The political economy of networked media: The revenue and concentration of communication markets in the Nordics
References
- Ala-Fossi, M. (2021). Nordic media welfare state and the “Finnish model”: National distinctions or a gradual deviation from the norm? In K. Arriaza Ibarra, & M. Ala-Fossi (Eds.), The Nordic media welfare state: National distinctions or a gradual deviation from the norm? (pp. 1–15). Tampere University Press.
- Baker, C. E. (2006). Media concentration and democracy: Why ownership matters. Cambridge University Press.
- Brüggemann, M., Engesser, S., Büchel, F., Humprecht, E., & Castro, L. (2014). Hallin and Mancini revisited: Four empirical types of Western media systems. Journal of Communication, 64(6), 1037–1065.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12127 - EU. (2004). Guidelines on the assessment of horizontal mergers under the Council Regulation on the control of concentration between undertakings (2004/C 31/03). European Commission.
- European Commission. (n.d.). Digital economy and society index.
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/desi - Flensburg, S., & Lai, S. S. (2024). Public goods and private property: A waltz between big tech and the Nordic welfare states. In P. Jakobsson, J. Lindell, & F. Stiernstedt (Eds.), The future of the Nordic media model: A digital media welfare state? Nordicom, University of Gothenburg.
https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855893-8 - Garz, M., & Ots, M. (2025). Media consolidation and news content quality. Journal of Communication, 76(3), 195–206.
https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqae053 - George, L. (2007). What’s fit to print: The effect of ownership concentration on product variety in daily newspaper markets. Information Economics and Policy, 19(3-4), 285–303.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoecopol.2007.04.002 - Grönlund, M. (2025). Finland’s network media economy: Growth, concentration and upheaval, 2018–2023 [Global Media and Internet Concentration Project]. Carleton University.
https://doi.org/10.22215/gmicp/2025.06.246 - Hallin, D. C., & Mancini, P. (2004). Comparing media systems: Three models of media and politics. Cambridge University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511790867 - Hardy, J. (2014). Critical political economy of communications: A mid-term review. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 10(2), 189–202.
https://doi.org/10.1386/macp.10.2.189_1 - Hellman, H. (2022). Lehdistön alueelliset valtiaat: Sanomalehdistön kilpailu ja keskittyminen merkityksellisillä markkinoilla [Regional press giants: Newspaper competition and concentration in relevant markets]. Media & Viestintä, 45(3), 1–29.
https://doi.org/10.23983/mv.122138 - Henten, A. (2024). Communications, media, and internet concentration in Denmark, 2018–2022 [Global Media and Internet Concentration Project]. Carleton University.
https://doi.org/10.22215/gmicp/2024.11.208 - Hollifield, C. A. (2006). News media performance in hypercompetitive markets: An extended model of effects. The International Journal on Media Management, 8(2), 60–69.
https://doi.org/10.1207/s14241250ijmm0802_2 - Jakobsson, P., Lindell, J., & Stiernstedt, F. (2024). The future of the Nordic media model: A digital media welfare state? Nordicom, University of Gothenburg.
https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855893 - Jeffres, L. W., Cutietta, C., Sekerka, L., & Lee, J. W. (2000). Newspapers, pluralism, and diversity in an urban context. Mass Communication & Society, 3(2-3), 157–184.
https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327825MCS0323_01 - Jin, D. Y., & Winseck, D. (2011). The political economies of media: The transformation of the global media industries. Bloomsbury Academic.
- Joris, G., De Grove, F., Van Damme, K., & De Marez, L. (2020). News diversity reconsidered: A systematic literature review unraveling the diversity in conceptualizations. Journalism Studies, 21(13), 1893–1912.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2020.1797527 - KDD [Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development]. (2021). Norske datasenter: Berekraftige, digitale kraftsenter [Norwegian data centres: Sustainable, digital power centres].
https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/0eabdbcbfb2540699466a4a1a801d737/nn-no/pdfs/norske-datasenter.pdf - Krebs, I., Bachmann, P., Siegert, G., Schwab, R., & Willi, R. (2021). Non-journalistic competitors of news media brands on Google and YouTube: From solid competition to a liquid media market. Journal of Media Business Studies, 18(1), 27–44.
