Conclusion
The most dramatic change in the Finnish mass media landscape after the 1980s has been the decrease by 45 percent in the total circulation of print newspapers from the record of 4.1m copies in 1991 to 2.3m copies in 2014. The ramifications from losses in circulation losses are still being felt. Newspaper markets are near saturation and new market niches are hard to find. The trend towards newspaper chains has subsided, but it is highly probable that acquisitions and mergers among newspaper companies will take place.
High readership for print media continues in Finland, but not at earlier levels, especially in the younger generations. However, high Internet usage is a consequence of high literacy in the country.
Newspaper houses have reacted and learned to adapt to the new business environment shaped by digitalisation and the landslide of the Internet. Newspaper houses still exist, but have transformed into multichannel media houses. Predictions about print newspapers being a sunset industry are coming true, but newspapers may find a new existence with the help of digital networks.
In most Finnish localities people no longer have a choice between subscription newspapers, but between a newspaper and free-of-charge papers. They can select from around twenty radio and television channels, transmitted from a distance, on the screen of a tablet or a smartphone. If people do not like what is available, they can easily change the channel. Readers, listeners, viewers and visitors are challenging the media by their choices and changes in their media behaviour. The mass media have to know them better.