Menu
Halliki Harro-Loit and Urmas Loit
Estonia is a Baltic state, sharing borders with Russia and Latvia. Finland is a close oversea neighbour geographically and culturally. Estonia joined EU in 2004, simultaneously with the membership in NATO. Estonian media market is very small: in total 1.3 million inhabitants of whom about 320,000 are Russophones.
For the EurOMo project, we analysed the ownership of and control over media outlets in main media sectors (print, broadcast, online), measured either by high market shares (Postimees Group and its outlets, Ekspress Grupp’s outlets, TV3, Kanal 2, ERR) or significant agenda setting potential (several local papers, radio stations of Duo Media Network, etc.). Traditionally, the dailies and ERR (the Estonian national public broadcasting) perform as the most important news producers.
According to the state-run Statistics Estonia, there are 21 private TV broadcasters in Estonian media market and 29 radio broadcasters.[1] According to the report of European Commission (2020: 174-175) in 2018, Estonian TV market (in terms of audience shares) is on medium level concentrated: “Looking at the Member States registering medium concentration levels for their four main TV groups, Estonia was the only deregulated market which recorded an audience share of 55%”.
Facebook was the leading social media website based on the number of visits in Estonia in 2022, with a share of around 70% of all social media site visits. Twitter ranked second with around nine percent of all Estonian social media site visits.[2]
There are three national general dailies, plus a business daily (now only online): Postimees – leading daily by influence and distribution, with Estonian and Russian-language online output, Õhtuleht – popular tabloid, Eesti Päevaleht – (online) daily, Äripaev – business daily, Maaleht – weekly, Eesti Ekspress – weekly.
Table 1. Estonian sample of media outlets.
Outlet | Market sector /newspapers have web version also | Name of the owner company |
Postimees | Newspapers | AS Postimees Grupp |
Postimees(.ee) | Web version of print or broadcasting media | AS Postimees Grupp |
Rus.Postimees | Web-only | AS Postimees Grupp |
Eesti Päevaleht | Newspapers | Delfi Meedia AS |
Delfi | Web-only | Delfi Meedia AS |
Rus.Delfi.ee | Web-only | Delfi Meedia AS |
Eesti Ekspress | Newspapers | Delfi Meedia AS |
Maaleht | Newspapers | Delfi Meedia AS |
Äripäev | Web-only | AS Äripäev |
Õhtuleht | Newspapers | AS Õhtuleht Kirjastus |
Sirp | Newspapers | SA Kultuurileht |
Pärnu Postimees | Newspapers | AS Postimees Grupp |
Virumaa Teataja | Newspapers | AS Postimees Grupp |
Lõuna-Eesti Postimees | Newspapers | AS Postimees Grupp |
Sakala | Newspapers | AS Postimees Grupp |
Järva Teataja | Newspapers | AS Postimees Grupp |
Põhjarannik / | Newspapers | Põhjaranniku Kirjastus OÜ |
Lõunaleht | Newspapers | OÜ Hansekon |
Lääne Elu | Newspapers | OÜ Lääne Elu |
Saarte Hääl | Newspapers | OÜ Raadio Kadi |
Pealinn / Столица | Newspapers | Tallinna Strateegiakeskus |
err.ee | Web-only | ERR |
rus.err.ee | Web-only | ERR |
Eesti Televisioon (ETV) | TV | ERR |
ETV2 | TV | ERR |
ETV+ | TV | ERR |
Kanal 2 | TV | Duo Media Networks OÜ |
TV 3 | TV | AS All Media Eesti |
Kuku Raadio | Radio | Duo Media Networks OÜ |
Raadio TRE │ Raadio Ring │ Raadio Ruut | Radio | Ring FM Media OÜ |
Sky Pluss | Radio | Taevaraadio AS |
Vikerraadio | Radio | ERR |
Raadio 2 | Radio | ERR |
Klassikaraadio | Radio | ERR |
Raadio 4 | Radio | ERR |
According to the polling company Kantar Emor, the total size of the Estonian advertising market in 2021 was €88.7 million. Estonian tax laws do not require companies to declare the advertising money paid to global media companies (Facebook/Meta and Google), therefore this advertising revenue in Estonia is unknown and untaxed (Reisenbuk, 2016).
[1] Interactive online database https://www.stat.ee/en/find-statistics/statistics-theme/culture/television-and-radio
[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1165914/market-share-of-the-most-popular-social-media-websites-in-estonia/#:~:text=Published by Statista Research Department%2C Mar 10%2C 2023,percent of all Estonian social media site visits.
