The gross domestic product per capita in Germany is EUR 41,345 (2018: EUR 40,800), thus exceeding the average gross domestic product per capita of the European Union, which is EUR 30,900 (2018) (Statista, 2020). The average disposable income of a German household in 2017 was about EUR 33,990 (DeStatis 2020a). The latest consumer statistics from 2017 show that an average household spent about EUR 2,517 per month. The costs for radio and television licence fees (excluding cable and satellite fees) were about EUR 17.50 per month, those for newspapers and news magazines EUR 21 per month on average (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2019a), and another EUR 64 was spent on telecommunications (DeStatis, 2020a). This means that the average costs of mass media (print, radio, television, and telecommunication) in Germany form an average of 4 per cent of total household expenditures.
The monthly cost for a newspaper subscription, which is the dominant distribution channel in Germany, is between EUR 27 (tabloid) and EUR 70 (broadsheet) for print and between EUR 4 (tabloid) and EUR 40 (broadsheet) for an e-paper. Broadcasting fees (EUR 17.50) are compulsory and paid per household as stipulated in the State Treaty on Broadcasting Financing [Rundfunkfinanzierungsstaatsvertrag]. People with disabilities can apply for reduction or remission of the licence fee; however, there is a debate around the absence of an income-based differentiation of the licence fee, the lack of which discriminates against low-income groups, including students.
90 per cent of all German households had broadband connections in 2019 (DeStatis, 2020b), which were available at a price between EUR 19–25.
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