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New factsheet: Access to paid-for online news in the Nordic countries

New publication
 | 3 October 2023
Nordic news consumers stand out for their comparative willingness to pay for news on digital channels, according to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. A new factsheet from Nordicom looks at the share of individuals paying for or using online news in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

The factsheet is based on survey data from the Reuters Institute Digital News Report.

Go to the factsheet

Find more factsheets on Nordic media

 

Summary

  • Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark take first, second, third, and fourth place, respectively, when ranking the percentage of who accessed paid-for online news in 23 European countries.
  • Norway has the highest share of people accessing paid-for online news across the 23 European countries measured in this study. But the share has decreased somewhat in the last two years, from 45 per cent in 2021 to 39 per cent in 2023.
  • In Sweden, like in Finland, young people (18–24 years old) are more likely to access paid-for online news than other age groups.
  • Unlike Sweden and Finland, people in Denmark over the age of 55 have accessed paid-for news to a slightly higher extent than younger people. In the oldest group, a slight increase has been noticeable in terms of the proportion who accessed paid-for online news.
  • The Digital News Report 2023 shows signs that the growth in payment for online news may be levelling off after the increase of payment associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.