Helsingin Sanomat remains most popular daily in Finland

Printed papers and magazines withstanding dual assault of recession and online content

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Despite the recession, the consumption of printed newspapers and periodicals is on the up, reveals a fresh National Media Survey by the Finnish Audit Bureau of Circulation.
      The Finns still read a lot: in 2009 every Finn above the age of 12 followed regularly around 7.6 printed periodicals and 2.4 printed newspapers.
     
With 951,000 readers, Helsingin Sanomat was still the most widely-read newspaper in Finland, followed by the late edition tabloids Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti.
      Next in line were the dailies Aamulehti, Maaseudun Tulevaisuus, Turun Sanomat, Kauppalehti, Kaleva, Keskisuomalainen and Savon Sanomat.
      The newspapers’ weekly and monthly supplements were nearly as popular as the dailies themselves, and in some cases even more popular. For example the Helsingin Sanomat monthly supplement Kuukausiliite had an average of 1.2 million readers.
     
At the top of the list of Finland’s most read periodicals continued the free distribution retail chain customer magazines Pirkka and Yhteishyvä. The third most-read periodical was the free distribution magazine Suomela, aimed at single-family house dwellers.
     
General-interest magazines for women in particular increased their readership in 2009, as did various customer magazines, the popularity of which has been on the up for some time now. Lifestyle and construction magazines also gained in circulation. Of all the periodicals, the ET-lehti and the weekly entertainment and television magazine Katso experienced the most shrinkage.
      TM Rakennusmaailma, a building trade magazine, increased its readership by no less than 26 per cent last year. The magazine received free advertising and became widely known last autumn when its specialists delved into the case surrounding claims that Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen had received free timber as building material.
      According to editor-in-chief Juho Huttula, however, the sales figures of the "Vanhanen number" were not exceptional in any way.
     
The National Media Survey is an annual survey commissioned by the newspaper publishers, the Finnish Periodical Publishers' Association, the Finnish Newspaper Association, Kärkimedia Oy, and the Finnish Association of Marketing Communication Agencies MTL.
      It is carried out by the Finnish Audit Bureau of Circulation in cooperation with TNS Gallup. For the survey 28,000 people were interviewed in 2009.
      The readership estimates are used, for example, as a basis for advertisement pricing in papers.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Survey: Printed media increases its popularity (16.9.2009)
  Specialty magazines and newspapers thrive at the expense of general publications (5.3.2008)
  Newspaper readership going up, gossip mags stable (14.9.2005)

See also:
  HS: Finnish Media Market

Links:
  Finnish Audit Bureau of Circulations: Circulation Statistics 2009

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