https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2020.1832746 - Kristensen, L. M., & Hartley, J. M. (2023). The infrastructure of news: Negotiating infrastructural capture and autonomy in data-driven news distribution. Media and Communication, 11(2), 307–318.
https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v11i2.6388 - Lehtisaari, K., Grönlund, M., Hellman, H., Ranti, T., & Suikkanen, R. (2024). Median keskittyminen ja mediasisältöjen moninaisuus Suomessa [Media concentration and diversity of media content in Finland]. Valtioneuvoston Selvitys – Ja tutkimustoiminnan Julkaisusarja 2024:6 [Government report – and research publication series 2024:6]. Valtioneuvosto [Finnish government].
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-383-168-1 - Lindberg, T. (2023). Nordic news media in global competition: The conditions for news journalism in the digital platform economy. Nordicom, University of Gothenburg.
https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855718 - McChesney, R. W. (2013). Digital disconnect: How capitalism is turning the internet against democracy. The New Press.
- McQuail, D. (1992). Media performance: Mass communication and the public interest. Sage.
- Mosco, V. (2009). The political economy of communication (2nd ed.). Sage.
- MPM [Media Pluralism Monitor]. (2024). Monitoring media pluralism in the digital era: Application of the media pluralism monitor in the European member states and in candidate countries in 2023. Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom.
- Napoli, P. M. (1999). Deconstructing the diversity principle. Journal of Communication, 49(4), 7–34.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1999.tb02815.x - Nechushtai, E. (2018). Could digital platforms capture the media through infrastructure? Journalism, 19(8), 1043–1058.
https://doi.org/10.1177/146488491772516 - Newman, N., Arguedas, A. R., Robertson, C. T., Nielsen, R. K., & Fletcher, R. (2025). Reuters Institute digital news report 2025. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford.
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2025 - Nielsen, R. K., & Ganter, S. A. (2022). The power of platforms: Shaping media and society. Oxford University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190908850.001.0001 - Noam, E. M. (Ed.). (2016). Who owns the world’s media? Media concentration and ownership around the world. Oxford University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199987238.001.0001 - Noam, E. M. (2019). Media and digital management. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Nygren, G., Leckner, S., & Tenor, C. (2018). Hyperlocals and legacy media: Media ecologies in transition. Nordicom Review, 39(1), 33–49.
http://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2017-0419 - Ohlsson, J. (2012). The practice of newspaper ownership: Fifty years of control and influence in the Swedish local press [Doctoral dissertation, University of Gothenburg, Sweden].
http://hdl.handle.net/2077/29101 - Ohlsson, J., & Facht, U. (2017). Ad wars: Digital challenges for ad-financed news media in the Nordic countries. Nordicom, University of Gothenburg.
https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:norden:org:diva-5074 - Ohlsson, J., & Sjøvaag, H. (2019). Protectionism vs. non-interventionism: Two approaches to media diversity in commercial terrestrial television regulation. Javnost - The Public, 26(1), 70–88.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2018.1467177 - Ohlsson, J., & Lindberg, T. (2026). Communications, media, and internet concentration in Sweden report, 2018–2022 [Global Media and Internet Concentration Project]. Carleton University.
https://doi.org/10.22215/gmicp/2026.03752 - Olsen, R. K., Kalsnes, B., & Barland, J. (2024). Do small streams make a big river? Detailing the diversification of revenue streams in newspapers’ transition to digital journalism businesses. Digital Journalism, 12(9), 1261–1282.
https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.1973905 - Perloff, J. M., & Salop, S. C. (1985). Equilibrium with product differentiation. The Review of Economic Studies, 52(1), 107–120.
https://doi.org/10.2307/2297473 - Picard, R. G., (1989). Media economics: Concepts and issues. Sage.
