The Austrian press market is marked by high press concentration deriving from several waves of concentration up until the mid-1990s (Steinmaurer 2009, p. 505; Trappel 2007, p. 64). The Austrian Cartel Act provides special regulation that requires media mergers to be notified (§ 8) to Bundeswettbewerbsbehörde (Competition Authority) if companies exceed revenue limits3. But formal rejections of media mergers by the authority are rare.
Table 3. Audience reach and circulation of Austrian paid-for dailies (2008)
Newspaper N/R Media Company Reach AR %* Circulation share %
| Kronen Zeitung | national | Mediaprint | 2,944,000 | 41.9 | 948,615 | 37.4 |
| Kleine Zeitung | regional | Styria | 826,000 | 11.8 | 321,957 | 12.7 |
| Österreich | national | Verlagsgruppe News | 702,000 | 10.0 | 308,819 | 12.2 |
| Kurier | national | Mediaprint | 625,000 | 8.9 | 228,218 | 9.0 |
| OÖ Nachrichten | regional | Wimmer Verlag | 338,000 | 4.8 | 140,196 | 5.5 |
| Der Standard | national | Standard | 383,000 | 5.5 | 117,131 | 4.6 |
| Tiroler Tageszeitung | regional | Moser Holding | 308,000 | 4.4 | 109,716 | 4.3 |
| Die Presse | national | Styria | 241,000 | 3.4 | 120,363 | 4.7 |
| Salzburger Nachrichten | regional | Salzburger Nachrichten | 261,000 | 3.7 | 94,329 | 3.7 |
| Vorarlberger Nachrichten | regional | Vorarlberger Medienhaus | 208,000 | 3.0 | 70,360 | 2.8 |
| Wirtschaftsblatt | national | Styria | 103,000 | 1.5 | 39,131 | 1.5 |
| KTZ Neue Kärntner Tageszeitung | regional | Kärntner DVG | 54,000 | 0.8 | 32,000 | 1.3 |
| Neues Volksblatt | regional | OÖ Medien-Data | 65,000 | 0.9 | 23,000 | 0.9 |
| Wiener Zeitung | national | Wiener Zeitung | 57,000 | 0.8 | 20,000 | 0.8 |
| SVZ Salzburger Volkszeitung | regional | SVZ | – | – | 16,300 | 0.6 |
| Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung | regional | Vorarlberger Medienhaus | 45,000 | 0.6 | 12,328 | 0.5 |
| Total | 5,117,000 | 2,602,463 | | |||
| CR 3 | (titles) | 62.3 | ||||
| CR 3 | (companies) | 77.5 |
*Readers per edition in percent of population.
Sources: Audience reach: Media-Analyse (2008, p. 67), no data available for SVZ; Circulation: ÖAK (2008, pp. 9-12) except for KTZ, Neues Volksblatt, Wiener Zeitung, SVZ (all data self-declaration).
The Austrian newspaper market is dominated by Kronen Zeitung, which reaches 41.9 % of the population and holds a market share of 37.4 % of total newspaper circulation (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Media-Analysen 2008, p. 67). The circulation market share of the three largest newspapers is 62.3 %. All of them are boulevard titles. The nationwide quality newspaper with the highest circulation, Der Standard, reaches 5.5 % of the Austrian population with a circulation market share of 4.6 %. In fact, three big private media companies (Styria Media Group, Mediaprint, Verlagsgruppe News) dominate the Austrian press market. The circulation market share for those three top media companies (CR3) on the national newspaper market is 77.5 %.
The large national boulevard-style newspapers Kronen Zeitung and Kurier run Mediaprint for shared technical production, distribution and advertising. The second largest Austrian media company (after ORF) is Styria Media Group AG (Melischek, Seethaler, & Skodascek 2005, pp. 247-251). One regional and two national newspapers (Kleine Zeitung, Wirtschaftsblatt and Die Presse) as well as several weekly magazines and regional newspapers belong to Styria. This company is also active in the radio (Antenne Kärnten, Antenne Steiermark) and book market and is the coowner of Sat1 Österreich.
Another large media conglomerate is Verlagsgruppe News, which is controlled by majority by the German publisher Gruner+Jahr (Bertelsmann Group) and which includes among many other titles three major news magazines (Format, News, Profil), representing a quasi-monopoly situation on the magazine market. One minority shareholder of these titles is the publisher of Austria’s latest boulevard newspaper Österreich, with a circulation market share of 12.2 %, reaching 10.0 % of the Austrian population in 2008 (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Media-Analysen 2008, p. 67). Observers criticized several times that strict rules on media mergers and media concentration were established too late to prevent a concentrated media market effectively (Melischek et al. 2005, p. 248; Steinmaurer 2009, p. 508).
In the national television market, private companies were legally admitted in 2001, starting operations in 2003 (ATV in Vienna). In 2010, ATV and Puls4 are the main national private television operators, both owned by German companies, and both with insignificant market shares. Competition in the television market is shaped by German television programs available via satellite and cable in Austria, rather than by the two small national broadcasters (see Table 5).
