Norwegian newspapers face fierce competition from Facebook and Google over advertising revenue

Norwegian newspapers, including Dagbladet, find themselves in fierce competition for advertising revenue against massive corporations like Facebook and Google. As users scroll through their feeds, the battle for attention intensifies.

Between 2017 and 2022, these international giants contributed significantly less in corporate taxes to Norway compared to Dagbladet. Specifically, Dagbladet paid 50.1 million kroner in taxes, while Google Norway and Facebook Norway paid 35.9 million kroner and 33.5 million kroner, respectively. This indicates that Dagbladet contributed 40% more tax than Google and 50% more than Facebook, attributed to the newspaper’s larger taxable profit in Norway.

Experts believe that Facebook and Google actually earn substantially more from the Norwegian advertising market, despite their reported lower earnings. Andreas Fjeldskår from Tax Justice Norway explains that since advertising is not a tangible product, these companies can generate revenue from Norway without establishing a permanent presence, thus avoiding local tax obligations.

Recent calculations by GroupM estimate that in 2022, Facebook’s revenue in Norway was around 4 billion kroner, while its reported income was just 68 million kroner. Google’s revenue was estimated at 6.5 billion kroner, yet it reported 345 million kroner.

The decline of advertising revenue in Norwegian media has been alarming, with a reported drop of 66% since its peak in 2007. Some estimates show that Google and Facebook held 42% of the Norwegian advertising market in 2023.

These lower revenues have led to job cuts in various media organizations, raising concerns among groups like the Norwegian Union of Journalists regarding the fairness of competitive conditions and the potential threat to the diversity of the Norwegian media landscape. Many urge the government to intervene and seek a more equitable taxation system suitable for the digital economy.