Julia Stoll
Research expert covering TV and video media
Television in Denmark - statistics & facts
Television is still the most popular medium in Denmark, before radio listening and video streaming. A survey from 2020 found that TV viewing accounted for nearly one third of the total media usage time. By contrast, watching videos online made up 17 percent. However, television consumption remained the same compared to the previous year, while streaming time grew. Similarly, the number of households with access to TV sets fell by over 300,000 from 2013 to 2020. In contrast to that, watching television via the internet is becoming more widespread. The share of smart TV owners grew from 24 percent to 64 percent in the same period.
Public or non-public TV - which is most popular in Denmark?
The most watched TV content in Denmark are public service broadcasts. The audience share amounted to 61 percent as of 2019. In the past three years, this amount remained quite stable. TV stations from TV 2 Danmark accounted for the highest share among the Danish TV channel families, followed by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (abbreviated as DR). Unlike DR, which is funded by media license fees, TV 2’s revenue is mainly generated through advertising and subscriptions. Just the regional and local TV channels of TV 2 Danmark obtain a part of the license fee yields. The Danish Broadcasting Corporation receives the highest share of the income. The license fee has recently been gradually reduced and will be fully phased out by 2022.The fall of private television
Contrary to public broadcasts, private TV stations have less viewership in Denmark. The population spent not even an hour watching non-public services in 2019. TV3, the most popular private television channel recorded an audience share of only four percent that year. Additionally, television advertising revenue decreased steadily in the past years and amounted to two billion Danish kroner in 2019. In 2011, it was over 2.5 billion kroner.
