By Morten Suhr Hansen
The media industry is undergoing major consolidation across Scandinavia. Just a week ago, Norway’s Amedia announced its acquisition of 30% of the Danish media company JFM (formerly Jysk-Fynske Medier), following Amedia’s acquisition of the entire Berlingske Media less than a year ago.
The news follows two other recent acquisitions. About a month ago, Sweden’s Bonnier News Local announced its acquisition of the Danish media company Zetland, while JP/Politikens Hus invested an undisclosed multi-million sum in Altinget, which over the past 20 years has built a strong business around subscription-based B2B media.
There is no doubt that the Scandinavian news media market is moving towards a few, very large players, and this opens up opportunities to think even more strategically about bundling news products into more attractive subscription packages. Companies like Amedia, Bonnier News Local, and Schibsted have already successfully implemented this approach in Norway and Sweden, and now the phenomenon appears to be spreading to Denmark as well.
With +ALT, subscribers gain access to hundreds of news titles
In Norway, Amedia launched the subscription product +ALT six years ago as a cross-publication bundle covering more than 100 local newspapers. The idea is simple: By subscribing to +ALT, customers gain access to all 100+ local newspapers, the streaming service Direktesport, and a selection of paid podcasts.
This access comes at a relatively modest additional cost. A digital subscription to a single title might cost 259 NOK, while +ALT costs 299 NOK.
So, has it been successful? Absolutely. According to MediaWatch, Amedia reportedly has 433,000 digital +ALT subscribers, as of October 2025. Impressive numbers for a country with fewer inhabitants than Denmark.
The model has also been launched in Sweden by Bonnier News Local, of which Amedia is a co-owner. There, the model is called +ALLT, and it includes national titles such as Expressen and Dagens Nyheter, along with 40 local newspapers and a few other content services. +ALLT costs 249 SEK and currently has around 300,000 Swedish subscribers. This is fewer than in Norway, but it has also been on the market for a shorter period of time.
Amedia is not alone in offering this type of bundled news subscription. Its competitor Schibsted offers a similar product called ‘Full tilgang’ in Norway and ‘Superpaketet’ in Sweden. While the exact subscription numbers are not public, it is estimated that Schibsted has achieved similar success with its bundles, counting hundreds of thousands of subscribers in both Norway and Sweden.
Now +ALT is coming to Denmark
So why all this talk about news bundles in Norway and Sweden? Because, following its acquisitions of Berlingske Media and JFM, Amedia has announced plans to introduce a similar product in Denmark, modeled after +ALT.
According to JFM CEO Jesper Rosener, it can’t happen soon enough: “It’s obvious that we should establish +Alt in Denmark. We need to bring it to market as soon as possible. Our hope is that it will achieve the same success in Denmark as Amedia has created with +Alt in Norway and Sweden. We expect this model to increase the reach of our content,” Jesper Rosener told MediaWatch.
Without saying it outright, this likely refers to a subscription product where, for a single price, subscribers gain access to all paid content across titles such as Berlingske, Weekendavisen, Fyns Stiftstidende, JydskeVestkysten, and several other local newspapers. Interestingly, Amedia has also opened the door for titles not owned by the three media houses may still be included in the new bundle.
With a mix of national and local news media, the Danish +ALT will be more reminiscent of the Swedish model than the Norwegian one.
Can a news bundle move Danes’ willingness to pay for digital news?
But can Amedia, together with Berlingske and JFM, really succeed in creating a profitable business from a new news bundle in Denmark? That is, indeed, a good question. The market for paid digital news in Denmark is different from Norway and Sweden. As our own large study, the Scandinavian Subscription Survey from late 2024, shows. Willingness to pay is simply lower in Denmark.
This means Danes need to be convinced to a greater extent that paid news is worth the cost. Yet, an intelligent and attractive bundle could be one of way to achieve that.
Bundling is unquestionably a strong trend in the subscription world right now, across all industries.