After regaining independence in 1992, there was an explosion of media outlets – many new newspapers, magazines and commercial TV channels entered the market. Comparing the levels of Estonians’ media use in 1999 with the level of 1984, there was a decrease in newspaper reading, and a remarkable increase in radio listening and especially in TV viewing (Vihalemm, 2006, p.19). Since the middle of 1990s, digitalisation of Estonian media market started. Nordic media owners Schibsted, Marieberg, Kinnevik and Bonnier entered the Estonian media market in the late 1990s but, in majority, sold their shares back to domestic owners. Marieberg did it few years after their purchase and Schibsted in 2014. Kinnevik (Modern Times Group) sold TV3 to the US originated Providence Equity in 2017. Many of these disposals were actuated by the economic recession in 2008, which decreased the revenues by about a third in Estonia. After the recession, Estonian private media companies have started expanding their income sources: cross-marketing and brand development across channels, platforms and several on-journalistic activities brought new stability to businesses (Kõuts, et al., 2019, p.8).
The ownership structure of Estonian media market is oligopolistic due to its very small size. By the end of the second decade of the 21st century, two large media corporations control the majority of media market: AS Ekspress Grupp and Postimees Grupp. These groups own media outlets also in other two Baltic states.
The small scale of the Estonian media sector favours oligopolistic market conditions, media convergence and developing cross-media ownership but affects the journalists’ job market and thus the level of professional journalism. The supremacy of two large media houses might be counterbalanced by effective policy measures that address the public need for balanced and credible information. Content regulation, however, may impact negatively freedom of expression (Lauk, Harro-Loit, 2022; Loit, 2018).
AS Ekspress Grupp is a Baltic media group whose key activities include web media content production (owns leading web media portals), publishing of daily and weekly newspapers, magazines and books. The group also manages electronic ticket sales platforms and ticket sales sites in Latvia and Estonia.
Postimees Grupp owns the daily of the same name along with its regional variants, TV channel Kanal 2 and radio station Kuku. Postimees Grupp is owned by Margus Linnamäe (78% stake) and Ivar Vendelin (20% stake) via various holding companies. In 2020 the Postimees Grupp separated the TV and radio channels into Duo Media Networks. Duo Media Networks operates 15 TV channels in 30 countries and in six languages, and also owns six radio stations in Estonia. Duo Media has about 60% of television market and 45% of radio market (Risto Rosmannus cited in Kuku Raadio, 2021). Via holding companies, Linnamäe owns 62% of Duo Media Networks, Vendelin 16%, plus Risto Rosimannus and Jüri Pihel own 10% each. (Ibid & calculation upon data of e-Business register).
Since the middle of 1990s, development of digitalisation has been quick. There were 1.22 million internet users in Estonia at the start of 2023, when internet penetration stood at 92.3% (Kemp, 2023). The number of digital subscriptions is raising. In 2023, business daily Äripäev ceased printing the paper version. Other outlets still publish the paper versions. The circulations have steadily gone down.
Daily Postimees has been the newspaper with the largest circulation since the title’s restoration in 1990. In 2021, however, Postimees Grupp ceased disclosing the circulations of all the published papers. The management substantiated that this particular indicator does not show anything – neither the number of readers nor subscribers (Janson, 2021). The Association of Media Enterprises still goes on (since 1998) collecting the data from other member newspapers, as they “value transparency” (Ibid). Media researchers also value that kind of transparency, as it is the measurer of the strength of journalism culture and an indicator of the performance of functions necessary for the general public (Kõuts-Klemm, 2021). This sudden decision by Postimees tends to indicate that, in the field of digitisation, Postimees Grupp lags behind Ekspress Grupp while preceded it in the field of print market (Ibid).
The only data on Postimees’s online consumption we could get was coverage in 2022 – 35.6%, compared to Delfi.ee’s corresponding indicator – 50.8%. Also, the coverage of Rus.Postimees in 2022 (13.8%) lags slightly behind the indicator of rus.delfi.ee (15.4%) (data provided by Kantar Emor). This confirms the claim above.
