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Published in Alan B. Albarran and Sylvia M. Chan-Olmsted, Global Media Economics: Commercialization,
Concentration, and Integration of World Media Markets. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1998.
Nordic Media
By Robert G. Picard
Although relatively small in geography and population, the Nordic region is a vibrant media
market, accounting for an estimated $10 billion USD annually, or expenditures of $435 per
capita, on media products.
Most Nordic media products are intended primarily for domestic and regional
consumption, so most of them are unfamiliar to persons outside the region, with the exception
of film and audio, an area in which some directors and artists have enjoyed European and
worldwide success.
The Nordic nations include Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden and the
dependencies of the Åland Islands, the Faröe Islands, and Greenland.
The region has a total population of approximately 24 million people, with 5.2 million
in Denmark, 5.1 million in Finland, 4.3 million in Norway, and 8.8 million in Sweden.
Iceland has a population of approximately 265,000. The Åland Islands, the Faröe Islands, and
Greenland each have populations of less than 100,000.
The Nordic nations are highly developed economically, technologically advanced,
democratic nations, and have histories of international trade and strong social welfare
systems. In terms of GNP per capita, Denmark and Norway rank fourth and fifth worldwide.
Norway ranks ninth, and Finland ranks sixteenth. By comparison, the United Arab Emirates
ranks first; Switzerland, second; Japan, third; and the United States, sixth (International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development, 1996).
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Because of the histories of the countries, there are linguistic similarities between
Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, and Swedish is officially the second language of Finland.
When persons from different nations across the region interact, they typically employ
Swedish or English. The population has high educational levels and high literacy levels by
both European and world standards.
Because of their influence in the region and the small size of the dependencies and
Iceland, this review will concentrate on media in the countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway,
and Sweden. The region can be characterized as having high demand for all types of media
and that demand is met by domestic and regional supplies. Approximately 275 consumer
magazines, 2550 trade magazines, and 1350 newspapers are published in the region. 750
radio stations and 35 television channels are available to serve audiences. Producers in the
four nations produce an average of 58 feature films each year and more 40,000 book titles are
published annually.
Because of the size of its population, Sweden tends to dominate the region in media
revenues, followed by Denmark, Norway, and Finland (see Table 1).
Table 1
Selected Media Revenues in the 4 Major Nordic Nations( in millions USD)
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Audio Recordings+
181
112
115
216
Cinema+
51
39
63
117
(gross box office)
Magazine Advertising+
104
79
90
139
Newspaper Adv.
& Sales#
1,107
1,024
1,389
2284
radio Ads*
16
28
28
4
TV & Cable ads*
180
127
100
203
Video Sales+
77
27
39
65
Total
$1,716
$1,436
$1,824
$3,028
*1993 data, +1994 data, #1995 data
No single full data set of media expenditures is available for the region. This summary was produced using multiple sources of data from
government, and industry sources.
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Overall, the media market is increasingly competitive. Public service broadcasting
monopolies in radio and television have disappeared, augmented by an increasing number of
commercial channels. Domestic and transnational satellite television and pay cable services
are becoming new programming choices.
The one problematic area for competition has occurred in newspapers. The region had
a tradition of multiple newspapers, associated with political parties, located in towns and
regions. During the last half of the twentieth century, the number of newspapers in each town
diminished because of economic forces leading to a variety of types of state intervention in an
effort to save those papers (Gustafsson, 1995; Picard, 1985 and 1988). That intervention has
not been very successful (Picard, 1994), but the continued strength of regional and national
newspapers has kept local papers from gaining a monopoly on news production and
distribution.
By far the largest media firm operating in the Nordic nations is Sweden’s AB Bonnier,
which produces half again as much revenue (approximately $1.5 billion USD in 1994) as its
nearest competitor Egmont International Holdings of Denmark. Other major players in the
region include Finland’s Sanoma Corp./Helsinki Media, Norway’s Schibsted A/S, three
Swedish firms--Aller holding company, AB Kinnevik, and the Wallenberg group--Norway’s
Orkla Media A/S, and the Dutch firm Wolters Kluwer International. All of these firms had
revenues in excess of $100 million (USD) in 1994 (Nordic Media Trends, p. 9).
All of the firms are diversified media companies, but Kinnevik concentrates primarily
on electronic media and Orkla and Wolters Kluwer focus main on print media. Bonnier and
Egmont are the most internationalized of the firms, with operations and subsidiaries not only
throughout the Nordic nations but in countries including Germany, Austria, Poland, Czech
Republic, Ukraine, France, Russia, Estonia, Italy, and United Kingdom.
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The pattern of advertising shares for various media differ among the nations (see
Table 2). Newspapers are still the primary recipient of advertising expenditures across the
nations, but their shares are being eroded by other advertising vehicles and television.
