Media reports

Find current research findings, industry reports, and facts and figures on media trends in the Nordics, Europe, and globally from 2022.

If you wish to access our media report archive, please contact info@nordicom.gu.se.

May 2023

Europe:The European Media Industry Outlook – report from The European Commission

The European Media Industry Outlook is a European Commission report aiming to explore media trends and analyse their potential impact in the EU media markets. It looks into three media sectors (audiovisual, news media and video games), providing market overviews, technology trends and emerging production and consumption patterns at EU 27 level. [May 2023] 

April 2023

Reading tips. Newsletter from RQ1: Audience loyalty may not be what we think

The Nordics: A Nordic approach to democratic debate in the age of Big Tech – report from Nordic Council of Ministers

A Nordic approach to democratic debate in the age of Big Tech: Recommendations from the Nordic Think Tank for Tech and Democracy. [April 2023] 

March 2023

USA: Funding news: How Gen Z and Millennials pay for or donate to news – report from The Media Insight Project

This report, based on a representative sample of nearly 6,000 news consumers 16 to 40 years old, examines in detail who among these audiences pay for or donate to news, how these payers or donors get news, and what topics or interests drive that behavior. 

Europe: Women in European TV/SVOD fiction: slow progress, but still big disparities for female directors, cinematographers and composers  – report från European Audiovisual Observatory

The report analyses the composition of key positions in over 50 000 TV/SVOD fiction films and series episodes produced between 2015 and 2021: directors, writers, producers, directors of photography, composers and lead roles. 

February 2023

Global: Where did Facebook’s funding for journalism really go?

The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) has reviewed, via the Tow Center, how Facebook's and Google's support programs have developed.

EU: Video sharing platforms in Europe: how do we regulate online advertising and protect ourselves from harmful & illegal content? - two reports from European Audiovisual Observatory

The reports explore how the various European countries have adapted their audiovisual legislation to face up to the online challenges of video sharing platforms. [Feb 2023]

January 2023

EU: Study on the impact of recent developments in digital advertising on privacy, publishers and advertisers

This study has collated evidence which on balance indicates a strong case to reform digital advertising. [Jan 2023] 

Finland: TV viewing in 2022 / TV-vuosi 2023

Finnpanel's basic annual TV statistics. The report shows that in 2022  Finns watched TV, streaming and video services for 3 hours and 37 minutes every day. [Jan 2023] 

Global: Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2023 – report from Reuters Institute 

This survey with 303 news leaders including editors, chief executives and digital leaders across 53 countries gives insights into what 2023 has in store. [Jan 2023]

Europe: The proposal for a European Media Freedom Act – report from European Audiovisual Observatory

The European Commission considers that there is a need for more EU legislation in the media field, and has therefore proposed an EU Regulation, the so-called European Media Freedom Act (EMFA). This publication presents the main lines of the EMFA proposal. [Jan 2023]

EU27: Audiovisual media services in Europe - 2022 edition – rapport från European Audiovisual Observatory

To map the ever-changing European audiovisual sector the European Audiovisual Observatory, part of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, has published a new edition of its annual report on TV channels and on-demand services in Europe. [Jan 2023]

Finland: Online Harassment and Hate Among Media Professionals: Reactions to One’s Own and Others’ Victimization – article in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly

This study investigated the experiences of Finnish media professionals with online harassment. Participants (N = 695) answered a survey including questions concerning their experiences with online harassment and a survey experiment involving a death threat received by someone else. Results showed that closeness to the victim was associated with increased anxiety levels, but it did not affect countermeasures recommendations for the victim. Victims’ reactions depended on their visibility in the public sphere and on the frequency and severity of the harassment. The results demonstrate that online harassment is prevalent among media professionals and that prevention and intervention are crucial. [Jan 2023]

December 2022

Europe: User empowerment against disinformation online – new report from the European Audiovisual Observatory

This report describes the many ways in which public authorities and private enterprises empower users against disinformation online.  This user empowerment can be achieved through a variety of tools, such as media literacy campaigns, content labelling by online platforms, the possibility for users to flag disinformation, the promotion of reliable information, safe design practices, and transparent appeal mechanisms [Dec 2022]

