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7

The structure of the Nordic news media markets

Image: Ekliden, Västra Götaland, Sweden, by Tor Guttormsen
Although digitalisation and the rise of the Internet have dramatically simplified the possibilities of conveying and communicating mediated content, technological developments have not changed these inherent limitations of news journalism as a cultural product.
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As we saw in the opening section of this report, the structure of the news media market develops in the constant interaction between policy initiatives, technological developments, and the behaviours of advertisers and audiences (see Figure 1.1). In the description of these four domains presented in Sections 2–6, we have been able to see that there are distinct differences between the Nordic countries in several areas. But we have also seen that if we zoom out to an international comparison, there is much that unites them and that makes the overall framework conditions for the national news media markets in the Nordic region as a whole stand out compared with other parts of Europe. We can therefore expect several similarities in terms of the structure of the Nordic news media markets themselves – that is, how the supply of news looks at the national and local level, how news journalism is financed, and how it is controlled. 
Before proceeding, it may first be worth mentioning that professional news journalism as a phenomenon has several characteristics that make the news media market different from other media sectors. First, news activities are characterised by transience. Unlike, for example, books, music, films, and television series, the user value of news journalism once it has been published decreases rapidly over time. This means that companies engaged in professional news reporting must have an organisation that can continuously produce and communicate completely new content to users, and where the content that was published yesterday has already lost much of its user value. This makes news journalism a comparatively personnel-intensive media activity. 
Second, news is characterised by an anchoring in space. In journalism, interest in an individual news event not only decreases with time but also with cultural and geographical distance. This applies at both national and local levels. For example, a domestic political news item in Norway is only of equal interest to an Icelandic news consumer in unusual cases. In the same way that a local news item in a municipality is rarely of equal interest in neighbouring municipalities. These facts also mean that it is in many ways difficult, if not impossible, to run a competitive news operation without an organisational presence in the geographical area that the news operation claims to cover. 
Both of these factors – news journalism’s clear anchoring in time and space – mean that news as a media product can only exceptionally be stored or exported with its user value intact. From a Nordic perspective, there is also the linguistic aspect: In principle, all national and local news reporting in the Nordic countries is produced and disseminated in the national language. This also represents a concrete threshold for news journalism’s ability to travel easily across national borders. 
Although digitalisation and the rise of the Internet have dramatically simplified the possibilities of conveying and communicating (and increasingly also translating) mediated content, technological developments have not changed these inherent limitations of news journalism as a cultural product. As we will see in this section, the Nordic news media markets continue to be characterised by a clear spatial anchoring to the extent that the professionally produced news offering is to a significant extent carried out by the same national and local outlets as before digitalisation. The greatest structural consequence that has followed digitalisation is instead found at the ownership level, where major changes have taken place during the twenty-first century. 
The below discussion first provides a brief description of the main characteristics and the most central media outlets and owners in the national and local news media markets in the five Nordic countries. This is followed by an overview of the largest owners of news media in the region (in terms of total economic turnover), a presentation of the largest news media outlets (in terms of audience reach), and a summary of the most important findings. 

Market characteristics and key actors 

Each of the five Nordic countries is served by an intricate network of national, regional, and local news media outlets. These include subscription-based and advertising-funded newspapers, as well as television and radio channels – almost all of which also provide news online through websites, apps, e-papers, newsletters, podcasts, or social media. In addition, there are various news outlets that operate exclusively online. Several of the largest news providers are publicly controlled public service media companies (as shown in Section 4), but the majority of news media in the Nordic region are owned and run by private actors.
The purpose of this section is to provide only a brief overview of the structural characteristics and dominant actors within the Nordic news media landscapes at the national and local levels at the end of 2025. The empirical basis relies primarily on company websites and annual reports. For more detailed accounts of the dynamics and development of the Nordic news media markets, written by domestic scholars in English, we refer readers instead to the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2025 (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) and The Euromedia Ownership Monitor 2025 (Denmark, Finland, and Sweden). 

Denmark 

The national news market in Denmark consists of a relatively small number of actors, including the public service broadcaster DR, the commercial broadcaster TV 2 Danmark, and the publishing company JP/Politikens Hus, which owns the newspapers Ekstra Bladet, Jyllands-Posten, and Politiken. Whereas DR is a self-governed public institution and TV 2 Danmark is a state-owned corporation, JP/ Politiken is owned by a couple of foundations. Denmark’s two other major national newspapers, BT and Berlingske, were acquired from Belgian DGP Media in 2024 by the Norwegian local newspaper group Amedia. As in other Nordic countries, the major national actors are complemented by a wide range of niche news outlets, many of which operate primarily in digital formats. 
Alongside these organisations, there are several commercial radio operators that also reach a considerable proportion of the population with news. Among the commercial radio stations, the German company Bauer Media constitutes by far the largest group. The private public service channel Radio IIII is operated by seven regional media houses in Denmark and one media house located just south of the Danish–German border. The largest owner of Radio IIII is the local news company JFM. 
Denmark has several successful digital-born news organisations that continue to experience subscription growth, often driven by younger audiences. The best-known example is Zetland, which has also launched a sister outlet, Uusi Juttu, in Finland. In 2025, the Swedish media group Bonnier News became the new majority owner of Zetland. 
DR provides both national and local news across radio, television, and digital platforms. Today, DR operates three linear television channels and seven radio channels, most of which broadcast news. One of its radio channels, P4, comprises ten regional stations. 
Each of the five Nordic countries is served by an intricate network of national, regional, and local news media outlets.
At the regional and local levels, both DR and the TV 2 regions play important roles. The latter consist of eight regional stations that are independent of the national broadcaster, both editorially and financially. In contrast to TV 2 Danmark, the regions are funded through licence fees. The regional organisations have regular news bulletins several times a day, broadcast in regional slots on TV 2’s main channel. 
Another distinctive feature of Danish local journalism is the strong presence of free local weekly newspapers (known as ugeaviser). In Denmark – unlike in Norway and Sweden, for example – these free weeklies attract more readers than subscription-based local newspapers. 
The largest player in the local newspaper market is JFM, which publishes fifteen daily newspapers and forty local weeklies. JFM is owned by a conglomeration of local newspaper foundations and private individuals. Since 2025, JFM co-owns parts of Berlingske Media, whose main owner, Norwegian Amedia, in turn holds a corresponding share of JFM. As a result of this alliance, the Danish companies have launched a joint subscription package. As the above suggests, the national and local news industries in Denmark are, in several respects, relatively concentrated. 

