Shift in media use points to Danes' acceptance of new media and adaptability to new ways to access media content

In early October 2018, the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces published the fifth edition of its annual Report on media development in Denmark.

The Summary and Discourse Report for 2018 provides an overview of the trends in media consumption in Denmark in 2017 as well as the main findings of special reports and surveys about globalisation of the Danish media industry, social media, streaming and Danish consumers’ media-related spending.

The main trends in media consumption in Denmark in 2017 are as follows:

• General developments:  Internet is the media platform used by most Danes on a daily basis (88% of the population aged 16-89). Even though the rate of increase of this media is not as steep as in previous years, the Internet is still the only media platform whose share of daily users is increasing. The next most frequently used platform was radio with 73% of Danes listening on a daily basis. Conventional TV took the third place with a 65% share of the population. 39% of the population read a printed newspaper daily.

• Infrastructure: Broadband reach in Denmark is quite high and increasing despite some regional divergences. The ownership of smart phones and smart TVs has grown relatively markedly in the past five years: in 2017, 84 % of Danish households owned a smart phone and 53 % a smart TV compared to 63% and 24% in 2013. Mobile data traffic is growing fast and reflects the growth in the number of mobile devices in Danish households and their use generally and “on the fly”.

• Shift from linear to non-linear consumption of media content: this trend has become even clearer in 2017.  This shift is driving migration of the flow of content to which the media user is exposed and the extent to which the media user is able to choose what to watch, listen to or read, and when.

• Bigger gap between media users: light media users are consuming media even less than before while heavy users have either maintained or increased their use.

• Advertising revenue: total advertising revenue in Denmark increased (from MDKK 13.320 in 2016 to MDKK 13.447) in 2017. However, as in previous years, market shares are shifting between the different media groups. The most obvious trends in 2017 are the continued drastic fall in advertising revenue in the printed media and the corresponding persistently strong growth in advertising revenue on the Internet.

In 2017, the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces published two special reports and news bulletin surveys:

• Globalisation of the Danish media industry: the report concludes that in 2017 Danish media companies are manifestly no longer capable of determining the technological, distributive or commercial standards they use when providing content to media consumers. It is now global players who determine – and continually change – these standards, meaning that Danish media companies have no longer the final say regarding important parts of their own commercial value chains. 

• Spending and prices: there are growing differences between spending on the print media and on audiovisual media. Households’ annual spending on print media almost halved from DKK 4147 in 2006 to DKK 2279 in 2016. Conversely, spending on audiovisual media, including streaming services, has increased to DKK 275 in 2016. Telecommunications services account for an ever-increasing share of media spending; the ones combining telephony with internet or TV accounted for 35% of households’ media-related spending in 2016.

• Streaming services: in 2016, the average Danish household paid DKK 276 directly to film and streaming services; indirect payment is probably higher as many users subscribe via their smartphone, TV or Internet subscriptions. This means that film and streaming services are still a relatively minor item of consumer expenditure compared to for example TV subscriptions on which the average household spent DKK 2514 in 2016. According to the survey, the 25-29s and the 30-34s are most likely to pay for streaming services. It shows also that Netflix has tripled its content budget since its launching in the country: from DKK 21,6 billion in 2014 to DKK 44,9 billion in 2017 while DR and TV2’s content budgets changed insignificantly, confirming the general trend that henceforth global players determine and re-shape the Danish media industry.

• Social media: a new trend in the social media usage has appeared in 2017. While in previous years social media users were becoming active on an increasing number of social media platforms, the number of Danish social media users settling for just one social media has grown – from 28% in 2016 to 37% in 2017. Of users who use only one social medium, 91% are Facebook users. There also seems to be a correlation between the frequency of Facebook activity and the frequency of online shopping.

As for the previous reports, this year’s edition was prepared in consultation with an external editorial panel composed of media professionals who have provided advice and suggestions regarding development and prioritisation as well as quality assurance.

• Summary and Discourse 2018 (in English)
• Webpage dedicated to the media developments in Denmark (in Danish)

Source: Website of the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces