The number of regional and local newspaper titles in Finland is high in proportion to its population, with over 200 titles in total. However, as a result of mergers and closures, the number of titles has decreased by around 13 per cent in the last decade (Ala-Fossi et al., 2020: 24). Ownership has further consolidated with a large proportion of the titles now owned by national publishing chains, specifically Sanoma and Keskisuomalainen. In 2020, Sanoma acquired the regional newspapers of the third-largest publisher, Alma Media, further consolidating the market position of these two companies.
Almost all regions are served by one dominant regional newspaper, with no direct competition in their own market area. Despite the high number of regional and local newspapers published per capita, the market for regional media is relatively concentrated. The competition these regional newspapers face is against the nationwide newspaper HS and other national news outlets, including online services such as the regional news service of public broadcaster Yle, which has been criticised by the commercial media industry for their impact on commercial regional news media.
Television channels in Finland are almost exclusively national, and although small-scale commercial or community-regional and local channels exist, they have a marginal market share. Yle publishes regional news online for 19 regions, broadcasts daily regional news broadcasts on national television for ten areas, and regional programming in Finnish, Swedish, and Sámi language on the frequencies of Radio Suomi.
There are 53 regional or local commercial radio stations in Finland (see Indicator F1 – Geographic distribution of news media availability). In larger markets, such as the Helsinki region, there is competition between a wide range of radio channels, whereas more remote areas have less options. The field of local radio stations has also seen continued consolidation into national chains (Bauer Media, Sanoma) in the last decade, reducing the provision of genuinely local programming. In addition, a few non-profit, public access radio channels also operate in Finland with very limited resources.