Finland 

Finland’s news media environment is characterised by a strong public service broadcaster, a widely read national press, a robust regional press, and – as the previous section has clearly shown – a marked level of public interest in news. 
On the national stage, the public service media company Yle is the leading actor, alongside the private television channel MTV, the two national evening tabloids Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti, and the morning newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. This legacy landscape is complemented by a range of commercial radio stations and several start-ups, among which the Danish-owned Zetland’s Uusi Juttu has attracted particular attention. 
Yle provides both national and local news in Finnish and Swedish across radio, television, and digital platforms. Yle operates three linear television channels and several radio channels, including five regional services. 
Within the sector for broadcast news, Yle and the commercial television channel MTV dominate. The latter was owned in 2024 by the Swedish telecommunications company Telia Company, and from 2025 by the Norwegian media group Schibsted. The national newspapers Helsingin Sanomat and Ilta-Sanomat are owned by the publicly listed Sanoma Corporation, while Iltalehti is owned by Alma Media, also a publicly listed company. Compared with the other Nordic countries, Finland stands out for its high proportion of publicly listed ownership in the news market. 
As in Denmark, freesheets are a notable feature of the Finnish media landscape, particularly in the form of so-called city papers (known as kaupunkilehdet or stadstidningar). The largest actor in the local newspaper market is Keskisuomalainen, which publishes nearly 50 titles and more than 20 free newspapers, and is listed on the stock exchange. Keskisuomalainen is followed by Sanoma which, in addition to its national titles, produces around a dozen local papers. In early 2025, Sanoma aligned itself with developments elsewhere in the Nordic region by introducing a comprehensive bundled subscription offer, providing access to all 15 of Sanoma’s national and local news outlets. 
In recent years, the Swedish media group Bonnier News has established a presence in Finland through the acquisition of several Swedish-language newspapers, the most prominent of which is Hufvudstadsbladet in Helsinki. 
Taken together, these developments indicate that the Finnish news market is consolidated in terms of ownership. The number of owners is relatively small, while the number of newspaper titles has remained comparatively stable. 
Several of the largest news providers are publicly controlled public service media companies, but the majority of news media in the Nordic region are owned and run by private actors.

Iceland 

With only around 380,000 inhabitants, Iceland is significantly smaller than the other Nordic countries. This limited size naturally leaves its mark on the size and scope of the news media market in the country. The total supply of professional news media, in terms of the number of independent titles, is significantly smaller in Iceland compared with the rest of the Nordic countries. This is not least true locally, which is also a result of the country’s distinct demographic structure: As we saw in Section 3, a majority proportion – around two thirds – of the Icelandic population lives in and around the capital Reykjavik, which means that the total market base for local journalism, in both absolute and relative terms, is much smaller than in the other Nordic countries. 
The Icelandic news media landscape is dominated at the national level by three actors: a public service company, a commercial broadcaster, and a newspaper company. The state-owned public service broadcaster RÚV broadcasts news on one television channel (RÚV), two radio channels (Rás 1 and Rás 2), and online. 
Iceland’s largest media company is the domestic telecommunications company Sýn, which, through several acquisitions over the past decade, also has become the leading commercial player in the Icelandic news media market. Sýn provides news via the television channel Sýn (which until 2025 was called Stöð 2), the radio channel Bylgjan, and the news website Vísir.is. Sýn is listed on the Icelandic stock exchange. 
The Icelandic daily press has declined significantly in size during the 2000s due to deteriorating economic conditions. At the end of 2025, there was only one national daily newspaper in Iceland – the subscription-based Morgunblaðið, which is published both in print and online. The newspaper is published by the company Árvakur hf., which is owned by national actors and private individuals, several of whom are connected to the country’s fishing industry. Morgunblaðið previously faced competition from the national free newspaper Fréttablaðið, which was distributed free of charge to all Icelandic households; however, due to financial problems, the newspaper was closed down in 2023. The national news market also includes the tabloid DV, with content focused on sensationalist news. Since 2021, DV has been published online only. The newspaper is currently owned by an Icelandic entrepreneur. 
The local news media landscape in Iceland is mainly made up of small locally owned news sites, the largest being Akureyri.net, published in Iceland’s second largest city, Akureyri. The news site is mainly owned by its editor.