Table 4. Daily reach and market share of TV (national)
| Channel | Public/private | Associated Media Company | Daily reach | %* | share % |
| ORF 2 | PSB (AUT) | ORF | 2,764,000 | 40.4 | 25.1 |
| ORF 1 | PSB (AUT) | ORF | 2,237,000 | 32.7 | 16.8 |
| SAT 1 | Private (GER) | ProSiebenSat1 Media AG | 1,156,000 | 16.9 | 7.3 |
| RTL | Private (GER) | RTL Group | 1,171,000 | 17.1 | 5.6 |
| Pro 7 | Private (GER) | ProSiebenSat1 Media AG | 1,057,000 | 15.5 | 4.8 |
| ZDF | PSB (GER) | ZDF | 961,000 | 14.1 | 4.3 |
| ARD | PSB (GER) | ARD | 959,000 | 14.0 | 3.8 |
| ATV | Private (AUT) | Tele München Group, Herbert Kloiber | 925,000 | 13.5 | 3.0 |
| RTL II | Private (GER) | RTL Group | 691,000 | 10.1 | 2.5 |
| Kabel 1 | Private (GER) | ProSiebenSat1 Media AG | 711,000 | 10.4 | 2.5 |
| VOX | Private (GER) | RTL Group | – | – | 3.9 |
| 3sat | PSB (GER) | ARD, ZDF, ORF, SRG | – | – | 1.7 |
| Puls4 | Private (GER) | ProSiebenSat1 Media AG | – | – | 1.2 |
| ARTE | PSB (GER/FR) | ARD, ZDF, France Télévisions | – | – | 0.8 |
| Others | 16.7 | ||||
| Total | 4,335,000 | 63.4 | 100.0 |
* Daily viewers in percent of population.
Sources: All data based on GfK Teletest, population 12+: Market share: AGTT (2009), Steinmaurer (2009, p. 513); Daily reach: Media-Analyse (2008, pp. 114-119).
ORF dominated the television market in 2008, even though its market share is slightly but continuously declining. ORF 2, with a market share of 25.1 %, reached about 2,8 million Austrians (40.4 % of the Austrian population) on a daily basis, followed by the entertainment-orientated channel ORF 1, with a market share of 16.8 % and reaching 32.7 % of the population. The largest German private television channels (Sat1, RTL, Pro7), with market shares between 4.8 and 7.3 %, reach about one million Austrians every day. In 2008, the national Austrian private broadcaster ATV had a market share of 3.0 %. The top three television channels unify a market share of 49.2 %. The CR3 for the top three television companies on the national television market, however, is higher: ORF, ProsiebenSat1 Media AG and RTL Group have a combined market share of 69.7 %.
The radio market is dominated by ORF channels, too. Besides the three national radio channels operated by ORF (Ö1, Ö3 and FM4), Kronehit (owned by Kronen Zeitung and Kurier) has the only nationwide private license. Kronehit reaches 5.9 % of the population and has a market share of 4.0 %. Nevertheless, the Austrian radio landscape is mainly marked by regional and local channels (see also e2). The top three radio channels, all part of the ORF network, hold a combined market share of 76.0 %.
Table 5. Daily reach and market share of leading radio channels (national 2008)
| Channel | Public/private | Daily reach | %* | Market share % |
| Ö2 (regional) | PSB | 37.0 | ||
| Ö3 | PSB | 2,580,000 | 36.7 | 33.0 |
| Ö1 | PSB | 644,000 | 9.2 | 6.0 |
| Kronehit | Private | 411,000 | 5.9 | 4.0 |
| FM4 | PSB | 273,000 | 3.9 | 2.0 |
| ORF total | PSB | 5,013,000 | 71.4 | 78.0 |
| Private total | Private | 1,623,000 | 23.1 | 19.0 |
| Others (foreign) | 276,000 | 3.9 | 22.0 |
* Daily listeners in percent of population.
Sources: All data based on Radiotest, population 10+: Market share: ORF Enterprise (2008), Steinmaurer (2009, p. 514) Daily reach: Media-Analyse (2008, p. 100f).
The Austrian online media market is dominated by traditional media companies from other media sectors. The online platform of the ORF reaches 1.9 million people with a market share of 21.8 %. Most other online media companies are affiliated with leading companies on the newspaper and magazine market. Only a few of them (like derstandard.at) have separate newsrooms with staff working exclusively for the online medium. The top three online media companies, except for orf.at, are affiliated with national newspapers (oe24.at/Österreich, krone.at/Kronen Zeitung), and unify a market share of 40.0 %.
Table 6. Reach and market shares of news website (unique users)
| Online Newsmedia | Reach | %* | market share % |
| ORF.at Network | 1,902,700 | 38.5 | 21.8 |
| oe24-Netzwerk | 798,200 | 16.1 | 9.2 |
| krone.at | 786,000 | 15.9 | 9.0 |
| derStandard.at Network | 740,000 | 15.0 | 8.5 |
| austria.com (network) | 681,600 | 13.8 | 7.8 |
| NEWS Networld | 525,400 | 10.6 | 6.0 |
| Kleine Zeitung Online (network) | 516,400 | 10.4 | 5.9 |
| KURIER | 479,600 | 9.7 | 5.5 |
| diepresse.at | 438,700 | 8.9 | 5.0 |
| Vorarlberg Online | 290,400 | 5.9 | 3.3 |
| ProSieben.at | 242,600 | 4.9 | 2.8 |
| OÖNachrichten Online Netzwerk | 213,500 | 4.3 | 2.4 |
| Wirtschaftsblatt.at | 209,800 | 4.2 | 2.4 |
| Salzburger Nachrichten salzburg.com | 183,400 | 3.7 | 2.1 |
| tt.com Network | 147,800 | 3.0 | 1.7 |
| Wiener Zeitung Gruppe (network) | 140,400 | 2.8 | 1.6 |
| Puls4.com | 138,000 | 2.8 | 1.6 |
*Users in percent of online users (quarter).
Sources: All data based on ÖWA Plus IV (2008); Market share: own calculations.
