In 2015, five media companies, all Nordic, reached a turnover of one billion euros on the Nordic markets. The largest by far is the Swedish Bonnier group, followed by Norway's Schibsted Media Group and the Swedish Stenbeck sphere (MTG/Viasat).
In a new proposal, the European Commission suggests identical rules for value-added tax (VAT) on print and digital papers and books. Norway abolished VAT on digital news in March this year, but what is the situation in the other Nordic countries? Nordicom has mapped the VAT rates for the media sectors in the five Nordic countries.
The number of Norwegian newspapers with paywalls for online content more than doubled last year. A report on the Norwegian newspaper year 2015 (Avisåret 2015) shows how the newspapers gain new revenues by introducing online payment models, more user-friendly e-papers, and new types of digital subscriptions.
Five Nordic media companies are significantly larger than the other players on the market, with Swedish media group Bonnier remaining the largest media company in the region. The distance down to Finnish Sanoma, in second place, is nonetheless smaller than before. The most profitable media company among the 25 largest Nordic media groups is the Swedish telecom company Com Hem.
Television viewing is becoming more and more fragmented, but the largest proportion of linear TV viewing is still concentrated to the major TV companies. This is shown in Nordicom’s compilations of audience data from the Nordic countries in 2014.
Comcast, Google and Disney are the largest media corporations in the world, according to the list of the 65 largest media corporations, compiled by the German research institute Institut für Medien- und Kommunikationspolitik. Bonnier, from Sweden, is the only Nordic corporation on the list, ranking 57.
2014 was a record-breaking year for Nordvision. Collaboration for children’s programmes in particular increased, according to Nordvision’s annual report for 2014/2015.
Five Nordic media companies are significantly larger than the other players on the market. At the top is Swedish Bonnier, with revenues of 50% more than Finnish Sanoma, which ranks second. Most profitable, however, are some TV distribution companies. This is shown in Nordicom’s list of the 25 largest Nordic media companies in 2013.
The Swedish Broadcasting Authority's annual report Media Development 2014 describes the Swedish media market with a focus on media consumption, industry structure and regulation.
The Swedish Bonnier Group ranks 40 among the world's 50 largest media companies, according to a ranking list provided by The Institute of Media and Communications Policy in Germany.
