheless, in the past few decades both the com- bined circulation and – in all countries except Norway – the number of titles have declined. A sharp drop in advertising revenues due to the current recession, coming as it does on the heels of structural changes, is yet another challenge that heightens uncertainty regarding the future of the industry.
Paid-for newspapers
Despite there being fewer copies on the market, Nor- dic newspapers have fared relatively well by inter- national comparison. The number of paid-for titles remains high compared to other countries, as does circulation. The Norwegian daily press has the second- largest (after Japan) average combined circulation per thousand inhabitants (adult population) in the world.
It is followed by Finland and Sweden, in that order.
Iceland and Denmark occupy thirteenth and fifteenth place in a world ranking. On the other hand, Denmark leads the world when it comes to per capita circulation of free non-dailies.
The Nordic countries have both strong papers of national character and a strong regional/local press.
The most palpable declines are to be found among the larger, national and regional papers; local newspapers are firmly rooted among both readers and advertisers, and many continue to turn a good profit (at least until Fall 2008 – what the economic downturn will bring is an open question). Within the region, Finland and
Unless otherwise noted, the data refer to 2007. Except in the case of Finland, circulation data do not include Sunday editions. Advertising shares refer to above-the-line advertising (traditional media plus internet).
The Newspaper Market
Norway have the most paid-for titles in total, having at least twice as many non-daily papers (mainly lo- cal titles) as Sweden has. Finland and Norway differ, however, in that the number of non-daily papers and their combined circulation have declined in Finland, whereas they have increased in Norway. Denmark and Iceland have significantly fewer paid-for newspa- pers than the other countries, but instead a vivid free paper market. Sweden tops the ranking in terms of daily paid-for papers, with 78 titles, compared to 74 in Norway and 53 in Finland.
The Nordic daily press distinguishes itself in the high proportion of subscriptions: roughly 75-90 per cent of total circulation, with the remainder sold as single copies. There are some variations between countries. All in all, many residents find their papers in the mailbox at the start of the day. Looking abroad, we find similar patterns in The Netherlands and Germany (90% and 64% subscriptions, respectively), but the in- verse in, for example, Italy and Spain, where fully 90 per cent of circulation is sold on a single-copy basis.
The free paper market
Side by side with paid-for newspapers, various kinds of free papers have long existed in all countries. They are domestically, often locally, owned local papers.
Denmark and, to some extent, Iceland have had a lively free paper trade at local and regional levels (dist
riktsblade). The papers much resemble paid non-daily papers in other countries.
The latter part of the 1990s saw the entry of a new kind of free paper onto Nordic markets, papers distrib- uted five or six days a week in metropolitan areas via the transit system and/or on the street. (The exception is Norway which has no daily free papers.) It all started in Sweden with Metro in 1995, which Metro Interna- tional (at the time a part of MTG) spread to Finland and Denmark in the span of a couple of years. Metro was followed by a number of new free daily urban titles, most of them launched by large Nordic newspaper companies: Bonnier and Schibsted in Sweden, Sanoma in Finland, and Berlingske Media in Denmark. Iceland has had its own success story in the door-to-door dis- tributed Fréttablaðið, which came on the scene in 2001 and had a strong impact on the domestic newspaper market. The Icelandic firm behind Fréttablaðið precipi- tated a flood of free papers on the Danish market with
the launching of Nyhedsavisen, a free daily, in 2006. A number of Danish newspaper publishers responded to the challenge by promptly starting free papers of their own. Nyhedsavisen, and the other newcomers, were all intended to be distributed door-to-door, which, however, turned out to be expensive and problematic due to lack of personnel to distribute them.
The trend for free dailies has been mixed. Hav- ing started out as papers for commuters in Sweden’s metro politan cities, free papers spread to urban cent- ers in the provinces. In some cases city-based titles launched regional papers, either alone or in collabo- ration with regional partners; in others, local/regional publishers launched their own free papers to prevent new entrants from cutting into their advertising market.
Free papers have generally attracted many readers, but from their owners’ point of view they have proved costly and unprofitable ventures. Some years after the initial enthusiasm, free paper markets in Denmark, Finland and Sweden have undergone consolidation:
titles have fused, changed hands, melded editorial staff or management with that of other papers in the same group, shifted down to lower periodicity or closed.
Metro, for example, sold its Finnish operations to Sano- ma in 2006. In 2008, Metro in Denmark (MetroXpress A/S) took over JP/Politiken’s 24timer. (In return, JP/
Politiken acquired 24.5% ownership of the company.) In Sweden, Schibsted acquired 35 per cent of Metro in conjunction with the closure of their own free paper, Punkt se. In Spring 2008, Danish Nyhedsavisen was sold to a venture capital company, and ceased publica- tion a few months later.
Newspaper publishers branch out
Most newspaper publishers in the Nordic countries have domestic owners and have their roots in the newspaper business (and, to some extent, in other print media). They have been in business for many, many years. Several publishers have chosen to meet the challenges of changes on the media market through expansion, either into other media or into new terri- tory, so as to strengthen their market position and revenue base. Media groups like Schibsted in Nor- way, Bonnier in Sweden, and Sanoma in Finland – all traditionally dominant newspaper publishers in their respective countries – expanded into broadcast media after broadcasting was deregulated around 1990. On regional markets, newspaper publishers have turned into regional ‘media houses’ with operations on mul- tiple local platforms like radio, television and the web.
They have expanded mainly through purchases and fusions with other actors. Danish and Icelandic news- paper companies, which long published newspapers exclusively, waited some years before making moves
launched free papers in response to competition for readers and advertisers from new actors on the market.