Global: Reporters without borders – Annual report

Reporters Without Borders has published its annual report on the persecution of journalists worldwide. The report contains overviews of jailed, killed, kidnapped and missing journalists, and it looks in to which countries are the worst. This year's report shows that the number of journalists killed has risen, after two years of lower figures. [Dec 2022]

November 2022

Europe: VOD Trends in Europe – new report from the European Audiovisual Observatory

This report takes a closer look at the evolution of the subscription video on demand (SVOD), transactional video on demand (TVOD) and advertising-financed/broadcaster video on demand (AVOD/BVOD) markets in EU27 and their impact on the traditional audiovisual market on the segments in which they are competing for revenues and consumers’ attention. The data covers the timeframe 2010-2020 and therefore includes UK data as pre-Brexit statistics. [Nov 2022]

Scandinavia: Digital Consumer Trends 2022 – new report from Deloitte

The Scandinavian ’cut’ of Deloitte’s 2022 Digital Consumer Trends, an annual survey of 4,000 consumers in Sweden, Norway and Denmark as part of a more extensive global survey. Deloitte has been sharing these insights for 12 years. Every year, the report dives into different topics that unveil the most important consumer trends in today’s digital world. This year, the Scandinavian ‘cut’ dives into streaming, purchasing habits, gaming, data privacy and smartphone usage. [Nov 2022]

October 2022

Europe: Trust in the media 2022 – new report from EBU

Citizens of the Nordic states express the highest levels of trust in information provided by their national media. This is shown in Trust in Media 2022, in which EBU explores Europeans’ trust in media and news, based on data from the EU Commission's Standard Eurobarometer survey no. 96 and Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2022. Other results show a trust gap between legacy and online media among EU citizens. The most trusted medium in Europe is radio, while social media are trusted the least across most of Europe. The report and the dataset are available for free download after creating a free login for EBU’s website (anyone can sign up). [Oct 2022]

August 2022

EU: The Media Pluralism Monitor 2022 (incl. Denmark, Finland, Sweden)

The Media Pluralism Monitor 2022 examines the risks of media pluralism in 32 European countries. Four areas are assessed: fundamental protection for the media, market plurality, political independence, and social inclusiveness. For the three Nordic countries in the survey – Denmark, Finland and Sweden – the largest risk of media pluralism is linked to market plurality, due to high concentration of media ownership. Showing low risks in the other areas, Sweden and Denmark rank number two and three in a general country comparison. Finland, where political independence and social inclusiveness score medium risk, ranks eleven. The Media Pluralism Monitor is conducted by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF), supported by the European Commission. [Aug 2022]

June 2022

Finland: Uutismedia verkossa 2022 –  digital news consumption

This report in Finnish analyses digital news consumption in Finland, based on the global study Digital News Report 2022 from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (see below). Data show that the percentage of Finns that trust the news continued its growth (from 65% in 2021 to 69% in 2022), while in many other countries, the trust in the news was in decline. The Finnish report is published by researchers at the COMET Research Center of the University of Tampere. [June 2022] 

Global: Digital News Report 2022 – Norway leads in paying for online news, Finland in trust in the news

The Reuters Institute's 2022 Digital News Report compares digital news consumption among the online population in 46 countries. Among the results: trust in news is down in almost half the countries; people who subscribe to news are more likely to subscribe to other services and vice versa; and there are signs that growth in share of people paying for news online may be levelling off. As for the Nordic countries they still stand out as the most willing to pay for online news: Norway (41%, down from 45% in 2021) and Sweden (33%, up from 30%) top the league. Finland still has the highest overall trust in the news (69%, up from 65%). [June 2022]

Europe: Strong growth in digital ad market, new IAB study shows

The European digital advertising market has recovered from the challenges and impact of COVID-19. In 2021, the market grew by over 30%, with audio and video showing the strongest growth. This is according to the AdEx Benchmark 2021 Report from IAB Europe, the European-level industry association for digital advertising. The report covers 28 markets, including Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. [June 2022]

May 2022

Europe: New EBU report maps the largest players on the AV-market

Aiming to map the competitive environment for public service media, a new EBU report takes a look at the financial performance and business models of the biggest commercial groups on the European media market. In focus are four categories of players: global tech giants, non-European media conglomerates, European media groups and European telecom operators. A public version of the report is available for free download after creating a free login for EBU’s website. [May 2022]