Norway 

The Norwegian national news market has long been characterised by a relatively small number of traditional legacy media. This group includes the public service broadcaster NRK, the commercial public service channel TV 2, and the newspapers Aftenposten, Dagbladet, and VG. Since the late 1990s, the legacy outlets have been accompanied in the national news media market by Nettavisen, which is the largest digital-born news provider in the Nordic region. In the commercial radio sector, P4 Norge has established itself as a prominent distributor of news. As in the other Nordic countries, the major actors are complemented by a wide range of niche news outlets, many of which operate primarily in digital formats. 
NRK provides both national and local news across radio, television, and digital platforms. In addition, the organisation operates through 13 district offices. Its television output comprises ten distinct regional news programmes, while radio offers twenty. Commercial broadcasters TV 2 and P4 do not provide regional or local news. 
Local journalism in Norway is anchored in the commercially published daily press. In 2025, Norway had more than 200 subscription-based regional and local newspapers. Most of these are still issued in print, typically with small circulations. Slightly more than half of the titles have a circulation of fewer than 4,000 copies. Alongside the paid-for daily press, there is also a freesheets sector; however, unlike in Denmark and Finland, it plays a less prominent role in the Norwegian market. 
As in the rest of the Nordic region, Norway has seen a trend towards an increasingly consolidated ownership structure at both the national and local levels. Alongside the public service broadcaster NRK, the national news market is dominated by two major actors: Egmont and Schibsted. The Danish company Egmont owns the commercial public service channel TV 2, while Schibsted publishes Aftenposten and VG. Both companies are owned by foundations. In addition, Dagbladet is owned by the Danish firm Aller. Nettavisen is owned by the foundation-owned company Amedia. 
Amedia dominates the local news media market in Norway with 93 local newspaper titles and 8 local news sites. The second largest player, Polaris Media, controls around 70 similarly local titles. Polaris Media is a listed company. 
The various newspapers and companies have also become more closely interconnected through extensive advertising and subscription packages. In Amedia’s case, these packages have been kept within the group, whereas Polaris Media has launched a subscription package in cooperation with Schibsted. Schibsted is the largest shareholder in Polaris. 
In sum, it can be concluded that while the local news media market in Norway is increasingly characterised by a high level of ownership concentration, the national market is in contrast characterised by a relatively high level of competition. 

Sweden 

At the national level, Sweden’s news media market has long been dominated by a small number of traditional legacy media, including the public service broadcasters SVT and SR, the commercial television channel TV4, and the evening newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen. To this group may be added the national dailies Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet, which over the past decade have increasingly oriented themselves towards more in-depth and analytically demanding journalism. Alongside the major actors, the country also hosts a wide range of smaller niche news outlets, most of which distribute their content exclusively in digital form. Unlike in other Nordic countries, Sweden has never had a prominent news provider in the national commercial radio sector. 
Both SR and SVT operate extensive networks of autonomous regional newsrooms in addition to their national editorial offices. In the case of SR, this consists of 25 local stations, and for SVT, 21 local news programmes. For more than a decade, these two public service media companies have been the only radio and television broadcasters in Sweden to provide regional or local news output. 
However, the bulk of regional and local journalism in Sweden is produced by the commercial daily press. In 2025, there were around 115 subscription-based regional and local newspapers. The majority of these continue to appear in print. In several areas – including neighbourhoods in the major cities – there are also advertising-funded local free newspapers (typically published weekly) and local news websites. With a few exceptions, fully advertising-funded local journalism has never become influential in Sweden. 
As elsewhere in the Nordic region, the ownership structure of the Swedish news media market has been shaped by consolidation at both the national and local levels. Alongside the public service companies, which are owned by a foundation, the national news market is dominated by two actors: the Swedish Bonnier Group, which owns Dagens Nyheter and Expressen, and the Norwegian company Schibsted Media, which owns Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet, as well as TV4, acquired from Telia Company in 2025. 
The national Nordic news media markets have increasingly come to be dominated by a limited number of media groups, many of which also have ownership interests in other Nordic countries.
Bonnier has also become by far the largest owner in the local daily newspaper market, which during the 2000s evolved into a set of geographically cohesive regional monopolies. Through a series of acquisitions and alliances over the past decade, Bonnier now controls around 30 subscription-based local newspapers, corresponding to roughly 28 per cent of the Swedish local press market. The local newspapers are linked to Bonnier’s national titles via a digital subscription bundle. 
Alongside Bonnier, the major actors in the local newspaper market include NTM Media, Erna Media (formerly NWT Gruppen), Gota Media, and the Norwegian company Polaris. Together, these four firms own just over 60 regional and local daily newspapers. 