Table 2
Advertising Shares for Various Media, 1995
Newspapers
Magazines
TV
radio
Other
Denmark
34.0%
15.0%
15.0%
2.0%
34.0%
Finland
58.7%
13.5%
21.0%
3.6%
3.2%
Norway
37.0%
8.0%
35.0%
6.0%
14.0%
Sweden
63.5%
11.7%
18.0%
1.8%
4.9%
All major media types are available in the region and domestic production of content
for all the media are well developed.
Magazines
The magazine industry is highly active and competitive in the region and the source of the
greatest internationalization. This has been possible because of linguistic commonalities
between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and because Swedish is an official language in
Finland. Originally many magazines were exported for trade among the Nordic nations but it
is increasingly common for separate operations to now be established in the other Nordic
countries to produce separate domestic editions or new titles intended primarily for that
market.
When Nordic magazine publishers have internationalized, they have focused the bulk
of their activities on expansion in other Nordic nations. The magazine industries in Denmark,
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Norway, and Sweden are now dominated by the Egmont, Aller, and Bonnier groups, all of
which operate in all three countries (Hafstrand, 1995).
In 1993, nearly half of all the consumer magazines (600) were produced in Denmark,
258 were produced in Finland, 347 in Norway, and 134 in Sweden (World Magazine Trends,
1995). Nordic consumer magazines account for about 3 percent of consumer magazines
produced in Europe. Of approximately 2,550 trade, professional, and business magazines in
the region, almost three-fourths are produced in Finland, where linguistic issues promote
domestic publication of such magazines. These Nordic publications account for about 9
percent of the total number of such titles produced in Europe.
Audiences are among the highest readership of magazines in Europe. The average
issue readership for any consumer magazines 99 percent of adults in Denmark, 97 percent in
Finland, 89 percent in Norway, and 90 percent in Sweden (World Magazine Trends, 1995).
The largest consumer magazines all have circulations under 500,000 with most in the
200,000-300,000 range. The largest circulations are held by magazines such as ICA-Kuriren
and Land in Sweden, Se og Hør in Denmark and Norway, Valutut Palat in Finland (Nordic
Media Trends, p. 27).
The magazine industry has experienced difficult times in the past decade because of
volatile advertising expenditures (see Figure 1) fueled by a recession in the early 1990s and
by the continued development of commercial television and radio, which reduced the overall
advertising share going to magazines.
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Figure 1
Advertising Expenditures for Magazines (in millions USD)
$20
$40
$60
$80
$100
$120
$140
$160
$180
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Newspapers
The region has a newspaper circulation of approximately 10.6 million daily (see Table 3),
with an average (mean) circulation of about 40,000, except in Norway where it is about
30,000.
Table 3
Daily Newspaper Circulation, 1995
Denmark
1,612,000
Finland
2,368,000
Norway
2,582,000
Sweden
4,041,000
The sources of newspaper revenue in the region are nearly equally divided, with half
coming from readers and half from advertisers. Sweden’s newspaper industry is the largest,
producing $2.3 billion USD in 1995, followed by Norway at $1.4 billion USD, and Denmark
and Finland at approximately $ 1 billion USD each.
Newspaper readers in the Nordic nations are among the most avid readers in the
world. Norway ranks number 1 in the world with 600 copies sold per 1,000 inhabitants.
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Sweden and Finland rank third with 464 copies. Of the nations, Denmark ranks lowest at 310
per 1000 inhabitants. The difference between the Nordic nations and other European nations
is explained by political and sociocultural factors, including strong ties to political parties and
a strong local press, according to Karl Erik Gustafsson and Lennart Weibull (European
Newspaper Publishers Association, p. 38).
The Nordic region produces a number of newspapers recognized worldwide for the
quality of their journalism, including Berlinske Tidende in Denmark, Helsingin Sanomat in
Finland, Aftenposten in Norway, and Svenska Dagbladet in Sweden.
Despite the high readership, newspapers continue to fall victim to economic pressures.
Between mid 1980s and mid 1990s, the region lost approximately 10 percent of its papers,
with the strongest losses occurring in Sweden and Denmark, which had mortality rates of 15
percent during the period (see Figure 2).
Figure 2
Number of Daily Newspapers in Nordic Nations
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Because of their historical political press tradition, newspapers have been highly
national industries and the major newspaper firms have tended to stay within domestic
borders. In recent years, however, a few have begun venturing outside their traditional
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markets. Two of the most recent examples occurred when the Swedish concern Bonnier
bought a significant share of the large regional paper Ammulehti in central Finland and the
Norwegian firm Schibsted purchased 49 percent of the tabloid Aftonbladet in Stockholm,
Sweden.
radio
radio well established in the region, but the structure of radio was fundamentally change in
Nordic nations during the 1980s and 1990s, as it was elsewhere in Europe with Norway and
Denmark lead with the largest number of stations because both have had policies to
encourage local radio and permitted commercial funding as well as not-for-profit operations
(see Table 4). The introduction of commercial radio in Finland was permitted under different
regulatory approach that did not promote non-commercial broadcasting to the extent found in
other nations.
