NEWS RELEASE MEDIA 05 MARCH 2019

The revenue of the media declined by two per cent in real prices between the years 2016 and 2017. The total revenue of the media was 27,900 million ISK. Revenue from users’ fees was nearly 15,000 million ISK and revenue derived from advertisements and sponsoring was over 13,000 million ISK. The total media revenue was about 18 per cent lower in 2017 than in the year 2006 and 2007 when at all-time high. Television captured half of the total revenue and dailies and non-dailies one fourth. Private media captured 78 per cent of the total media revenue and 84 per cent of the total advertising revenue in 2017 compared with 22 and 16 per cent market share of the public service broadcaster, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, respectively.

In the wake of the financial collapse in fall 2008 there was an appreciable slump in revenue of the media (i.e. newspapers, magazines and other periodicals, radio and television and web media). Between the years 2007 and 2010 the revenue of the media declined about a quarter, measured in fixed 2017 prices. Since, there has been a slight increase. Today the total revenue of the media is comparable to what it was around the turn of the century. Despite a substantial decline this is somewhat lower than the results are from other countries.1 The decline was more serious in revenue drawn from advertisements than in users’ fees and revenue related to direct sale to customers. Revenue derived from advertisements have fallen 28 per cent in real prices since its peak in 2006 and 2007. At same time, revenue from users has increased only one per cent (see figure 1).

figure2

The fall in the revenue of the media is manifested differently between kinds of media. Newspapers and magazines have suffered more severe fall in revenue than other kinds of media, which can largely be explained by changes in media consumption. The revenue of newspapers and magazines has hence dropped nearly half since 2006, measured in 2017 prices. At the same time the revenue of the radio has increased by 13 per cent and television by four per cent while the revenue of the web media has increased fourfold (see table 1).

Table 1. Index of media revenue 1986-2017 (index 100=2017)
Mass media, total Dailies and non-dailies Magazines and periodicals Radio Television Web media
1986 .. 126 .. 57 20 .
1987 .. 141 .. 61 35 .
1988 .. 146 .. 59 44 .
1989 .. 135 .. 63 47 .
1990 .. 133 .. 66 48 .
1991 .. 136 .. 69 51 .
1992 .. 126 .. 67 51 .
1993 .. 118 .. 67 50 .
1994 .. 116 .. 67 51 .
1995 .. 117 .. 67 53 .
1996 .. 124 .. 74 55 .
199778 125 122 75 61 .
199885 138 134 79 67 2
199994 148 176 87 73 7
200098 146 192 86 79 12
200198 133 200 83 87 9
200294 126 203 80 84 8
200393 130 164 84 81 11
200497 145 164 82 80 18
2005108 171 187 86 87 17
2006118 192 182 88 96 19
2007118 181 189 94 98 24
2008109 155 162 92 96 28
200990 99 146 85 90 27
201087 95 118 83 89 31
201192 105 111 82 91 54
201290 101 109 80 91 51
201390 100 112 78 90 55
201490 99 109 83 88 69
201593 94 110 86 92 92
2016102 106 108 99 99 109
2017100 100 100 100 100 100
Revenue in ISK. mill. 2017 27,908 7,043 1,341 3,717 13,876 1,931
Note: Daily and non-daily newspapers: Only dailies 1986-1994.

New patterns in media consumption are partly captured in changed share of different media in the media revenue over time as shown in table 2. In 2017, half of the revenue fell to television compared with 39 per cent in 1998. Radio’s share has changed only slightly between the years 1998 and 2017 or from 12 to 13 per cent. At the same time the share of magazines and other periodicals fell from nine to five per cent and the share of dailies and non-dailies dropped from 41 to 26 per cent. The share of the web media increased from one per cent to seven per cent in 2017.

Table 2. Share of media revenues between different media 1998-2017, % 
Daylies and non-dailies Magazines and other papers Radio Television Web media
199841812390
199940912380
200038912401
2001341011441
2002341011441
200335812431
200438811411
200540811401
200641710411
200739811411
200836711442
200928813502
201027713512
201129612494
201228612504
201328612504
201428612495
201526612497
201626513487
201725513507
%s difference +/-
1998–20085-1-152
2008–2017-11-2265
1998–2017 -16 -3 1 11 7

Of the total revenue of the media in 2017 of nearly 28,000 million ISK, 78 per cent fell to private media and 22 per cent to the public service broadcaster, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. Between 1997 and 2017, the share of the public broadcaster in the total revenue of the media lowered from 26 to 22 per cent (see figure 2).

mediarev2

During the first decade in the aftermath of the abolition of the monopoly of the public service to broadcasting in 1986, the share of the public service broadcaster in broadcasting revenue declined fast. Since around 2000 its share has been more or less unchanged. In 2017, the public broadcaster retained 58 and 29 per cent of radio and television revenue, respectively, or 35 per cent of total broadcasting revenue. In 2017, private media operators retained roughly 11,000 million ISK of the advertisement revenue of the media compared with some 2,000 million ISK of the public broadcaster. The share of the public broadcaster in advertisement revenue of the media was 16 per cent. At the same time the share of the public broadcaster in advertisement revenue of radio was 34 per cent and of television 48 per cent. Together the share of the public broadcaster in radio and television was 41 per cent (see figure 3).

mediarev3

About the data
Information about revenue of the Icelandic media are derived from information from the media companies to the Icelandic Media Commission since 2011 (before to Statistics Iceland) and annual accounts. In the instances when information is lacking from media operators revenues are estimated from VAT tax reports and other available information. Media revenue is here defined as revenue from users (subscription fees, single copy sales and pay-per view, broadcasting fee levied upon all eligible individuals and companies) and advertisements and sponsoring. The data does not include foreign media. Information about individual private media is not provided due to rules of confidentiality.

1 It is estimated that the fall in revenue of the US media in the aftermath of the banking crisis in 2008 was 40 per cent (R. G. Picard, The Economics and Financing of Media Companies. 2. rev. ed. New York: Fordham University Press, 2011).

Statistics

Further Information

For further information please contact 528 1051 , email Ragnar.Karlsson@hagstofa.is

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