- Puppis, M. (2009). Media regulation in small states. International Communication Gazette, 71(1-2), 7–17.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048508097927 - Reporters Without Borders. (n.d.). World press freedom index.
https://rsf.org/en/index - Research and Markets. (2024, June). Sweden data center market – Investment analysis & growth opportunities 2024–2029.
https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5714634/sweden-data-center-market-investment-analysis - Salamon, E. (2025). Communicating a local journalism crisis online: How media workers frame industry changes. Digital Journalism, 1–20.
https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2024.2434917 - Schrøder, K. C., Ørsten, M., & Eberholst, M. K. (2020). Is there a Nordic news media system? A descriptive comparative analysis of Nordic news audiences. Nordic Journal of Media Studies, 2(1), 23–35.
https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2020-0003 - Seipp, T. J., Helberger, N., de Vreese, C., & Ausloos, J. (2023). Dealing with opinion power in the platform world: Why we really have to rethink media concentration law. Digital Journalism, 11(8), 1542–1567.
https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2022.2161924 - Sjøvaag, H. (2014). The principles of regulation and the assumption of media effects. Journal of Media Business Studies, 11(1), 5–20.
https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2014.11073573 - Sjøvaag, H. (2022). The markets for news: Enduring structures in the age of business model disruptions. Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003081791 - Sjøvaag, H. (2025). Norway’s network media economy: Growth, concentration and upheaval, 2018–2022 [Global Media and Internet Concentration Project]. Carleton University.
https://doi.org/10.22215/gmicp/2025.03.578 - Sjøvaag, H., Ferrer-Conill, R., & Olsen, R. K. (2025). Capture beyond the platforms: The material and infrastructural conditions for digital journalism. Digital Journalism, 13(7), 1331–1350.
https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2024.2377078 - Sjøvaag, H., & Ohlsson, J. (2024). Media ownership and journalism (Rev. ed.). In M. Powers (Ed.), Oxford research encyclopedia of communication. Oxford University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.839 - Sjøvaag, H., Stavelin, E., Karlsson, M., & Kammer, A. (2019). The hyperlinked Scandinavian news ecology: The unequal terms forged by the structural properties of digitalisation. Digital Journalism, 7(4), 507–531.
https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2018.1454335 - Syvertsen, T., Enli, G., Mjøs, O. J., & Moe, H. (2014). The media welfare state: Nordic media in the digital era. University of Michigan Press.
https://doi.org/10.3998/nmw.12367206.0001.001 - Trappel, J. (2024). The stunning longevity of media ownership concentration. In U. Rohn, M. B. von Rimscha, & T. Raats (Eds.), De Gruyter handbook of media economics (pp. 229–247). De Gruyter Brill.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110793444 - Trappel, J., & Meier, W. A. (2022). Soaring media ownership concentration: Comparing the effects of digitalisation on media pluralism and diversity. In J. Trappel, & T. Tomaz (Eds.), Success and failure in news media performance: Comparative analysis in the media for democracy monitor 2021 (pp. 147–164). Nordicom, University of Gothenburg.
https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855589-7 - US. (2023). Merger guidelines. U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
- Van Alstyne, M. W., Parker, G. G., & Choudary, S. P. (2016). Pipelines, platforms, and the new rules of strategy. Harvard Business Review, 94(4), 54–62.
- WIK. (2023). Market study on the Norwegian internet ecosystem. WIK-Consult.
https://www.wik.org/en/publications/publication/ueberblick-ueber-das-norwegische-internet-oekosystem - Winseck, D. (2017). The geopolitical economy of the global internet infrastructure. Journal of Information Policy, 7, 228–267.
https://doi.org/10.5325/jinfopoli.7.2017.0228 - Winseck, D. (2019). Media concentration in the age of the internet and mobile phones. In M. Deuze, & M. Prenger (Eds.), Making media: Production, practices, and professions (pp. 175–190). Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.5117/9789462988118 - Winseck, D. (2024). Canada’s network media economy: Growth, concentration and upheaval, 1984–2023 [Global Media and Internet Concentration Project]. Carleton University.
https://doi.org/10.22215/gmicp/2025.12.124
Language: English
Page range: 98 - 125
Published on: Apr 24, 2026
Published by: University of Gothenburg Nordicom
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 2 issues per year
Keywords:
Related subjects:
© 2026 Helle Sjøvaag, Morten Falch, Reza Tadayoni, Mikko Grönlund, Tobias Lindberg, published by University of Gothenburg Nordicom
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.