Table 4
Number of radio Stations, 1994
Denmark
246
Finland
90
Norway
305
Sweden
112
Growth in the number of stations is being fueled by the increasing number of
commercial radio stations, with Sweden being the last to introduce commercial radio in 1993
and taking a far more conservative approach to its introduction (Jauert & Prehn, 1994).
Although it began with national public service channels, radio in the region has now
become dominated in number by local operations, with local stations accounting for more
than two-thirds of all stations in each of the countries (see Figure 3). Nevertheless, the strong
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national public service channels continue to dominate their markets by accounting for 60 to
80 percent of all listening time.
Figure 3
National Distribution of radio Stations
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
National
Regional
Local
Not-for-profit community radio stations are being squeezed heavily by the lack of
listenership and financial support in Denmark and Norway and are having a difficult time
surviving. However, the Swedish regulatory system is structured to try to maintain these
community radio operations, along with state radio and commercial operations.
Overall, radio developments in the region are paralleling those found in the European
nations and creating systems roughly equivalent to the more commercialized systems found
throughout Europe.
Television, Cable and Satellite
During the last half of the twentieth century, the Nordic nations have had some of the most
technologically advanced and productive state broadcasting systems in the world. Based in
the public service broadcasting model, the systems provided high quality entertainment
programming produced by the systems and purchased from abroad but were especially
noteworthy for their news, public affairs, and cultural programming.
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Beginning in the 1980s, nations in the region began authorizing the development of
domestic commercial television operations. These moves broke the monopolies of public
service broadcasting and increased the number of channels available, but the growth potential
for new domestic channels is somewhat limited by market size and investors are seeking to
regionalize some existing channels as well and considering new regional channels.
Today, the average viewing time in the region is about two and one-half hours per
day. Viewers in each nation can choose from among 6 to 12 domestic channels of free and
pay television channels in some parts of the countries (see Figure 4).
Figure 4
Domestic Free and Pay TV Channels, 1995
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
These figures are somewhat misleading, however, because only public service
channels provide 100 percent household coverage in all four nations. Of the commercial
channels, only one in Denmark, Finland, and Norway, and two in Sweden exceed 50 percent
household coverage. As a result, the public service channels maintain average market shares
of about half, except in Denmark where it is much higher (see Figure 5).
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Figure 5
Market Shares of Public Television Channels, 1994
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Of the 9.8 million households in the four major countries of the region, 6.8 million
now have access to cable services (see Figure 6) (Contamine and Dusseldrop, 1996, p. 55),
which are primary distribution channels for many of the new commercial television channels.
An average of 78 percent of the households passed (those that have access to cable) subscribe
to cable services in the region (see Table 5), an unusually high number for Europe.
.
Figure 6
Cable Penentration
-
500,000.00
1,000,000.00
1,500,000.00
2,000,000.00
2,500,000.00
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Homes Passed
Subscribers
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Table 5
Percentage of Households Passed Subscribing to Cable Services
Denmark
76.5%
Finland
65.4%
Norway
87.5%
Sweden
84.1%
Average
78.4%
In addition to domestic free and pay channels, cable systems offer access to a wide
variety of non-domestic channels. Among the most popular are services such as Eurosport,
MTV Europe, TV5 (France), RTL (Luxembourg and Germany), RAI 1 (Italy), Deutsches
Welle, BBC World Service, CNN International, Disney Channel, Superchannel, Discovery
Channel, and domestic and regional movie channels.
Satellite television has made inroads in the region by providing an alternative to cable
subscription in areas served by cable and giving rural residents significant reception options .
Subscription is highest in Sweden and lowest in Finland (see Table 6).
Table 6
Satellite Television Penetration, 1994
Denmark
8.2%
Finland
5.6%
Norway
10.3%
Sweden
12.5%
With satellite receivers, viewers have access to all the popular channels provided by
cable as well as scores of other pan-European channels not carried by local cable systems.
The increasing number of television, cable, and satellite television channels are
significantly changing the content available to residents of the Nordic countries. Because of
new internal commercial channels and new channels available from abroad, residents now
receive programming in many languages and from many European and North American
sources
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Film Production
The region has an active motion picture industry, especially Sweden, which has enjoyed
success worldwide as an exporter of films. Denmark has also achieve success in the
exportation of films, although primarily in Europe.
During the decade comprising the last half of the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s,
the region produced 576 feature films, averaging 58 films annually (see Figure 7).
Figure 7
Feature Film Production, 1985-1994
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Sweden was the largest producer, accounting for 40 percent of the total production
(see Table 7). Finland was the second largest producer, accounting for 22 percent of the
region’s production during that period, but its films are rarely exported because of linguistic
issues.
