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

Statistical, Ecosystems and Competitiveness Analysis of the Media and Content Industries 
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20 share in Auto24, the leading market place for used and new cars in Estonia (Sanoma, 
2007), and – only recently – in coupon sales website Offerium.fi. In 2000, Sanoma also 
started a co-operation with Helsinki Telephone to explore new possibilities for co-operation 
between the media corporation and the telephone and internet operator in for instance 
electronic publishing, co-operation in content production and electronic distribution channels 
(Sanoma, press release January 15 2000). 
In 2005 and 2006, Sanoma acquired free sheets Itäväylä and Metro. The free sheet unit 
Sanoma Kaupunkilehdet Oy concluded a 3-year agreement with VR and the Finnish Rail 
Administration on the distribution of the free sheets Uutislehti 100 and Metro at railway 
stations in the Helsinki metropolitan area (press archive, 23 November and 11 August 2006). 
Sanoma started to invest strongly in internet activities in 2006. Taloussanomat.fi had been 
renewed. The online newspaper wanted to be faster, more comprehensive and more 
entertaining than other financial media. The print version of the newspaper contains material 
that is not published on the website. The focus for both the paper and the website is to have 
high quality visual images, presenting news in attractive ways, emphasising entertainment and 
interactivity (press archive, 2 October 2006). In 2008 Sanoma continued its investments in 
internet activities (Annual report, 2008). The online investments in expanded in 2009 when 
more investments were made in mobile activities (Boogert E., Sanoma: mobiel nog geen 
miljoenenhandel, 2011a) (Boogert E. , 2011a) 
Brands, synergies and acquisitions 
Sanoma’s strategies can be summarized by the following key strategies:
 Building strong brands; Sanoma tries to build brands across media platforms. Thereby 
strong print brands can for instance also generate online audiences to their online outlets.
 Exploiting synergies between different media outlets by sharing expertise and resources. 
For example by producing video for TV channels that can also be used in digital 
publications of magazines (Starkenburg J. , 2010). The goal of this strategy is to produce 
more integrated products (Adformatie 15
th
April 2011). For example the website NU.nl 
and the nu.nl-app for the iPad combine the different NU.nl services and share the same 
design, only the app contains more video and pictures (Starkenburg J. , 2010).
Another example of content sharing are the classifieds for employment and vehicle 
advertisements. The classifieds of seven leading newspapers will be published as 
Oikotie's advertising sections with the same name and visual image both in the print 
newspapers and in their online versions (press release, 8 January 2010). On the level of 
news content, the Finnish newspapers are produced from one central newsroom. They 
share content and get more content from Sanoma’s Finnish television channel which is 
also published on the newspapers websites as well as made available on the iPad 
applications (BusinessConsultancy, 2011). Another example is the joint venture of 
magazine Sportweek and NU.nl, which together produce NU.sport (Villamedia, 2010).
 Buying successful (online) companies or launching new activities. For quitting or starting 
news online activities Sanoma uses a couple of criteria. First a product needs to cover the 
costs for producing it and keeping it running. When a product does not meet this 
requirement, then there has to be a good strategic reason to keep this product online. In 
the launch period it is normal for digital activities to produce a negative result. The 
portfolio must always contain activities for future experiments as well as activities that 
make enough money to finance the recently launched activities (interview with Business 
Consultancy, 2011).

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