The printed word continues to thrive in Finnish daily life: newspapers are being read with more enthusiasm than ever, despite the growth of electronic media supply. According to the newest national media survey carried out by TNS Gallup Oy, newspaper readerships have grown by some 5% in the course of the two years under comparison.

   

During the same two-year period, it appeared that the group of over-50s readers has grown clearly more than other age groups. The number of female readers in this age category grew by 14 percent, and the number of male readers was also up by 12%. In other age groups the trend was rather stable, and among young men there was even a decline.

   

"Owing to demographic changes, there are more readers than previously who are over 50 years old, and they also read more than earlier. They have time, money and interest in many things", comments Research Manager Katarina Wakonen from TNS Gallup Oy.

An average Finn reads

eleven papers, of which three are newspapers or their supplements and eight are magazines. During a week 89 percent of all Finns read one or several newspapers and 58 percent read magazines. Women read more than men, and persons of working age read a few more papers than those belonging to the youngest and oldest age groups.

   

Among newspapers Helsingin Sanomat, Ilta-Sanomat, and Iltalehti have the biggest readership figures. Of these the readership of the late-edition tabloid Ilta-Sanomat shows a remarkable growth of 3.9 percent over six months.

Among magazines

, those dealing with housing, building and gardening have again grown in favour clearly more than other magazines. They have gained new readers particularly among men as well as with women over 50. Among others, the magazines Talo ja Koti (House and Home), Meidän Mökki (Our Cottage), and Koti ja Keittiö (Home and Kitchen) all recorded significant growth in their readership figures.

   

Family and general interest magazines as well as health-oriented magazines have gained more readers over the last three years as well.

Newspaper supplements

have also grown in favour. In relative terms, the readership of the weekly Plussa supplement of Ilta-Sanomat showed the biggest growth of around 8.8 percent.

   

By far the most popular was the monthly supplement of Helsingin Sanomat , with readership topping 1.5 million. Over 20,000 new readers were registered over the last six-month period.

The papers do not seem

to fear that internet and mobile media could reduce their popularity among Finns. Research and Marketing Manager Sirpa Saarikivi of the Finnish Newspapers Association states that so far the impact of internet publications does not show any decline in newspaper readership.

   

"Young people and especially those starting their own household are the critical group. At that stage people decide whether they want to pay for information or not", says Saarikivi.

   

Marketing and Research Manager Saara Itävuo of the Finnish Periodical Publishers' Association says that periodicals see the Net more as a partner, not as a phenomenon to replace printed media. "The internet has even backed up the launch of some periodicals." For example the web site of the monthly magazine Vauva (Baby), which increased its readership considerably, has become hugely popular among the magazine's readers.

The newspapers with the highest readership figures

are Helsingin Sanomat with over 1.1 million readers and the late-edition tabloid Ilta-Sanomat with over 900,000 readers. Among the supplements, the leader is the monthly magazine of Helsingin Sanomat with over 1.5 million readers, followed by the paper's Nyt weekly supplement with over 1.1 million readers.

   

The house magazines for the customers of the K and S store chains lead the way in the periodicals group, whereas Donald Duck comic books take third place with their readership of close to one million.