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Table 7
Feature Film Production by Nation, 1985-1994
Percent
Number
of Total
Denmark
123
21.4%
Finland
126
21.9%
Norway
96
16.7%
Sweden
231
40.1%
Ticket prices average about $6.50 USD across the nations and 43 million admission
tickets were sold in 1994.
Audio Industries
Audio recording sales in topped $624 million USD in 1994 on sales of 67.7 million copies of
CD, cassette, and LP recordings. The majority of these sales were recordings of foreign artists
but the region has highly active domestic recording industries that have produced such world-
renowned artists as ABBA, Ace of Base, and the Leningrad Cowboys.
Audio playback equipment is well distributed among households, as evidenced by the
use of compact disc players, the newest widely available technology (see Table 8).
Table 8
Household Penetration of CD Players
Denmark
44%
Finland
42%
Norway
61%
Sweden
58%
Compact discs are by far the most popular recording media, now accounting for an
average of 84 percent of all recordings sold in the nations.
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Book Publishing
The book publishing sector is experiencing an increasing number of titles but smaller press
runs, resulting in declining returns per title and the need to produce titles more inexpensively.
These problems have been compounded by declining purchases by libraries and other
institutions in the nations which had provided the economic foundation upon which book
publishing has been traditionally based.
Figures on book publishing in Nordic nations show steadily increasing production, with
a slightly higher increase in fiction than non-fiction production. Among Nordic nations, Sweden
is the largest producer of book titles (see Figure 8), accounting for an annual average of 31.2
percent of total titles produced in the nations from 1985 to 1994. Denmark contributed an
annual average of 29 percent, Finland contributed an annual average of 26.9 percent, and
Norway accounted for an annual average of 12.8 percent of the total number of titles published.
Figure 8
Number of Book Titles Produced, 1985-1994
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
10,000
11,000
12,000
13,000
14,000
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
An average of about 20 percent of the titles are translations of books published originally in
other languages. About 60 percent are translated from English and 11 percent from other Nordic
languages
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Summary
The Nordic region is characterized by high levels of media availability, resulting from a great
deal of regional production as well as importation, and high levels of media consumption.
Existing media are technologically advanced and good telecommunications infrastructures
help serve electronic as well as print media.
Media are well distributed throughout the nations and consumers have access to local,
domestic, regional, European, and global media. Media are well supported by advertising, and
the nations rank among the top in advertising spending per capita in Europe.
The region’s media offerings are expanding rapidly, particularly in electronic media,
and this is creating uncertainty about how advertising shares will ultimately be divided among
the media. In addition, the growth of print advertising materials such as total market coverage
advertising sheets is placing additional pressures on newspapers, which have traditionally
held the highest share of advertising in the region.
Changes in regulation are increasing broadcast, cable, and satellite opportunities, but
the ability of the market to maintain significantly more electronic video media is uncertain.
The most important media in the region are in the hands of about a dozen regional
media firms that have had strong domestic presences and have turned their attentions
regionally. The potential for acquisitions and future mergers among these firms raises
significant concerns about concentration in the area.
References
Contamine, Claude, and Monique van Dusseldrop, eds. Proceedings of the 7th European
Television and Film Forum. Dusseldorf, Germany: European Institute for the Media, 1996.
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European Newspaper Publishers Association. Europeans Read Newspapers. Brussels:
European Newspaper Publishers Association, 1996.
Gustafsson, Karl Erik, ed. Media Structure and the State: Concepts, Issues, Measures.
Göteborg, Sweden: Mass Media Research Unit, School of Economics and Commercial Law,
Göteborg University, 1995.
Hafstrand, Helene. “Consumer Magazines in Transition: A Study of Approaches to
Internationalization,” The Journal of Media Economics, 8(1):1-12 (1995).
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. World
Development Report 1996. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Jauert, Per, and Ole Prehn. “Local radio Policy in Europe and Scandinavia,” The
NORDICOM Review, No.1, 1994, pp. 137-162.
Nordic Media Trends. Göteborg, Sweden: Nordic Documentation Center for Mass
Communication Research (NORDICOM), Göteborg University, 1995.
Picard, Robert G. The Press and the Decline of Democracy: The Democratic Socialist
Response in Public Policy. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1985.
Picard, Robert G. The Ravens of Odin: The Press in the Nordic Nations. Ames: Iowa State
University Press, 1988.
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Picard, Robert G. “Why State Support Fails to Preserve Newspapers.” A paper presented to
the Biannual Conference of the Austrian Society of Communications, Salzburg, Austria,
March 5, 1994.
World Magazine Trends 1995. London: Carat, 1995.
World Press Trends, 1996. Paris: International Association of Newspaper Publishers, 1996.