Another blank space regarding distribution has been the circulation and digital consumption of culture weekly Sirp, published by the state launched foundation Kultuurileht. The paper is not the member of the Association of Media Enterprises nor publishes the circulation data in the imprint/webpage. In personal e-mail correspondence (with U. Loit, April 2023), the chief editor Kaarel Tarand disclosed the last circulation number – 3,200 – adding that “Sirp immediately provides all of its content online for free, which presumably affects also the printing volume.” At the time, he claimed that the online readership stays around 20,000 visits a week.
Altogether, Estonia is not part of the digital news consumption research based on a YouGov survey (Digital News report) produced by Reuters Institute. Therefore, there is no publicly accessible data on digital news consumption concerning different outlets.
As to radio broadcasters, Sky Media radios and radios Tre/Ring/Ruut) represent not very transparent ownership-producing beneficiating relations in these radio conglomerations. In case of Sky Media, the licence holder is AS Taevaraadio, which has quite low turnover (0.27 m€ in 2021) and one employee. While the operations (since foundation in 1995) are carried out by mysterious Sky Media, which cannot be found in the commercial register (the English version of the broadcaster’s name). According to the website skymedia.ee, the company employs ten managers and 14 employees in the ad sales department. Above that, there are the programme hosts, probably as freelancers. In total, Taevaraadio runs six stations, many of which have coverage across the country. The similar case is with radio stations Tre, Ring FM and Ruut FM, which have separate licences all held by Ring FM Media OÜ but operated by another unknown body. As the licence holder has only one employee and turnover of 0.11 m€ (2021), there has to be another operator – the company employs altogether nine salespersons according to ringfm.treraadio.ee/reklaam and pohjaeesti.treraadio.ee/reklaam. Moreover, Tre, Ring FM and Ruut FM run a general syndicated programme with some local output in each region while the overall coverage area extends over the entire country. There is no clear explanation for such practices. One may assume that it has something to do with “optimizing” royalties and other payments counted upon company’s turnover.
Estonia has a strong public service broadcasting (PSB) media: the reliability of PSB is high (75% in average in 2021: 82% among Estonian speakers and 53% among Russophones – research data by Turu-uuringute AS (ERR, 2021). Important influence on the PSB content was elimination of advertising in 2002 (Loit & Siibak, 2013). Estonian television (Eesti Television – ETV) has website news in English. Estonian public television (ETV) has three channels (one in Russian); the public radio has five channels (one in Russian).
The Estonian media is intermingled with non-media business. In 2015, Margus Linnamäe became main owner of Postimees Grupp (the former Eesti Meedia), which includes, for example, Postimees, Kanal 2, several other TV channels both terrestrial and on cable and the radio company (former AS Trio LSL). Margus Linnamäe owns majority of investment firm MM Grupp. MM Grupp includes medicines wholesaler Magnum, several pharmacy chains, Postimees Grupp, TV networks such as Kanal 2 and KidZone, radio stations Kuku, Elmar and MyHits, as well as news agency BNS, Express Post, Biomarket, Pet City, iDeal, Forum Cinemas, Apollo movie theatres, Apollo TV (distributing end products through various technical projects, shops and cafes etc. MM Grupp also invested in news agencies in Lithuania.
In 2022 Mait Laidvee, whose main area of business is in the forestry sector, bought a majority stake in the company which publishes Diena, Latvia’s largest daily newspaper.
Main owner and responsible publisher of Ekspress Grupp Hans H. Luik has also different business interests. On 21.06.2021 he explained his business interests in real estate business that are related his media business with a following example: “Ten years ago, I did an analysis that surprised me. Namely, the foreign companies that made press in Estonia (the Swedes of Business Day, the owners of TV3 London and the Norwegians of Postimees) did not want to own the buildings where their editorials were located. Over the decades, good competitors have paid millions in rent to the landlords here. But the truth is that in times of turmoil for the media, owning these houses was actually a more foolproof business than the media itself!” (Luik, 2021).
When in 2014 Ekspress Grupp needed to buy out the shares of Postimees Grupp in the hitherto joint venture of Õhtuleht non-media investors and, at the time of writing this report, among the owners of Õhtuleht Kirjastus appears a company named Kasperwiki Laevaomanikud OÜ (laevaomanikud – ship owners, in Est.), which in 2021 had a turnover of 108.66 m€: the company is involved in the interactions of Alexela, a fuel trading company.