The biggest media owners 

Although the Nordic markets each have their own distinctive features and characteristics, they are all shaped by several common trends. First, news consumption is becoming increasingly digital. Readership of printed newspapers is declining, as is broadcast consumption of radio and television. Second, advertisers are allocating a shrinking share of their budgets to news media and directing more towards non-journalistic platforms, turning digital subscriptions into an increasingly important revenue stream for many commercial news media. Third, size, scalability, and opportunities for coordination are more highly rewarded in the digital media business models than they were in the traditional, analogue ones. Fourth, media companies in the Nordic countries have sought to counter these developments through acquisitions, mergers, and alliances – often cutting across both traditional industry boundaries and national borders. And this is intended to facilitate joint technological development, provide advertisers with a larger and more targeted audience, and offer consumers a broader and more comprehensive range of online editorial content. This development is particularly true of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. 
As shown in the previous section, a common trend in the Nordic media landscape is a development towards ownership concentration with fewer but larger owners. As a result, the national Nordic news media markets have increasingly come to be dominated by a limited number of media groups, many of which also have ownership interests in other Nordic countries. 
The 20 biggest owners of Nordic news media based on total revenue in 2024 are presented in Table 7.1. (We use 2024, as it was the most recent year with annual accounts available when completing this report.) It should be noted that all major owners of news media in the Nordics also operate in other areas of media activity. Whereas some of these companies chose to clearly distinguish their revenues (and costs) from news in their annual financial reports, the majority do not. For this reason, these additional revenue streams – for example, from publishing, film production, and television entertainment – are therefore included in the revenue column presented in the table. 
TABLE 7.1 The 20 biggest owners of news media outlets by total company revenue, 2024
Rank 
Company (domicile) 
Revenue (million EUR) 
Result (million EUR) 
Ownership 
Nordic news operations 
Key news outlets 
(Dec. 2024) 
1 
Telia Company (SE)* 
7,796 
+919 
Publicly listed 
SE, FI 
TV4, MTV 
2 
Egmont (DK) 
2,278 
+102 
Foundation 
NO 
TV 2 Norge 
3 
Albert Bonnier (SE) 
2,090 
+255 
Family 
SE, FI 
Dagens Nyheter, Expressen 
4 
Sanoma (FI) 
1,300 
+180 
Publicly listed 
FI 
Helsingin Sanomat, Ilta-Sanomat 
5 
Schibsted (NO) 
649 
-3 
Foundation 
NO, SE 
VG, Aftonbladet 
6 
DR (DK) 
577 
-65 
State 
DK 
DR1, P1 
7 
NRK (NO) 
574 
-19 
State 
NO 
NRK1, P1 
8 
TV 2 Danmark (DK) 
557 
+45 
State 
DK 
TV 2 News 
9 
JP/Politikens Hus (DK) 
553 
+17 
Foundation 
DK 
Jyllands-Posten, Politiken 
10 
Yle (FI) 
548 
+1 
State 
FI 
TV1, Radio Suomi 
11 
SVT (SE) 
526 
-4 
Foundation (state) 
SE 
SVT1, SVT2 
12 
Aller (DK) 
521 
-3 
Family 
NO 
Dagbladet 
13 
Amedia (NO)** 
344 
+16 
Foundation 
NO, DK, (SE) 
Nettavisen 
14 
Alma Media (FI) 
313 
+73 
Publicly listed 
FI 
Iltalehti 
15 
Polaris Media (NO) 
309 
+3 
Publicly listed 
NO, SE 
Adresseavisen, Göteborgs-Posten 
16 
SR (SE) 
288 
-3 
Foundation (state) 
SE 
P1, P4 
17 
JFM (DK) 
248 
-6 
Foundation 
DK 
Århus Stiftstidende, Radio IIII 
18 
Keskisuomalainen (FI) 
203 
-6 
Publicly listed 
FI 
Keskisuomalainen 
19 
Sýn hf. (IS) 
146 
-4 
Publicly listed 
IS 
Sýn, Vísir.is 
20 
NTM Media (SE) 
105 
+1 
Foundation 
SE 
UNT, Corren 
Comments: The table presents the 20 largest companies with a dominating ownership interest in Nordic news media by total revenue in 2024, the most recent year with annual accounts available when completing this report. The Revenue and Result columns refer to total company revenues and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in million euros 2024, using the average annual exchange rates for that year. The Nordic news operations column lists the Nordic countries in which a company owns a majority (controlling) interest in the national or local news media market, with minority (non-controlling) interests reported in parentheses. *In February 2025, Telia Company sold its broadcasting division (including Swedish TV4 and Finnish MTV) to Schibsted Media. **Amedia’s financial figures for 2024 include revenues from Berglingske Media from 4 December, when the Danish company was acquired.
Source: Annual reports and company websites
Nordic news media are among the most successful in the world in terms of attracting a broad audience. 
For some companies, such as Swedish Telia Company and Danish Egmont, news media activities constituted only a small share of total operations in 2024, whereas for others, such as Albert Bonnier, it accounted for a larger proportion. These three companies were also the largest media enterprises with news operations in the Nordic region in 2024 in terms of total turnover. In 2024, Telia Company reported a turnover of 7.9 billion euros – making it the biggest owner of news media in the Nordics by far – with Egmont and Albert Bonnier reporting turnovers of 2.3 billion and 2.1 billion euros, respectively. Following the sale of its broadcasting division (including Swedish TV4 and Finnish MTV) to Schibsted in 2025, Telia Company has now left the market for news media in the Nordic region. The acquisition (along with the subsequent exit of Telia Company) will possibly elevate Schibsted from position five to three on the list of the largest Nordic news media owners in 2025 (passing Finnish Sanoma at number four). Mergers or acquisitions, such as the one just mentioned, have been the main reason behind all major changes in the size and relative order of the biggest owners of Nordic news media in recent years. 
Among the 20 largest owners of Nordic news operations in 2024, six were based in Denmark and five in Sweden. Finland and Norway were represented with four companies each, and Iceland with one. It is noteworthy that news media outlets with owners from outside the Nordic region are completely absent from the list presented in Table 7.1. The situation looks very different in other parts of the media industry, such as social media, commercial broadcasting, and streaming services, where the presence of non-Nordic ownership is substantial. 
The majority of the 20 companies have their origins in traditional newspaper publishing, such as Polaris Media in Norway and Keskisuomalainen in Finland, and several can trace their roots back to the nineteenth – and in some cases the eighteenth – century. 
The next major group consists of five state-controlled non-commercial public service companies, such as SR in Sweden and DR in Denmark. To these five, one may also add TV 2 Danmark, which is state-owned but operating on commercial grounds, and Norwegian TV 2, which is privately owned but operating with a public service remit. Prominent public service broadcasters – operating on funding or mandates from the national governments – continue to be a defining feature of the Nordic media markets, as is the presence of foundation ownership in the news media sector. A foundation is a self-governed, and typically non-profit, legal entity aimed at working towards a perpetual cause, such as securing the long-term survival of a newspaper or group of newspapers. Six of the 14 largest private owners of news media in the Nordic region were under foundation control in 2024. Six was also the number of companies listed on a stock exchange. The remaining two – Albert Bonnier and Aller – were under family control. This traditional form of private ownership has become increasingly rare in the Nordic news media landscape. 
Of the 14 privately owned companies on the list, the large majority had business operations in more than one country in 2024. But for only five of them, these operations included controlling ownership in national or local news media sectors of another Nordic country. Of these five, three were Norwegian newspaper companies: Schibsted, Amedia, and Polaris Media. This underscores not only the relative prowess of the Norwegian newspaper industry in the digital age, but also a common strategy of the main Norwegian publishers to expand into other Nordic markets. 
An examination of the companies’ profitability shows that most reported positive operating results in 2024. Several of the firms that posted losses (albeit typically small ones) were public service broadcasters, which are not profit-driven in the same way as the commercial part of the industry. Of the remaining companies that reported negative operating results, the relative size of the losses was limited (and in no case exceeding a loss margin of -3% in relations to total revenues). Thus, ten of the 15 largest commercial companies involved in news production in the Nordic region reported positive operating results in 2024. The two most profitable companies, in relative terms, were found in Finland, with Alma Media and Sanoma reporting a profit margin of 23 and 14 per cent, respectively. 

