Press chains and the "new normal" of the newspaper industryPress concentration in Finland and its measurement, 2009–2019

During the last two decades, newspaper publishing has been found to continue its consolidation and the industry has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few newspaper chains. However, in research, media policy and public debate, perceptions of the degree of press concentration vary depending on the context, observer and applied approach. The article draws on the research tradition of the concentration of ownership and analyzes the concentration of the press at the national level in Finland in 2009–2019. Empirically, the article utilizes data collected by MediaAuditFinland and the Finnish Media Federation, as well as indicators commonly used in research on industry concentration. Press concentration has traditionally been studied on the basis of circulation, but as fewer and fewer papers continue checking their circulation figures, the data has become unreliable. To solve the problem, the article, firstly, estimates the circulation of newspapers as far as data are missing and, secondly, raises the net sales of newspapers to serve as a key proxy of market shares alongside circulation. As the estimated circulations and documented net sales have not been widely used in the past to describe the state of the Finnish press, the study also develops the methodology for the study of concentration.Peer reviewe