EU: Eurobarometer on media trust and usage

New data are available on EU citizens' trust in and use of different media. The data, covering the period January–February 2022, are presented in the Eurobarometer, the European Commission's recurring survey on citizens' attitudes towards the EU and various societal issues. Media data for each country is presented in the Data Annex and in the Open Data Portal (QA6a = media trust, QD3 = media usage). [May 2022]

World Press Freedom Index 2022

Reporters Without Borders has published its annual index of the press freedom situation in 180 countries. For the sixth year running, Norway is ranked the world’s best on press freedom. Denmark takes the second position, Sweden the third, and Finland the fifth position. Iceland is ranked number 15. Globally, the index shows an increasing polarisation, amplified by an information chaos of fake news and propaganda. And never before has the situation for press freedom been classified as “very bad” in so many countries. [May 2022]

April 2022

European Media Legislation: Overview

This report analyses the major milestones in European media policies and legislation in the period from 1990–2020, from the audiovisual age to the current platform age. The report also explores the effect of the policies in terms of Europeanisation of the media market. The analyse is conducted by researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut for the project EUMEPLAT – European Media Platforms. [April 2022]

Global: Democracy Report shows declining media freedom

The threat to freedom of expression and media intensifies. During 2021, a record of 35 countries suffered significant deteriorations in freedom of expression at the hands of governments – an increase from only 5 countries 10 years ago. This is reported in the Democracy Report 2022, the sixth annual report from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, which produces a global dataset on democracy covering 202 countries. [April 2022]

Norway:  Norwegian Media Barometer 2021 – new data on media usage

In 2021, seven of ten Norwegians read a newspaper on paper or online on a daily basis (same level as in 2020). More than half (53%) of the population had access to a newspaper subscription, and it grew more common to subscribe to online newspapers (up from 29% to 36%) than print papers (down from 33% to 29%). The share subscribing to streaming services was 74%. This is shown in the annual media use survey from Statistics Norway. [April 2021]

March 2022

Finland: The use of digital media in 2021

An article from Statistics Finland analyses how the Covid-19 pandemic affected the use of digital media (streaming services, podcasts, audiobooks, digital news and social media) in 2020 and 2021. The results are based on Statistics Finland's annual survey on the use of information and communication technology in the population aged 16–89 years. The article is published on Statistics Finland's expert blog. [March 2022]

Finland: Children's and young people's reading habits over time

Reading books and writing long texts have decreased among children and young people during the 2000s. At the same time, the increasing use of digital media requires a new kind of multifaceted literacy. These are some of the findings in an article about young Finns' reading and changes over time. The article is published on Statistics Finland's expert blog. [March 2022]

Denmark: Media Development 2021 – about Danes' use of electronic media

The annual report on the use of electronic media (TV, radio, streaming etc.) in Denmark from the DR Audience Research Department is now available in English. Findings show that despite coronavirus-related reopenings and lockdowns, Danes spend about as much time on media in 2021 as in 2020: roughly 7 hours every day. But the way we watch, listen and interact with the media is gradually changing. [March 2022]

Europe: Funding of public service media

A report from EBU on the funding of public service media (PSM) across Europe shows a drop in revenues, exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis. In 2020, on average, citizens living in the EBU area paid EUR 0.10 per day to finance PSM in their respective countries. PSM is also among the top 3 trusted news brands in 73 per cent of European markets. A public report and infographics are available for free download after creating a free login for EBU’s website (anyone can sign up). [March 2022]

UNESCO report: World trends in freedom of expression and media development

Independent journalism is in peril. The safety of journalists is decreasing and the pandemic has had a negative impact on press freedom worldwide, shows a new UNESCO report. In 98 out of 144 countries, the pandemic has been used as an excuse to restrict press freedom. This reinforces an already negative trend, where the scope for quality journalism decreases as global tech giants take an increasing share of traditional media's ad revenues. [March 2022]