Newspaper companies have responded to the dig- ital challenge by developing existing trademarks on multiple platforms. They have launched web news- papers and distribute news to mobile telephones.
They also work constantly to improve their service on the web through web-TV, blogs, communities, and so forth. Many publishers have bought into existing com- munities and marketplaces on the web these past few years. Among the Nordic companies Schibsted stands out for its extensive investments in web activities.
Popular tabloids have suffered the greatest impact of competition from new media, and two of Schibsted’s popular tabloids, Aftonbladet in Sweden and VG in Norway, operate two of the largest websites in the world, offering a wide variety of services. The papers also collaborate with sister papers, Svenska Dagbladet in Sweden and Aftenposten in Norway, to produce the business news sites, E24.se and E24.no. In addition, Schibsted owns the principal classified ads sites in Nor- way and Sweden and has established a strong position in classified ads in other European countries and South America through purchases of local companies.
Another response to changes in the media market has been to seek synergy benefits through cooperative projects, alliances and outright fusions. In Sweden, for example, Stampen, a regional newspaper pub- lishing house, has strengthened its position through the acquisition of, and to some extent collaboration with, other regional papers; synergy effects have been achieved through the centralization of all papers’ print- ing to a single printing company. In Norway four major regional newspapers are planned to come under the same roof in Media Norge, in which Schibsted has a majority share.
Newspaper ownership across national frontiers
Newspaper ownership is still largely in domestic hands, but through a few transactions since the mid-1990s some large newspaper companies are now owned by interests outside the country. One example is the Nor- wegian media company Schibsted, which took control of the Swedish newspapers, Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet in 1996/1998 to become one of the principal players on the Swedish newspaper market. In 2000, the Norwegian Orkla Media acquired Det Berlingske Officin, a leading newspaper publisher in Denmark. In 2006, Orkla Media itself was purchased by the British Mecom Group, which thereby became the first major non-Nordic newspaper publisher in the Nordic region, and one of the largest newspaper publishers in both Norway (Edda Media) and Denmark (Det Berlingske
ing Danish newspaper publishers, JP/Politikens Hus) has ventured onto the Swedish market by acquiring a number of local free papers in southern Sweden in the span of a couple of years.
Actually, during the 1990s and into the present century, Nordic media groups had a greater presence in their neighboring countries than they do today.
For five years in that period Finnish Sanoma owned one-third of A-pressen in Norway, and Swedish Bon- nier was the largest co-owner of Finnish Alma Media.
In the free paper market, too, transborder ownership was more pronounced than it is today: Metro had a stronger presence in Denmark, as did Icelandic actors.
Another example is Søndagsavisen, a large player on the Danish free paper market, which had interests in Norwegian and Swedish free weeklies. All have since divested themselves of these holdings, or sold shares of them; in most cases the buyers were domestic news- paper publishers based on the respective markets.
Of the Nordic media groups, Bonnier, Schibsted and Sanoma publish paid-for newspapers outside the Nordic region. In addition to the business newspaper Børsen in Denmark, Bonnier publishes newspapers on the same concept in several European countries, plus a general newspaper in Latvia. Schibsted owns newspapers in Estonia and Lithuania, and Sanoma has some newspaper interests in Russia. On the free paper market, several Nordic publishers are among the roughly ten publishers that have an international mar- ket presence, according to the newsletter, Free Daily Newspapers (25/2007). The most notable example is Swedish-owned Metro International, whose Metro is published in roughly 60 editions in around 20 coun- tries (Fall 2008). Schibsted publishes free dailies in France and Spain (20 Minutes), Lithuania and Russia, and Bonnier publishes 5min in Latvia via its Latvian newspaper company, Diena.
Newspaper revenue
Advertising accounts for more than half, about 55-60 per cent, of Nordic newspapers’ sales revenue, with newspaper sales making up the rest. In nominal value the trend for newspaper advertising expenditure was relatively stable and even showed a positive trend (paid-for and free) until 2007. With the economic downturn advertising figures for 2008, fourth quarter, showed a break in the positive trend. The downturn has continued into the first quarter 2009, and where newspapers seem to have been hit harder than other media. Newspapers’ share of the advertising market – roughly 50 per cent – has also declined in the last dec- ade, having been displaced to some extent by internet.
Most newspaper websites generate high traffic figures and also an increasing – though still small – share of web advertising revenue.
In several countries there are government programs to prevent newspaper deaths and thus preserve local
competition where it exists. In the Norwegian and Swedish programs the money goes directly to the publishers in question, whereas in Finland most of the support is now distributed via the political parties.
In Sweden, newspaper subsidies make up less than three per cent of total average newspaper revenue; in Finland the corresponding figure is slightly more than one per cent, and in Norway two per cent. In Denmark there is support for distribution plus a smaller sum for new projects, which makes up 3-4 per cent of news- paper revenue. In all countries VAT on newspaper sales is lower than standard rates (Sweden, Iceland), or newspapers are tax-exempt (Denmark, Norway and subscriptions in Finland). (See further the section, Demographic & Economic Data.)
Newspaper reading
Newspaper readership is high in all five Nordic coun- tries, with around 80 per cent of the population read- ing a newspaper the average day, a level that has re- mained stable over the past decade. When we consider reading on the respective platforms, however, we find a declining trend in reading of papers in hard copy. In Norway and Sweden, reading of paper copies has de- clined from over 80 per cent ten years ago to about 70 per cent today, while the share who read newspapers online only is growing and today rests at about 10 per cent in both countries. (Time series for Danish and Finnish are not fully comparable over the years, but data for reading paper copies indicate the same trend.)
Newspapers, and particularly popular tabloids, have the most online users of all daily media.