The distribution system of printed news has lost its importance gradually during the second decade of the 20th century. The distribution system of newspapers and magazines (printed press) was changed in April 2023: Ekspress Grupp and Postimees Grupp, sold the newspaper home delivery service AS Express Post to the state-owned postal company Omniva in major cities (Viljandi, Pärnu, Tartu, and Tallinn). The purpose of the transaction was to find a more sustainable economic model for newspaper home delivery (Omniva, 2022). Moreover, Omniva was not prepared taking over the delivery volumes of Express Post and insufficient service continues to be provided during writing this report (June-July 2023).
In addition, newspaper publishing costs will be increasing as of 2025, as, in June 2023, Riigikogu passed a law increasing the VAT rate on press publications from its current level 5% to 9%.
Generally, Estonian regulation concerning ownership (mergers and acquisition) is rather “deregulation” (like in Denmark and Sweden) (European Commission, 2020: 139, 174).
All business-related information in Estonia is available in electronic registers. Access to the Commercial Register is public and as of September 2022 also free (including the insolvency register, the annual reports of companies, the financial results and also the annual reports of NGOs and foundations). Under the law, the names of the final beneficiaries of the companies need to be declared to the Commercial Register and this data is publicly accessible. However, the statements about the beneficiaries are not actively monitored by the state and, thus, indistinctness may occur (as it is regards Sky Media and Tre/Ring/Ruut, see above).
In 2010, Riigikogu passed the Media Services Act to replace the heretofore Broadcasting Act (effective since 1994). This sets the legal framework for TV and radio broadcasting, inter alia, prescribing the programmes’ content details. In this Act, one article (Art. 15) applies to the entire journalistic media, regarding protection of journalistic sources. An amendment to the Media Services Act in March 2022 sets provisions of this Act concerning video-sharing platforms apply to the video-sharing platform operator, making a reference to the provisions of the Information Society Services Act applying to the video-sharing platform operators, “taking into account the specifications provided for” in the Media Services Act (Art. 31).
Other relevant laws are the Estonian Public Broadcasting Act and the General Part of the Economic Activities Code Act. There are media-specific competition rules in the Media Services Act and in the Estonian Public Broadcasting Act. Apart from these media-specific competition rules, there is no other media-specific law on ownership or media ownership transparency.
The field of news distribution over the internet and social media is covered by the Electronic Communications Act (entered into force on 01.01.2005). While there is no licensing or other content-wise regulation for internet, the above-mentioned Act lays down the general principles for spectrum allocation. This Act frames the Radio Frequency Allocation Plan, which has adopted the principle of technological neutrality since 2005, and the principle of service neutrality as of 25 May 2011 (Loit & Siibak, 2013).
Information Society Services Act (entry into force on 01.05.2004) provides for the requirements for information society service providers.
While taking into consideration the transparency of decision-making power at four it can be summarised that on legal level the legal owner as well as individual owners are recognisable because of the public access to Business Register. The transparency of financial beneficiaries, as well as managerial decision makers is different: radio sector is less transparent, while the newspapers sector is most transparent. As Estonia is a very small country the relations between individuals are known to people who are related to media sector, now and then news stories (interviews, memoirs) about changes in media ownership, editorial decisions etc. inform public also about the relations between owners. However, this kind of information is fragmented and spread over time and is therefore “accessible” for people of some previous knowledge.
The transparency of editorial policy (e.g. employment of editors-in chief) is low. In comparison to other post-socialist countries, Estonian media outlets have not been related to political parties. Some outlets have been (periodically) slightly biased towards one or another political ideology. However, as the market is so small the outlets cannot afford strong political polarisation, as this would narrow their target market and could not be economically capable.
There is no publicly accessible data on news consumption. The commercial research about media usage is carried out by several research agencies but mostly in the interest of different media planning and advertising agencies. In the framework of the Standard Eurobarometer the data about media usage will be regularly collected on a very general level (number of users and trust in media) (Harro-Loit, Lauk, et al, 2022). Therefore, currently there is not publicly accessible, updated and reliable information (at the level of outlets) enabling to assess the influence of digital information intermediaries or linear distributors.
ERR (2021). ERR-i usaldusväärsus on viimase viie aasta kõrgeim [The trustworthiness of the PSB is the highest of the last five years], 16 Dec, https://www.err.ee/1608438134/err-i-usaldusvaarsus-on-viimase-viie-aasta-korgeim
European Commission (2020) Study on the implementation of the new provisions in the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) Final report, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology
Harro-Loit, H.; Lauk, E.; Kõuts, R.; Parder, M.-L.; Loit, U. (2022). ESTONIA. Risks and Opportunities Related to Media and Journalism Studies (2000–2020). Case Study on the National Research and Monitoring Capabilities.In: S tudies on national media research capability as a contextual domain o f the sources of ROs. Approaching deliberative communication: Studies on monitoring capability and on critical junctures of media development in 14 EU countries, CS1, D-2.1, pp. 126–160. Mediadelcom. https://www.mediadelcom.eu/publications/d21-case-study-1/est/
Janson, A. (2021). Postimees otsustas statistika avaldamisest loobuda. [Postimees ceased to disclose statistics]– ERR, 3 June.