Finland: Road to freedom: News media breaking free from Silicon Valley's grip

In what ways are the Finnish news media dependent on the global tech giants? What are the consequences? Can the news media survive? In this report, a Finnish research team examines the dependence between the tech giants and the news media. They picture the current situation for the news media in Finland, how the news media perceive the global giants' impact on journalism and define three scenarios for 2030 – including one where things have become worse, one with the situation unchanged and one where the media through digital strategies, cooperation and knowledge exchange have reduced their dependence on the global giants. [March 2022]

The Nordics: Nordvision sets new record for Nordic drama collaboration

Nordvision's 2021 annual report shows a new record for co-productions between Nordic public service companies. The joint productions are dominated by content for children and young adults and drama production. The first year of the Barn14 partnership (B14) – the Nordic partners’ joint collaboration on children’s drama – resulted in 24 separate children’s series. [March 2022]

Europe: Media regulatory authorities and the challenges of cooperation

This report examines the challenges facing National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) in their mission to regulate, monitor and, where necessary, sanction media activity in Europe. It also asks how cooperation between NRAs, and between cross-sectoral regulators, can meet challenges related to the digital space, such as access to and collection of data, election regulation and targeted online political advertising. The report is published by the European Audiovisual Observatory in cooperation with the European Platform for Regulatory Authorities. [March 2022]

February 2022

UNESCO report: ReShaping policies for creativity, Addressing culture as a global public good

This global report describes the development of cultural policy, public service media, media pluralism, gender equality and freedom of expression. It is the third report in a series, designed to monitor the implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. [Feb 2022]

Iceland: Media revenue in 2020

Between 2019 and 2020, total media revenue in Iceland declined by 6 per cent in real prices. The total revenue of the media was ISK 25,100 million, of which the largest amount was derived from user payments (ISK 15,800 million), compared with revenues from advertising and sponsoring (ISK 9,300 million). As for advertising revenue, domestic media saw a decline of 16 per cent. Advertising payments to foreign media fell by the same ratio. [Feb 2022]

Iceland: Children's social media use

A study on Icelandic children's (aged 9–18) social media use shows an almost universal use of YouTube. Among the younger children, Snapchat and TikTok follow (at around 70% use), and among the older ones, Snapchat and Instagram (around 90%). Almost everyone (95–100%) has their own mobile phone. The report, the first in a series of seven, is based on a study from the University of Iceland and the Media Commission, planned to be conducted every second or third year. [Feb 2022]

January 2022

Finland: TV viewing in 2021 / Televisiovuosi 2021

Finnpanel's basic annual TV statistics as well as the report on TV viewing in 2021 are now available in English and Finnish. In 2021, linear TV daily viewing time decreased from 167 to 163 minutes. If combined with watching streaming services, more than 3.5 hours a day were spent on TV and the streaming services included in Finnpanel's measurements, an increase of 10 per cent in the last five years. [Jan 2022] 

Norway: The contribution of Norwegian public service to media diversity

In November 2021, the Norwegian Media Authority (NMA) presented an analysis of public service media provider NRK's activities, with a particular focus on online news and current affairs. Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, the aim was to identify how NRK contributes to diversity of content and exposure, whether it fulfils its duty to cover thematic and geographic blind spots and how the competitive effects of its activities impact the media market. The NMA did not find any reasons to impose any restrictions on the NRK’s digital presence. [Jan 2022]

Europe: The top 100 players in the audiovisual industry

In a new report, the European Audiovisual Observatory sheds light on the structure of the AV industry in Europe. The report provides snapshots of the top AV players and explores market concentration, origin of ownership by revenues, pay-TV subscriptions, SVoD subscriptions, number of TV channels and on-demand services, TV audiences etc. All top lists are available for download in Excel format. [Jan 2022]

Nordic mapping: The status and challenges of public subsidy systems for culture (incl. media)

Tasked by the Nordic Council of Ministers, Kulturanalys Norden has produced a research anthology on public subsidy systems for culture (incl. media) in the Nordic region. With a starting point in cultural policy as part of the Nordic welfare model, the report shows public funding as a key element in cultural policy, but with differences between countries in the balance between public and private funding. The consequences of digitalisation, even more visible during the Covid-19 pandemic, is a challenge for cultural policy in all countries. [Jan 2022]