The media world turned upside down

Written exclusively for AmCham by Robbin Battison, Battison & Partners AB
Photos by Alexander Farnsworth

The AmCham Media Committee organized an inspiring seminar on the media landscape on May 10 for the network. An introduction was made by the AmCham Media Committee chair, Hampus Stenberg, Nordic Cluster Public Affairs Officer at Citi. The discussion was skillfully managed by Magnus Höij, Editor-in-Chief, Internet World and summary remarks were supplied by Finn Wallman, Partner at 4C Strategies AB. Over 100 members and guests attended.

Printed newspapers and advertisers are struggling to adapt and survive as consumers adopt new media habits. Content owners are looking for new media channels. Bloggers are competing with established media. According to some, the ethical goalposts are being moved down the field. How did this happen?

The story has at least three perspectives in Sweden – corporate, editorial and legal – according to a distinguished panel:

Thomas Mattson, Editor-in-Chief, Expressen
Krister Karjalainen, Head of Digital Media, Procter & Gamble
Martin Ingemansson, Country Manager Sweden, Facebook
Stefan Brandt, Lawyer, Baker & McKenzie

Left to right: Finn Wallman, 4C Strategies AB; Thomas Mattson, Editor-in-Chief, Expressen; Hampus
Stenberg, Citi; Magnus Höij, Editor-in-Chief, Internet World; Martin Ingemansson, Facebook; Stefan Brandt, Baker & McKenzie; Krister Karjalainen, Procter & Gamble and Berit Salheim, AmCham.

Several of the speakers pointed out Sweden's unique position as a practical media laboratory. Sweden has the fourth most active newspaper readership in the world, but the business model in Sweden is under pressure, because print circulation topped back in 1971. When it comes to new media, Sweden is interesting because it has high broadband and mobile penetration; Facebook penetration is high and Youtube penetration is the highest in the world.


Thomas Mattson, Expressen, in a conversation with Stefan Brandt, Baker & McKenzie


Magnus Höij, InternetWorld and Martin Ingemansson, Facebook


Krister Karjalainen, Procter & Gamble


Stefan Brandt


Participants enjoying mingle after presentation.

In the words of Finn Wallman, the media landscape is turning upside down because the public is demanding speed from old media. "Every cell phone is a potential reporter and we expect 24/7 media. This leads to a change in news reporting, because there is no time or validation and quality assurance.  The biggest threat is to maintaining high quality."

Now Expressen has 1.6 million users reading its digital version in different channels.  With seven million unique visitors per month, Expressen is on a par with the tenth-ranking paper in the US. Aftonbladet has about 2.5 million readers.

Thomas Mattson sees a decline in the US, with many newspapers failing. While European newspapers have invested in color printing and supplements as revenue increasers, he hasn't seen the same kind of reinvestment and business development in the US. Even Pulitzer-winning papers have had deep staff cuts, and their internet coverage often lacks video coverage.

"Swedish newspapers have the most advanced internet sites," said Mattson. "They use 3G and 4G, digital TV, web TV and more. Uppsala Nya Tidning has a more advanced web version than the New York Times." (Read Mattsons own comments about the seminar on http://blogg.expressen.se/thomasmattsson/)

Another trend is that media identities and boundaries are being blurred. As Krister Karjalainen put it, "Is Facebook a TV channel? Are Red Bull and Oriflame brands, or are they media companies?"

And Martin Ingemansson agreed that boundaries are changing: "Our competition is not Microsoft or Google, but TV3, TV4 and Aftonbladet. Without users, we're an empty shell. At Facebook, we concentrate on building the user base. Without users, you can't monetize. We think it's better with a dialog between user and brand, less push and more pull."

"Facebook started out as a site for kids, but we now see our fastest growth in the over-45s. We have 4.5 million users in Sweden – real people with real interests and real values."

"We want to be where consumers are, and they're spending a lot of time online," said Karjalainen. "The insights we get from our Nordic market experience can be leveraged on other markets. For our new Aussie brand hair products, our online campaign generated over two million blog visits. We achieved market leadership
our first year, with a market penetration of 26% for the conditioner and 18% for the shampoo."

"When it comes to the legal aspects, there are many issues," remarked Stefan Brandt. "Constitutional rights, freedom of the press, freedom of speech. In traditional media, someone is responsible for content, no one can tamper with it. That system doesn't work so well with new technology, because readers can influence the content. Old media had good protection in the form of ethical rules and gentleman's agreements. You used to be able to take a day or two to verify sources before deciding to publish something, but those days are gone. You must publish immediately, which means ethics are not the same anymore."


Hampus Stenberg, Citi, Chairman of the AmCham Media Committee
with a guest

Participants mingle.

Mattson sees conflicts arising since the Swedish press operates under the most restrictive system in the world, and is subject to discipline by the press complaints office.

"And while I admire social media," said Mattson, "some elements are using their relative freedom to challenge newspapers, but not on equal terms. Young people tend not to understand how constrained we are by the law. So I think we will see news media adapting a more international perspective."