A milieu polarised by three editing companies and stabilised by the state

The media market remains organised in the long term based on three editorial pillars. First, the RTL group based in Luxembourg City, with a television news bulletin (RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg), radio program (RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg) and website (rtl.lu) that attract the largest audience in their sectors, with 90,000, 146,300 and 192,300 daily viewers/listeners, respectively, in 2022. Second, Mediahuis Luxembourg (previously called Saint Paul) with a main media outlet produced in Luxembourg City (the Luxemburger Wort) that is characterised by the prominent attraction of its print version compared with its website (respectively, 121,300 daily readers and 88,100 daily users in the same year). Third, the Editpress company, with a main symbolic and historical newspaper, Tageblatt, produced in Esch-sur-Alzette (the capital city of the industrial south) that was far less attractive in 2022 in print and online (respectively, 26,100 readers 20,200 users) (Ilres, 2022). Both Mediahuis Luxembourg and Editpress have developed a business strategy of ownership diversification in the Grand Duchy (TV magazines, other newspapers, music radio stations targeting the youth, etc.). This diversification has enabled them to increase or stabilise their advertising revenue in a small market where media economics have been strongly based on this commercial aspect — as in the US and Canada, and far more than most European countries (OECD, 2011). However, each group has tended to develop its own path. Editpress has increased its business deals with foreign media companies while retaining 50% of shares in the companies created to manage these outlets in the Luxembourg market. For example, Edita for L‘essentiel is owned partly by the Swiss TX Group (previously called Tamedia); L‘essentiel has a public more important than the Luxemburger Wort in the print media if we include cross-border workers, and its Internet audience is equivalent to that of rtl.lu. Saint-Paul tended more to diversify its output based on its own capital until it was absorbed by the Belgian group Mediahuis in 2020. However, the board of Mediahuis Luxembourg is still chaired and directed by Luxembourg citizens. Furthermore, the website of Mediahuis Luxembourg signals a continued belief in the values of the past owner, the archdiocese of Luxembourg: the social doctrine of Catholicism.

The absorption of Saint-Paul by Mediahuis, as well as other events at the turn of the decade, show a certain fragility of print press economics. These other events include the ending in 2019 of Le Jeudi, a French-language quality weekly newspaper edited by Editpress for more than two decades, and the cessation of the print version of the liberal daily Lëtzebuerger Journal in 2021. All the media outlets in the market face the same economic paradox. They are all located in a small market, with a growing number of residents and cross-border workers possessing among the highest revenues worldwide. This can consequently attract advertisers marketing goods and services in the residential space of these potential consumers. However, it is a very fragmented market, with 180 different national groups involving language barriers, diverging news agenda interests, a lack of broad knowledge and interest in local and national news related to Luxembourg, and facilitated access to media of countries of origin for these national groups. For instance, the French TV channels TF1, France 2 and M6 do not present news about Luxembourg, but were regularly watched by a cumulative daily audience of 96,500 people in 2022 — more than that of RTL Tele Lëtzebuerg (Ilres, 2022). The economic situation for the press has become even more severe with the increasing tendency for people to be informed for free, online or in print (free dailies). Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic might have led to a contraction of advertising resources. The media market can nevertheless count on the support of the Luxembourg state.

Four main state policies have been adopted to support the media market in the long term. First, reduced VAT, as in many European countries. Second, the state is a provider of advertising revenue in the press. The most circulated paid newspapers have been the top beneficiaries of this; however, this does not mean that the more peripheral dailies have been ignored. For instance, the communist Zeitung vum Lëtzebuerger Vollek newspaper, read daily by fewer than 5,000 people, was given more than 0.9 million euros between 2014 and 2021 (Gouvernement du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, 2021). Third, the state has developed a long-term policy of direct support for the press to secure its plurality. This support targets the paid and print press, based on the number of printed pages in the past. It evolved in 2021, notably with support given to print, online, paid and free press based on the number of employed professional reporters and on a basis of 30,000 euros per year and per full-time equivalent journalist. The total subvention for direct support to the press was 10.4 million euros in 2022 (Gouvernement du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, 2023). Out of all the European countries, the Grand Duchy gives the most support to its press industry through direct funding in relative terms if we consider the very small size of its market. It delivers financial support equivalent to that attributed by the Austrian and Belgian federal states for their respective and medium-size media markets (News Media Europe, 2022). Fourth, the state has developed conventions with three audiovisual groups to secure public service programs: the private company RTL, the public radio station 100,7 and the associative radio ARA. For example, the state assumes responsibility for the deficit of the RTL television, radio and digital public service content up to a certain sum. The latest convention, signed in 2022 for the years 2024 to 2030, reveals that the state will give the private group more than 11 million euros a year at the beginning of the period, and up to nearly 15 million by the end of it. This important and direct public support by the state can be explained with four reasons. First, a long-term political choice of the state to support its media sector. Second, the relatively limited number of media outlets to be supported, compared with larger countries. Third, the wealth of the state. Fourth, the difficulty to maintain a plural media environment in a small and linguistically diverse market without strong public intervention.