The biggest media outlets 

As we saw in Section 6, the Nordic countries are among the international leaders in terms of the use of news by citizens. Another way of expressing this relationship is that the Nordic news media are among the most successful in the world in terms of attracting a broad audience. This was already true in the pre-digital world, and it is now also true on the Internet. 
This section maps and compares the reach of the largest Nordic news media. Initially, attention is drawn to the reach of the news media online; as we have seen in previous sections, this is where most news consumption in the Nordic countries currently takes place. It then presents the news media with the greatest reach offline, that is, via broadcast or in print. The section concludes with an account of how the largest Nordic news media in terms of national reach compare in a European comparison, online and offline. 
As in Section 6, we rely on data from the Digital News Report 2025, meaning we again do not have access to comparable figures for Iceland. However, the national survey presented in the Icelandic Media Commission’s report Fjölmiðlar og traust 2025 [Media and Trust 2025] included questions about the news habits of the Icelandic population. The results for Iceland presented below come from that study. 
It can already be stated here that the list of Nordic news media that have acquired the greatest reach online continue to also conduct news dissemination in their original channel, whether it is traditional television or radio broadcasts or printed newspapers. Few, if any, of the more influential news media in the Nordic region have completely abandoned their original dissemination channel. Similarly, the influence of news media that have established themselves as purely digital distributors – so-called digital natives – is limited in the Nordic region, at least if we look at the list of news media with the greatest reach online. Even in 2025, around 30 years after the Internet entered the news media market, the Nordic news media sector still have one foot in the analogue media landscape. 

The largest online news media 

In the Digital News Report survey, participants are asked whether they have read news from several named news media outlets in the past week. The question applies to both online and traditional media channels. Based on these answers, the total reach, online and offline, is then calculated for each individual news media outlet. Reach is thus the percentage of the adult population (18+ years old) who have taken part of news from the outlet in the past seven days. 
The results for online news media reach in the four Nordic countries are presented in Table 7.2. As is often the case in Nordic contexts, the news media outlets have been divided based on their form of financing, traditional form of distribution, and content profile. Although this division of the news media market has its origins in the pre-digital media landscape of the twentieth century, the results indicate that such a traditional division continues to be relevant in the 2020s, for it reveals several systematic patterns that go across Nordic national borders.
TABLE 7.2 News media with the highest online reach by category, 2025 (per cent)
Category 
Outlet/Country 
% 
National tabloids 
VG (NO) 
61 
Ilta-Sanomat (FI) 
60 
Iltalehti (FI) 
55 
Aftonbladet (SE) 
44 
Dagbladet (NO) 
34 
Expressen (SE) 
31 
Extra Bladet (DK) 
29 
BT (DK) 
24 
Public service media 
NRK (NO) 
51 
DR (DK) 
46 
Yle (FI) 
41 
SVT (SE) 
37 
SR (SE) 
13 
Commercial television 
TV 2 Danmark* (DK) 
49 
TV 2 (NO) 
38 
MTV (FI) 
25 
TV4 (SE) 
21 
National press 
Helsingin Sanomat (FI) 
29 
Aftenposten (NO) 
17 
Dagens Nyheter (SE) 
16 
Svenska Dagbladet (SE) 
10 
Politiken (DK) 
9 
Berlingske (DK) 
9 
Regional/local press 
Norway 
27 
Sweden 
18 
Finland 
13 
Denmark 
9 
Digital natives 
Nettavisen (NO) 
27 
Nyheter 24 (SE) 
13 
Uusi Suomi (FI) 
6 
Avisen (DK) 
5 
Comments: The table reports the weekly online reach in the adult population (18+ years) for domestic news media divided into six categories: National tabloids [also called evening press]; Public service media; Commercial television; National press [also called morning press]; Digital natives; and Regional/local press. The table reports the news media in 2025 that had high reach within each category and country. Since the Digital News Report is conducted online, only the part of the population that uses the Internet is included in the data. Iceland has not been included in the survey. *Includes TV 2 regions.
Source: Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 (Newman et al., 2025)
If we sort the Nordic news media that had the highest digital reach among the population in 2025, two categories are at the top: first, national tabloids, or evening newspapers, and second, national public service media. The results are interesting, because on the one hand, they are a category of media that is financed entirely (or mainly) through public funds and without a profit motive, and on the other, they are news media that have often been considered the most commercial. As reported in Section 6, public service media enjoys significantly higher trust among citizens than is the case with the tabloid press. However, what these seemingly disparate categories of news media have in common is that they provide all (or at least most of) their content online for free, and that they already had a high reach among Nordic media users before digitalisation – a position they have successfully maintained in the digital environment. 
But there are also differences between the Nordic countries. When it comes to tabloid press, the dense layer consists of the Norwegian VG (with a reach of 61%) and the Finnish Ilta-Sanomat (60%) and Iltalehti (55%). These are also the three news media outlets with the highest online reach overall in the Nordics in 2025. The largest Swedish tabloid, Aftonbladet – which also had the highest online reach overall in Sweden – was, by comparison, a bit behind (44%). The Danish equivalent, Extra Bladet, was found at a significantly lower level (29%). 
