WORLD PRESS TRENDS - World Association of Newspapers

NORWAY
Commentary – The Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association
The outlook for the Norwegian economy weakened during
autumn and winter 2002. Overall public economic policy
remained tight because of the strong krone. Reduced interest
rates and the depreciation of the krone since January 2003 will
stimulate overall demand. Nevertheless, the weak world
economy and a high cost level will restrain growth.
Household income growth is expected to slow in 2003 and 2004,
partly as a result of low growth in employment and lower wage
growth. Households’ financial positions are still solid though.
Increased uncertainty in the labour market will nevertheless
lead to greater caution among households. Private consumption
may move on a weaker path than assumed last autumn.
Unemployment has edged up recently. The current
unemployment rate of 4% is still 2 percentage points lower than
the average in the 1990s. Unemployment is expected to increase
somewhat in the period ahead because growth in real wages is
POPULATION
NORWAY
markedly higher than the underlying growth in productivity.
Businesses must adjust their workforces to sustain profitability.
The economic situation and outlook described above will
directly influence the newspaper industry. Advertising seems
to be picking up somewhat, though there is good reason to
suspect that a full recovery is still not in sight.
Advertising volume was down 4% in 2002 compared to 2001.
Some titles experienced much worse figures, especially
speciality newspapers and titles carrying lots of national
advertising and classifieds.
There is, however, some good news. Despite the introduction
of national commercial television in 1992, total newspaper
circulation has been remarkably stable over the last ten years:
the circulation of daily newspaper fell by less than 3% between
1998 and 2002.
Population by age and sex
All individuals Male Female Households
000 % 000 % 000 % 000
Children 894 20 459 21 435 19 2,048
16-24 544 12 277 13 267 12
25-34 684 15 348 16 336 15
35-44 646 14 330 15 316 14
45-54 611 14 312 14 299 13
55-64 414 9 206 9 208 9
65+ 683 15 284 13 399 18
Total 4,476 100 2,216 100 2,260 100
Source: Statistics Norway
Age structure of readership
% reach within
Age
age group
13-19 81
20-39 84
40-59 89
60+ 87
Newspaper reach (%)
Daily
All adults 86
Men 87
Women 85
Source: Norsk Gallup Institutt
Households
Households
Occupancy 000
1 person 829
2 people 583
3 people 263
4 people 242
5 or more people 131
Total 2,048
Source: Statistics Norway
NUMBER OF TITLES AND CIRCULATION
Change (%)
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 98/2002 2001/02
Number of titles
Total dailies 83 83 82 81 81 -2.41 0.00
National dailies 8 8 8 8 8 0.00 0.00
Regional dailies 5 5 5 5 5 0.00 0.00
Local dailies 70 70 69 68 68 -2.86 0.00
Non-dailies 74 74 72 71 77 4.05 8.45
National non-dailies 5 6 6 6 10 100.00 66.67
Local non-dailies 69 68 66 65 67 -2.90 3.08
Circulation (000)
Total dailies 2,600 2,591 2,578 2,527 2,524 -2.92 -0.12
National dailies 720 730 721 737 736 2.22 -0.14
Regional dailies 591 581 577 559 558 -5.58 -0.18
Local dailies 1,289 1,280 1,280 1,231 1,230 -4.58 -0.08
Non-dailies 378 374 365 370 395 4.50 6.76
National non-dailies 42 48 51 55 81 92.86 47.27
Local non-dailies 336 326 314 315 314 -6.55 -0.32
Total annual sales (millions of copies)
Dailies 767.7 768.9 761.9 750.3 743.2 -3.19 -0.95
Non-dailies 45.7 48.7 48.1 48.9 51.2 12.04 4.70
Titles
83
82
81
80
Number of daily titles and circulation
Titles
Circulation
2,620
2,600
2,580
2,560
2,540
2,520
2,500
2,480
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Circulation (000s)
210
WORLD ASSOCIATION OF NEWSPAPERS - WORLD PRESS TRENDS 2003