Kemp, S. (2023). Digital 2023: Estonia. DataReportal. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2023-estonia
Kõuts-Klemm, R. (2021). Läbipaistvuse küsimus. Ajalehetiraažide avaldamata jätmine kui sümboolne surmakuulutus paberlehtedele [Question of transparency. Non- disclosure of circulations as a symbolic obituary]. Sirp, 15 Oct.
Kõuts-Klemm, R.; Harro-Loit, H.; Ibrus, I. et al. (2019). Meediapoliitika olukorra ja arengusuundade uuring. [Report on the state of media policy and its developments] Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli ühiskonnateaduste instituut; Tallinn: Tallinna Ülikool. https://www.digar.ee/arhiiv/et/raamatud/12168
Kuku Raadio (2021). Olukorrast ajakirjanduses » Arengutest telemaastikul ja ajakirjanikest-loovisikutest [State of the Art in Journalism » About developments on television landscape and journalists–creative workers]. Postimees.ee. 28 Jun, https://www.postimees.ee/7281213/olukorrast-ajakirjanduses-arengutest-telemaastikul-ja-ajakirjanikest-loovisikutest
Lauk, E.; Harro-Loit, H.; Kõuts-Klemm, R.; Parder, M.-L.; Loit, U. (2022). ESTONIA. Critical junctures in the media transformation process. In:. Country case studies on critical junctures in the media transformation process in Four Domains of Potential ROs (2000–2020). Approaching deliberative communication: Studies on monitoring capability and on critical junctures of media development in 14 EU countries, CS2, D-2.1, pp. 166–201. Mediadelcom. https://www.mediadelcom.eu/publications/d21-case-study-2/est/
Loit, U. (2018). Implementation of Media Governance. A Liberal Approach in the Context of a Small Market. Doctoral dissertation. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän yliopisto. https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/59953
Loit, U.; Siibak, A. (2013). Mapping Digital Media: ESTONIA. 1−84. Mapping Digital Media: Estonia – Open Society Foundations
Luik, H. (2021). Hans H. Luik avameelselt oma kinnisvaraärist: Armastan laenu nagu türklane halvaad [Hans H. Luik opens up his real estate business: I like credit like a Turk likes halvah]. Eesti Ekspress, 21 Jun.
Omniva (2022). Meediamajad sõlmisid lepingu Express Posti aktsiate müügiks Omnivale [Media houses signed a contract selling the shares of Express Post to Omniva). 3 Mar, (https://www.omniva.ee/meie/uudised/koik_uudised/news/meediamajad_solmisid_lepingu_express_posti_aktsiate_muugiks_omnivale)
Reisenbuk, K. (2016). Internet giants earn tax-free millions in Estonia. 27 Dec. news.postimees.ee, https://news.postimees.ee/3959375/internet-giants-earn-tax-free-millions-in-estonia
Statistics Estonia (n.d.). Television and radio. https://www.stat.ee/en/find-statistics/statistics-theme/culture/television-and-radio. Retrieved in July 2023.
Statista Research Department (2023). Market share of leading social media websites in Estonia 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1165914/market-share-of-the-most-popular-social-media-websites-in-estonia/#:~:text=Published%20by%20Statista%20Research%20Department%2C%20Mar%2010%2C%202023,percent%20of%20all%20Estonian%20social%20media%20site%20visits
Vihalemm, Peeter (2006), Media use in Estonia: Trends and Patterns, Nordicom review 27(1), 17-29
Country report published in September 2023
The EurOMo is a pilot project co-funded by the European Commission to monitor media ownership transparency in Europe. It is operated by a consortium of higher education institutions (HEIs) and research institutes, coordinated by the University of Salzburg.
Prof. Josef Trappel
[email protected], +43 8044 4167
Dr. Tales Tomaz
[email protected], +43 8044 4195
Dept. of Communication Studies
University of Salzburg
Rudolfskai 42, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