Norway is also at the top when it comes to public service media. With a reach of 51 per cent, NRK was the single largest public service media outlet in terms of impact for its digital news reporting in 2025. This was followed by DR (46%), Yle (41%), and SVT (37%). Sweden’s other public service broadcaster, SR – whose remit, also online, is primarily focused on audio – was, by comparison, significantly behind the other Nordic public service broadcasters in terms of reach for its online news coverage (13%). 
The third largest category in terms of online news reach is commercial television companies. Like both the public service media and tabloid categories, these are media with a well-established relationship with the news audience from the pre-digital era and which also communicate their content completely freely to their audiences online. But even in this category there are significant differences between the Nordic countries. By far the highest reach for its digital news coverage online is that of Danish TV 2 (49%), more than double that of Swedish TV4 (21%); Norwegian TV 2 (38%), and Finnish MTV (25%) were in between. Danish TV 2 stands out here in two ways: Not only is TV 2 the only commercial broadcaster with a higher online news reach than its public service competitor, it is also the only commercial broadcaster in the Nordic region to take first place overall in terms of national digital reach. In Finland, Norway, and Sweden, public service media is significantly ahead of its commercial competitors in terms of the size of the digital news audience.
This brings us to the national and local daily press. Unlike public service media, which is financed by public funds, and tabloid press and commercial television, whose online operations are mainly financed by advertising revenue, the digital business model of the daily press is based largely on revenue from subscription sales. As a result, all or most of the daily press’s digital content is locked into subscription services that only paying users have access to. These are circumstances that must be considered when assessing the comparatively low online reach of the daily press. 
When it comes to the national daily press, the Finnish Helsingin Sanomat, with a reach of 29 per cent in 2025, has been by far the most successful in attracting a digital news audience. Their Norwegian, Swedish, and especially Danish counterparts are relatively far behind. For the generic category of regional and local press, Norway, with a reach of 27 per cent, stands out. In this case too, Denmark lags behind its Nordic neighbours. The results clearly reflect that the Norwegian daily press, especially the local press, has taken a world-leading position in terms of its ability to sell its journalism online (see Section 6). But in Norway, too, the absolute majority, or around three out of four, of the adult population in 2025 responded that they had not taken part in the local press’s digital journalism online – at least not in the past week. 
The final category of digital news media in Table 7.2 includes digital natives – that is, news media that were started as digital products and that are published exclusively online. This is a relatively heterogeneous category, both in terms of content profiles and forms of financing. But, as with the national press, there is one individual news media outlet that stands out in a Nordic comparison: Norwegian Nettavisen, which in 2025 had a reach of 27 per cent. No other Nordic news media in this category has more than a weekly reach of 13 per cent. These results clearly indicate that the digital Nordic news media landscape, at least at the national level, is to a large extent dominated by news media from the pre-digital era – that is, media that are often referred to as legacy media. 
Finally, when it comes to Iceland, there are no current measurements of the weekly reach of individual digital news media. However, the Fjölmiðlar og traust [Media and Trust] survey from 2024 included a question about which domestic media outlets respondents usually use for news, online and offline (see Table 7.3). Although the results are not directly comparable with the Digital News Report due to the different wording of the questions, it is still possible to compare the overall patterns when it comes to the reach of digital news media. 
Public service media enjoys significantly higher trust among citizens than is the case with the tabloid press.
TABLE 7.3 The most used digital news media in Iceland, 2024 (per cent)
News media 
Reach 
Vísir.is 
78 
Mbl.is 
68 
Rúv.is 
61 
Dv.is 
23 
Akureyri.net 
23 
Comments: The results come from a national survey of the adult population (18+ years old) in Iceland conducted via a web panel (Maskína) in December 2024. The table shows the proportion of respondents who stated that they usually use various digital media for news.
Source: Media and Trust 2025 (Brynjarsson et al., 2025)
The results of the survey shows that there are three players that dominate digital news consumption at the national level in Iceland. In 2024, 78 per cent of the respondents stated that they usually received news from the private Sýn’s digital news service Vísir.is. This was followed by the news sites of the daily newspaper Morgunblaðið and the public service broadcaster RÚV, both of which regularly reached over 60 per cent of the Icelandic population. Of these three news media, Sýn’s and RÚV’s digital news are completely free, with Morgunblaðið’s digital content largely behind a paywall. 
Significantly fewer, around one in four, said that they regularly received news from the digital tabloid DV in 2024. About the same number received news from Akureyri.net, the largest local news service in Iceland. 
Overall, the results from the Icelandic survey indicate that the major news media in Iceland have a very high reach digitally.

