The challenges of legacy media companies are mainly caused by changes in advertising

and media consumption habits. Both are largely due to the rapid developments in digital

technology and the online environment. In recent years, the change has been further

accelerated by the development of mobile devices and networks, as well as social media.

Newspaper companies in Finland and elsewhere have made efforts to adapt to the new

situation by developing various solutions. In this report, we study the impact of these

processes to the development of news media in the Nordic countries. Sweden, Norway

and Denmark are a natural point of reference for the Finnish news media due to a

similar media consumption culture and welfare state model, as well as communication

technology affordances.

The study was funded by the Finnish Newspapers Association and the Media

Industry Research Foundation of Finland, and carried out by the Communication

Research Centre CRC (University of Helsinki) and Brahea Centre (University of Turku).

Researchers involved in the project were Katja Lehtisaari (U of Helsinki), Mikko Villi

(U of Jyväskylä), Mikko Grönlund (U of Turku) and Carl-Gustav Lindén (U of Helsinki).

The report consists of two parts: 1) A description of the general situation in the

newspaper industry in Norway, Sweden and Denmark 2) The findings from research

interviews in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. In total, 29 interviews were carried out

with representatives from media companies, newspaper associations and universities

in the three countries. In the report, the interview responses are treated anonymously

at the request of the interviewees. The quotes are in English or Swedish, which were the

languages used in the interviews.

Of the three countries examined, the media markets in Sweden and Norway are

most similar. Particular to Norway and Sweden is that they have plenty paid-for local

and regional newspapers. Denmark, in turn, has much less paid-for newspapers, but

the number of free sheets is high. Many of the interviewees noted that even together

subscriber and advertising revenues will not be insufficient to maintain a viable business

in the future, so there is a need for new business models. In aggregate, counting the

print and online together, the newspapers have a larger audience than ever, but the

generation of income forms the problem. The lack of a good business model suited

to the new digital environment is the challenge for those involved in the newspaper

business. Particularly challenging is obtaining readers among the younger generations.

In general, the interviewees believe that a printed, daily newspaper still has a future,

although possibly more as a niche oriented product focusing on specific themes and

audience markets, and coming out more seldom than on a daily base. The printed

paper could also perhaps have luxury and premium value. Instead of one mainstream

newspaper there would then be many sub-brands – in this sense, printed newspapers

would resemble magazines.

The interviewees unanimously considered that users should be made to pay for

the digital content. It is expected that advertising revenue will fall even more in the

future, and thus reader revenue is increasingly important – the focus must be on paying

customers. Some comfort can possibly be found in the fact that consumers, also younger

consumers, are ready to pay for online media content in general, as the examples of

Netflix and Spotify show. The big question is how to include the digital newspaper in

the monthly “media package” that consumers use their money for.

Our interviews in Sweden, Norway and Denmark revealed that the Nordic newspaper

companies have not been tremendously innovative. However, several good examples of

innovative and successful practices could be found. They can be divided into two main

contexts: a) Digitally driven business models; b) Brand building and community.