Finland: newspapers take competition to the Internet

Posted by Jean Yves Chainon on January 10, 2008 at 4:03 PM

Finnish newspapers are struggling to transition to a strong online model, and it seems only tabloids have entered the online race full on, in a context of tense competition.

Tabloid market leader Ilta-Sanomat and its rival Iltalehti are both neck-to-neck in claiming more readers online.

More than one million readers (about 150,000 daily) visit the tabloid sites every week, according to TNS-Gallup. That’s just about the number of printed copies they sell.

According to Ilta-Sanomat editor Tapio Sadeoja, the Jokela school shooting prompted a clear evolution from deadline-based journalism to constantly updated online journalism.

Even, the Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s leading quality daily, garners less than one millions hits per week. Other newspapers, such as the Taloussanomat (which recently moved to online-only), are struggling even more to build an online audience.

And according to an article in the Helsingin Sanomat, “if the big media are scrambling to make it on the Internet, the small ones are completely lost. Only a few provincial papers have exceeded the 100,000 threshold. Topping the list are two quality newspapers, the Oulu-based Kaleva and Tampere newspaper Aamulehti.”

More controversial is the article’s claim that an online presence cannibalizes the print circulation, a once-widespread reasoning that seemed to have been debunked since then.

“A heavy presence on the Internet cuts into sales of the print version. During the holidays at the end of the year, both papers sold for 50 cents a copy - a 40 per cent discount,” said the article.

Agree or not with the previous quote, it’s true that ad revenues online are still significantly lower than those in print, and that Finnish newspapers, as are others, are still figuring out how to be sustainable online.