The largest news media offline 

This brings us to the reach of the largest news media offline. The results, presented in Table 7.4, show both similarities and differences with the situation online. 
An important difference concerns the public service media and the commercial television companies, which in all cases had a higher reach offline compared to online in 2025. The reverse situation applies to print media, particularly the tabloid press, where the offline reach was, with a few exceptions, significantly lower than it was online. This outcome is a result of the extensive decline in sales of printed newspapers that has been ongoing throughout the 2000s in the Nordic countries – at the same time as the decline in the reach of news via broadcast television and radio has been less dramatic, at least if we look at the usage patterns of the adult population as a whole. 
TABLE 7.4 News media with the highest offline reach by category, 2025 (per cent)
Category 
Outlet/Country 
% 
Public service media 
Yle (FI) 
63 
DR (DK) 
60 
NRK (NO) 
56 
SVT (SE) 
51 
SR (SE) 
33 
Commercial television 
TV 2 Danmark* (DK) 
52 
MTV (FI) 
51 
TV4 (SE) 
46 
TV 2 (NO) 
43 
National tabloids 
VG (NO) 
32 
Ilta-Sanomat (FI) 
17 
Iltalehti (FI) 
17 
Aftonbladet (SE) 
16 
Expressen (SE) 
11 
Dagbladet (NO) 
10 
Ekstra Bladet (DK) 
8 
Regional/local press 
Finland, local freesheets 
22 
Sweden 
20 
Norway 
16 
Denmark, local freesheets 
15 
Finland 
12 
Denmark 
8 
National press 
Helsingin Sanomat (FI) 
13 
Aftenposten (NO) 
9 
Dagens Nyheter (SE) 
9 
Svenska Dagbladet (SE) 
6 
Berlingske (DK) 
5 
Politiken (DK) 
4 
Jyllands-Posten (DK) 
4 
Comments: The table shows the weekly offline reach (i.e., print or broadcast) in the adult population (18+ years) for domestic news media divided into five categories: Public service media; Commercial television; National tabloids (also called evening press); National press (also called morning press); and Regional/local press. The table shows the news media in 2025 that had high reach within each category and country. Since the Digital News Report is conducted online, only the part of the population that uses the Internet is included in the data. Iceland has not been included in the survey. *The offline reach of the TV 2 regions was 26 per cent.
Source: Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 (Newman et al., 2025)
When it comes to the reach of public service media’s news distribution offline, the order of precedence is somewhat different when compared with online reach. Here, the 2025 list was topped by Yle (63%), followed by DR (60%) and NRK (56%). The Finnish, Danish, and Norwegian public service media companies distribute news offline via both television and radio. In Sweden, the public service mandates for these distribution techniques are divided between two companies, which may help to explain why SVT (51%) and SR (33%) have a lower reach than their Nordic counterparts. 
For the commercial television channels, the offline reach was consistently at a lower level compared with their respective public service competitors. The highest offline reach (52%) was achieved by Danish TV 2, which was thus the largest among the commercial channels also in broadcast. However, all four commercial Nordic television channels were collectively in the range of 43–52 per cent. In this context, it can also be mentioned that the reach of news via commercial radio was generally limited in all four Nordic countries. In sharp contrast to the Nordic television markets, an independent national news operation has proven to be less commercially viable in radio, whose offering has instead come to be dominated by light entertainment and popular music.
In terms of reach for tabloid newspapers, the relative ranking in the Nordic region was the same as online, albeit at significantly lower levels. At the top was VG (32%), followed by Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti (both 17%) and Aftonbladet (16%). Within the national press, print reach was even lower. Of all nationally distributed daily newspapers in the Nordic region, only Helsingin Sanomat (13%) reached at least 10 per cent of the adult population on a weekly basis in 2025. 
This brings us to the regional and local press, where the relative size ratios between online and offline reach showed the most diverse patterns in 2025. This is at least partly a result of the relatively different structure of these markets in terms of supply, publication frequency, and financing models in the Nordic countries. In terms of reach for subscribed regional or local newspapers, Sweden topped the list (20%), followed by Norway (16%), Finland (12%), and lastly Denmark (8%). Most notable in this result is that the Norwegian local press, unlike those in the other three countries, had a significantly lower reach in print compared with online (see also Table 7.2). For Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, the differences between offline and online were very small, albeit at different levels. These results can be seen as yet another sign that the Norwegian local press has come further than its Nordic counterparts in the transition of its print readership to an online audience. 
Unlike Norway, and to some extent also Sweden, in Finland and Denmark, in addition to the subscription printed press, there is a relatively large range of local free newspapers that are freely distributed to households. In 2025, these newspapers had a combined reach of 22 and 15 per cent respectively in Finland and Denmark, which in both cases was significantly higher than the subscription local press. 
In Iceland, about half of the adult population stated that they used to access the public service broadcaster RÚV’s news broadcast via radio or television in 2024. This makes RÚV the dominant player when it comes to offline news in Iceland (see Table 7.5). In comparison, the commercial competitor Vísir’s news programmes on television and radio reached one in three Icelanders, while the printed daily newspaper Morgunblaðið reached one in five. As mentioned, Morgunblaðið is today the only remaining printed national daily newspaper in Iceland.
TABLE 7.5 Most used offline news media in Iceland, 2024 (per cent)
Brand 
Reach 
RÚV (television/radio) 
52 
Vísir (television /radio) 
34 
Morgunblaðið (print) 
19 
Comments: The results come from a national survey of the adult population (18+ years old) in Iceland conducted via a web panel (Maskína) in December 2024. The table shows the proportion of respondents who indicated that they usually use various offline media (i.e., print or broadcast) for news.
Source: Media and Trust 2025 (Brynjarsson et al., 2025)
As with the reach of online news in Iceland, these results come from the survey Fjölmiðlar og traust 2025 [Media and trust 2025]. In comparison with these results, it is clear that the major Icelandic media today reach the majority of their news audience via their digital channels. This also applies to the public service broadcaster RÚV. 

Nordic news media in a European comparison 

The data collection for the Digital News Report 2025 was carried out in the same way and at the same time in about 40 countries, 24 of which were in Europe. The opportunity to compare the reach of the Nordic news media with those from the rest of Europe contributes to a deeper understanding of the position of news journalism, online and offline, in today’s Nordic societies. 
In several places in this report, examples have been given of how far the Nordic news media have come in the digital transformation in relation to how things are in the rest of Europe. Another such example is offered by Table 7.6, which reports the ten European news media that had the highest domestic reach, online and offline. 
The opportunity to compare the reach of the Nordic news media with those from the rest of Europe contributes to a deeper understanding of the position of news journalism, online and offline, in today’s Nordic societies.
TABLE 7.6 News media with the highest reach in Europe, 2025 (per cent)
Online
Offline
Rank 
Brand 
Reach
Rank 
Brand 
Reach
1 
VG (NO) 
61
1 
Yle (FI) 
63
2 
Ilta-Sanomat (FI) 
60
2 
ORF (AT) 
63
3 
Iltalehti (FI) 
55
3 
DR (DK) 
60
4 
NRK (NO) 
51
4 
NovaTV (BG) 
60
5 
TV 2 Danmark (DK) 
49
5 
NRK (NO) 
56
6 
Index.hr (HR) 
49
6 
SRF (CH) 
56
7 
20 Minutes (CH) 
47
7 
RTÉ (IE) 
55
8 
BBC (UK) 
47
8 
SIC (PT) 
55
9 
DR (DK) 
46
9 
BTV (BG) 
54
10 
Aftonbladet (SE) 
44
10 
NOS (NL) 
54
Comments: The table shows the European news media with the highest domestic weekly reach, online and offline (i.e., print or broadcast), among the adult population (18+ years old) in 2025. The results refer to the 24 European countries included in the survey. As the Digital News Report is conducted online, only the part of the population that uses the Internet is included in the data. Iceland is not included in the survey.
Source: Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 (Newman et al., 2025) 
In 2025, the Nordic region accounted for the five European news outlets with the highest digital reach in the European part of the study. This means that Norwegian VG had the highest digital reach, not only among the Nordic news outlets, but among all news outlets from the 24 European countries included in survey. Overall, seven out of ten news outlets in the European top-ten list came from Denmark, Finland, Norway, or Sweden. Among the non-Nordic news outlets that made it to the top-list online was the BBC, the world’s oldest and probably best-known public service broadcaster. In 2025, the BBC’s online reach in the UK was on par with DR’s digital reach in Denmark and ranked eighth overall in Europe. 
Also in terms of offline reach in 2025, a Nordic news medium topped the list in Europe: Finnish Yle. Danish DR was in third place, and Norwegian NRK in fifth place. DR and NRK were thus the only news media to be in the top-ten list both online and offline. Otherwise, the European top-list for offline reach consisted of non-Nordic players, all active in broadcast. Although the Nordic public service companies in particular still occupy a prominent position in broadcast, also from a European perspective, the Nordic dominance in the news media market is not nearly as noticeable offline as it has become online.
Although the Nordic public service companies in particular still occupy a prominent position in broadcast, also from a European perspective, the Nordic dominance in the news media market is not nearly as noticeable offline as it has become online.

