The two-sided business model of newspaper companies, combining earnings from both readers and advertisers, is challenged by changes in advertising and media consumption habits. Media convergence and the rapid developments in digital technology and online communication are changing the rules of the game. In recent years, the change has been further accelerated by the expanding use of mobile devices and networks, as well as social media as a new distribution platform for media content.

In the paper, we study the impact of the challenges to newspaper companies in three Nordic countries. Sweden, Norway and Denmark are an apt context for a comparative study due to a similar media consumption culture and welfare state model, high number of newspaper readers per capita, as well as similar communication technology affordances, which provide the foundation for new digital and online services. A similar comparative setting between different Nordic countries has been examined, for example, in the context of the state of journalism (Grönvall, 2015) and cultural ideals (Sylvie, Lee, Lewis, & Fadnis, 2016).

In the paper, we study especially the implications of the digital transition – or, in many cases, digital disruption– for the business models and media management in newspaper publishing. The paper contributes to the study of journalism and media business by exploring current practices and scenarios for future development in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian newspaper companies at a time when technological, social and economic changes are disrupting conventional media operations and business models. The paper contributes especially to the literature on the digital transition of newspapers (e.g. Küng, 2015; Picard, 2014; Schlesinger & Doyle, 2015; Thurman, 2014; Villi & Hayashi, 2015).

By digital transition we refer to a certain discontinuity – the shift to publishing content on digital platforms instead of the traditional print platforms. According to a survey covering 26 countries (Newman, Fletcher, Levy, & Kleis Nielsen, 2016), almost everywhere the further adoption of online platforms and devices for news is taking place, often at the expense of print. The digital transition affects the whole chain of operations from reporting to funding, distribution and audience engagement. As print circulation continues to fall in most markets, there is a degree of inevitability in the belief that newspapers need to increasingly abandon the print platform and redefine themselves as online entities (O’Sullivan & Heinonen, 2008). However, there is disagreement on when exactly print will become obsolete, if ever, like other forms of media that have been deemed to head for extinction, from books and radio to film.