The advertising industry in the Nordics has experienced continuous growth and dynamic changes. In 2022, the industry saw a modest four-percent growth after a double-digit growth a year earlier, following the pandemic-related slump of 2020. Norway’s ad market reported highest growth, whereas the lowest was recorded in Sweden. A shared trend that has been visible throughout the region for quite some time is the advance of
. The internet has accounted for the lion’s share of ad investments and revenues in the Nordic countries for several years, setting the tone for the entire
to follow.
Online advertising is sweeping the Nordics
Online advertising has made big leaps in recent years. Nordic countries boast internet penetration rates of over 90 percent, and as consumers spend more time with online media than ever before, advertisers shift their funds and focus toward digital channels. In 2022,
online ad spend in Finland reached an all-time high of 700 million euros, more than tripling since 2012.
Internet ad revenue in Denmark has seen double-digital increases in recent years, peaking at 1.5 billion euros in 2022. So which formats drive the digital ad market? In Sweden, display was the largest contributor to online ad revenues in 2022, whereas Norwegian industry players placed their bets on Google and Facebook.
Audiovisual ad formats no longer attract the big bucks
When it comes to investments in audiovisual media formats, a downward trend in television advertising activities can be noticed across the entire region. But while
TV ad revenue in Norway only began to fall in 2018, it has declined in Denmark for almost a decade now. The opposite is true for investments in radio advertising, which started to plummet in Norway much earlier than in Denmark. Not only that, but data also showed parallel spikes in
radio advertising spending in Sweden and Norway in 2021 and 2022, which can be explained by the uptick in travel and commuting activity as well as the overall recovery of the industry.
Print & out of home (OOH) advertising
Print media has fought an uphill battle for the better part of a decade, and a downward trend in readership and advertising funds also shows in the Nordics. Between 2012 and 2022,
newspaper ad spend in Sweden fell by over 60 percent. A continuous decline in ad investments and revenue can also be seen for magazines and most other print media in the region. One advertising platform that had experienced ongoing growth before the pandemic was out-of-home (OOH). In 2019,
OOH advertising revenue in Norway peaked at 778 million Norwegian kroner, only to fall to 500 million during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that travel bans and other restrictions have been lifted, spending on outdoor media has exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
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