Finnish advertising market declined by 42% in May 2020, Sanoma outperformed the market

Sanoma Corporation, Press release, 18 June 2020 at 15:45 EET

Finnish advertising market declined by 42% in May 2020, Sanoma outperformed the market

According to the market research published by Kantar TNS Finland today, the Finnish media advertising market declined by 42.2% in May (-41.2% excluding the impact of the Finnish and EU parliamentary elections held in spring 2019), whereas Sanoma’s advertising sales (incl. the impact of elections, excl. the regional news media business acquired on 30 April 2020) declined by 32.2% (-31.5% excl. the election impact).

Advertising sales in the regional news media business, which Sanoma acquired on 30 April 2020, declined by 45.6% in May. The decline was in-line with the market development both in print and digital advertising.

In January-May 2020, Sanoma’s advertising sales declined by 17.1% compared to a market decline of 23.6%. During January-May Sanoma has outperformed the market and thus increased its market share in TV and radio advertising, while in newspapers, magazines and online Sanoma’s development has been broadly in-line with the market.

Finnish advertising market development by media group in groups relevant to Sanoma is presented in the table below.

Finnish advertising market development

Media group	May 2020	YTD May 2020
Newspapers	-46.1%	-31.8%
Magazines	-42.8%	-19.2%
TV	-37.0%	-19.8%
Radio	-47.2%	-28.2%
Online *	-26.0%	-10.8%
Total	-42.2%	-23.6%

* excl. search and social media

Source: Kantar TNS Oy

According to Kantar TNS, the decline in May was driven in particular by advertising of travel, telecom and financial services as well as cars. Advertising of oil and energy as well as detergents grew. Advertising continued to decline in all media groups and advertising types (brand advertising, retail advertising and classifieds).

As published earlier, Sanoma estimates that the corona virus pandemic will have significant impacts on its business during 2020. On 24 March, Sanoma temporarily withdrew its Outlook for 2020, which was given on 7 February, due to the corona virus pandemic. In the current continuously and rapidly evolving situation, it is too early to make reliable and specific estimates for an adjusted Outlook. Sanoma expects to give an updated Outlook for 2020 later during the year. Sanoma’s long-term financial targets remain unchanged.

Additional information
Investors: Kaisa Uurasmaa, Head of Investor Relations and CSR, Sanoma Corporation, tel. [phone]
Media: Hanna Johde, Communications Director, Sanoma Media Finland, tel. [phone]

Sanoma

Sanoma is a front running learning and media company impacting the lives of millions every day. We enable teachers to excel at developing the talents of every child, provide consumers with engaging content, and offer unique marketing solutions to business partners.

Today, we have operations in ten countries including Finland, the Netherlands and Poland. Our net sales totalled EUR 900 million and we employed approx. 3,500 professionals in 2019. Sanoma shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. More information is available at www.sanoma.com.