Summary 

The purpose of this section has been to make a comparative characterisation of the structure of the Nordic news media landscape, focusing on the main features, the largest owners, and the biggest outlets in each of the five markets. The section has built on data gathered from annual reports and corporate websites, along with results from the Digital News Report 2025 and the Icelandic Fjölmiðlar og traust 2025 [Media and trust 2025] report. 
This section has shown professional news journalism across the five Nordic countries is still largely organised around legacy institutions: public service media and national commercial broadcasters, national newspapers, and regional and local subscription newspapers. These actors now operate on multiple platforms (broadcast, print, and a broad range of digital channels: websites, apps, e-papers, newsletters, podcasts, and social media) and are complemented everywhere by a layer of niche and digital-born outlets. 
Generally, digitalisation – and its resulting changes in both audience and advertiser patterns – has transformed the Nordic news media markets more on the ownership side than on the outlet side: Long-standing brand names still dominate the supply of news, but ownership has consolidated, sometimes across national borders. As a result, the Nordic news markets are dominated by a relatively small number of large media companies. 
When listing the 20 largest owners of news media in the Nordic region by total revenue (2024), a few conditions stand out: 
  • There are no major non-Nordic owners of news media in the region, in stark contrast to other media sectors such as social media, streaming, and commercial entertainment television. 
  • Many of the dominating owners have their roots in traditional newspaper publishing, often going back to the nineteenth century or earlier (e.g., Bonnier, Egmont, Schibsted, Sanoma). 
  • A significant share of the largest private owners of Nordic news media is foundation-controlled (e.g., Schibsted, JP/Politikens Hus, Amedia), representing a distinct organisational feature of the Nordic news media landscape. 
  • Six state-controlled public service media companies are among the 20 biggest owners, underlining the enduring importance of public service in the Nordic news media landscape. 
  • Profitability is generally sound: Most large commercial owners of news media reported positive operating results in 2024, with particularly strong margins for Finnish listed media companies Alma Media and Sanoma. 
  • Cross-border expansion is visible, but controlling ownership in other Nordic news markets is still limited to a handful of firms, notably Norwegian newspaper groups (Schibsted, Amedia, Polaris), underscoring the comparative strength and outward expansion of Norway’s newspaper industry in the digital era. 
As for the outlet level, all Nordic countries are characterised by high levels of news use and by the continued dominance of legacy brands online, with the following common patterns appearing: 
  • Online, the top brands are mainly legacy outlets that still operate in their original channels (print or broadcast). Very few leading outlets are digital-only, with the striking exception of Nettavisen in Norway. 
  • Two categories dominate digital reach: national tabloids/evening papers and public service outlets. 
  • The reach of offline news among Nordic news media audiences has declined significantly, but decidedly more so in print than in broadcast. 
  • The local and regional news media sector has significantly lower online reach than the national sector, and the continued dependence on print revenues for many local and regional news outlets remains significant.
In a European comparison, the Nordic news media sectors are exceptionally strong, especially online.
In a European comparison, the Nordic news media sectors are exceptionally strong, especially online: The five European news brands with the highest online reach in the adult population in the Digital News Report 2025 were all Nordic (VG, Ilta-Sanomat, Iltalehti, NRK, TV 2 Danmark), with the Norwegian tabloid VG topping Europe overall. Offline, Finnish public service broadcaster Yle led Europe in reach, with Danish DR and Norwegian NRK also on the top-ten list. 
National market patterns established in the twentieth century still make their mark, however, giving each of the five national news media landscapes some distinct structural features also in the digital era: 
  • Denmark is characterised by the comparatively strong position – both online and offline – of their two public service broadcasters combined with a newspaper sector (still) predominantly funded by advertising rather than audience revenues, especially on the local level in the form of weekly freesheets.
  • Finland enjoys a comparatively high reach of offline news media and a strong newspaper sector – on both the national and regional levels – with the highest presence of stock market ownership in all five Nordic news media markets.
  • Iceland differs in that the news media sector has contracted significantly over time, primarily because of the financial hardships facing small media markets, but which nonetheless has high levels of digital reach for the few dominating news outlets.
  • Norway has a digitally prolific and highly competitive national news media sector, combined with a wide array of small and predominantly subscription-funded local newspapers operating within a highly consolidated ownership structure.
  • Sweden stands apart from its Nordic counterparts in that the national news media sector is generally reporting lower audience reach – both online and offline – on the outlet level, with the local news media sector being increasingly dominated by the Bonnier group.
NORDIC NEWS MEDIA LANDSCAPES 2025 | NORDICOM
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