Statistical, Ecosystems and Competitiveness Analysis of the Media and Content Industries: The Newspaper Publishing Industry

Table 1: Major Publishing companies in EU 
Company 
Headquarters 
based in 
Revenues / employees in 2010 
(unless indicated differently) 
Other activities 
WAZ 
Germany 
1,98 bln € / 17,000
Magazines, Online, Radio 
Ringier 
Switzerland 
858,4 mln € (2009) / 8,129 (2008) 
Magazines, Online 
Schibsted 
Norway 
13,79 bln NOK (1,799 bln €) / 7,500 
(2011) 
Online, TV, Film 
Axel Springer 
Germany 
2,893,9 bln € / 11,500 
Magazines, Online, Radio, TV 
Bonnier AB 
Sweden 
4.24 bln USD (3.25 bln €) / 10,820 
(2011) 
Books, Online, Radio, TV, Film 
Sanoma 
Finland 
2.761.2 bln € / 20,000 
Magazines, Books, Online, Radio, TV 
Mecom 
UK 
1.414.8 mln € / n.a. 
Online 
Lagardère 
France 
7.966 bln € / 28.510 
Magazines, Online, Radio, TV, Books 
Sources: Annual Company Reports, Wikipedia, inline industry publications, Financial Times. 

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Statistical, Ecosystems and Competitiveness Analysis of the Media and Content Industries 
26
 
Still, the newspaper publishing industry is less concentrated than some of the other media and 
content industries, with a small number of very large players (in some cases, world leaders in 
publishing) and a large number of medium-sized and small players (KEA, 2006). The latter is 
especially due to the variety of regional and local press in some European countries. However 
a 2004 study showed how the concentration tendency had been continuing, also on the local 
and regional level (Ward, 2004). There are no more recent studies which provide exact figures 
on the level of concentration in EU27 countries. 
An indicator for concentration can be found in the market shares of the top 3 or top 5 
newspapers. A study run by David Ward in 2004 showed that the national newspaper markets 
in the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands were all very concentrated with the top three 
newspaper publishers holding 70% or more (in the Netherlands even 98%) market share. Also 
regional markets in most of these countries showed high levels of concentration, due to 
horizontal integration of newspapers into larger chains of newspapers owned by a select 
number of press companies. Newspaper markets tend to be more concentrated in small 
countries than in big countries, as the volume of the advertising market in small countries can 
not sustain a large number of (independent) newspaper titles (ICRI a.o., 2009).
Concentration in the news sector is a complex subject. Picard (1988) explains that there are 
several ways for measuring concentration (or its counterpart competitiveness) in a market. In 
economics, the traditional threshold for oligopolistic concentration is when the top four firms 
own more than 50% of a market or the top eight owns 70% or more. Analysis of 
concentration in the newspaper market needs to take geographical reach into account and 
therefore needs to differentiate between national, regional and local markets (Picard R. , 1988; 
Iosifides, 1997). Picard concludes that, in 1988, there was significant economic concentration 
in the newspaper sector in the United States and the smaller the newspaper market, the more 
concentrated the market was. This conclusion also holds for the newspaper sector in many 
European countries (Ward, 2004). 
Another development influencing the structure and developments in newspaper publishing 
markets is the increase of private equity funds which are buying shares in newspaper 
publishers. This has caused more pressure on profit margins and cost-cutting operations, at 
the cost of editorial staff and investments in content. This has been the case for instance in 
Germany. In the Netherlands equity fund Apax gained a majority share in the largest Dutch 
newspaper publisher PCM in 2004 and left the publisher again in 2007 with slightly better 
revenues, but huge debts.
5
From a policy perspective the market structure of the newspaper sector is of great importance, 
because newspaper publishers do not only operate on the market for supply and demand of 
goods, but also on the marketplace for ideas (information products) (Picard R. , 1988; 
Iosifides, 1997). Too much concentration might disadvantage consumers in terms of the 
number of viewpoints and channels they have access to. This is one of the main reasons for 
government regulation of media ownership in European countries (see Paragraph 2.4 for more 
detail).