By Martin Lucander, Partner & Trusted Communications Advisor,
Aspekta AB 

Business environment in Sweden
Sweden is an EU member state and benefits greatly from the free movement of goods, services, people, and capital. Located in the middle of the Nordic region, Sweden has historically also cultivated strong trade relations and close cooperation with its neighbouring Nordic countries. Other main trade and export partners are Germany, the USA, and the UK.

The Swedish economy is highly developed, competitive, open, diverse, and export-oriented and dependent on free international trade. The economy is characterised by a strong entrepreneurial tradition, innovation-driven businesses, and the development of many novel technical solutions across several business sectors, such as engineering, manufacturing & industrials, IT & telecom, and life sciences. Moreover, Sweden’s stable political environment, a society with strong democratic institutions, a highly educated labour force, well-functioning legal system, and modern communication infrastructure creates an attractive investment climate.

Communications, media and PR market in Sweden
Sweden is considered to be one of the most digitalised countries in the world. A recent study showed that internet usage is at 96% and almost half (45%) of Swedes use social media as a news source. The media sector has undergone a far-reaching digitalisation over the past decade, and while print newspapers remain relevant, they play a subordinate role in the overall media landscape. Given the country’s modest size of population (10.5 million), there are accordingly fewer media outlets compared to bigger European media markets. The media landscape is characterised by a few major media groups, i.e. the commercial companies ‘Bonnier Group’ and ‘Schibsted’, as well as the public service organisations ‘Swedish Radio and Television’ (SVT) and ‘Swedish Broadcasting Corporation’ (SR). Main media outlets are Dagens Nyheter (news), Dagens Industri (business), Svenska Dagbladet (news), and Sydsvenskan (news).

Top 3 advice to navigate Swedish the media 

1. Be succinct: When pitching to Swedish journalists, refrain from over-detailed descriptions and superlative language. Describe your story briefly and succinctly, emphasising what it is about and its news-worthiness. If possible, define the unique aspects already in the mail subject, include contact information, and attach additional information (e.g. press release) to the e-mail.

2. Use Swedish: Unless directed to a Swedish-based English media outlet, communicate in Swedish during pitch e-mails and ensure that attached materials are translated. The additional task of translating your story will undoubtedly hamper journalists’ interest. Working through an intermediary – such as an agency – could therefore be helpful.

3. Don’t oversell: In general, Swedes are rather suspicious towards hyperbolic language about an event, product, corporate initiative, etc. and may instead come to doubt the truthfulness of a message. Temper the language of information, provide a moderately positive tone, and focus on receiver value.

Most influential media for consumer communication in Sweden
Aftonbladet is a top-tier tabloid focusing on bringing entertainment alongside daily news updates. The tabloid has one of the largest readerships in Sweden and is part of the Schibsted Media Group.

Expressen is another top-tier tabloid featuring entertainment as well as news, debate articles and investigative journalism. Part of the Bonnier Group.

TV4 is the leading commercial TV channel in Sweden incorporating a diverse broadcasting coverage of both news reporting as well as entertainment.

Most influential media for corporate communications in Sweden
TT is the main news agency in Sweden and provides media outlets across Sweden with content and news articles. Coverage in TT usually results in wide media coverage and high impact.

SVT is the Swedish national public service TV broadcaster and is one of the main dominating media outlets in terms of reach and influence. SVT brings daily news reports and is among the media companies that are the most trusted by Swedes.

Dagens Industri is Sweden’s main business and industry newspaper covering both domestic and international corporate news of companies, industries, financial markets, and the economy. Target audiences are senior management, investors, public policy-makers, and industry.

Dagens Nyheter as well as Svenska Dagbladet are two of the leading daily newspapers in Sweden covering both international and national news stories as well as being strong platforms for publishing opinion and debate articles.

Most popular social media channels in Sweden
YouTube: 8.7 million users
Facebook: 5.65 million users – mainly Millennials and Generation Z.
Instagram: 5.5 million users – particularly popular among young women.
LinkedIn: 4.76 million users – popular among men born in the 60s-70s .
Snapchat: 4 million users – most people born in the ’00s and ’90s 
TikTok: 3.39 million users – fastest growing social media in 2023
X: 2.6 million users. X is a popular platform among Swedish men as the proportion of men who use X is greater than the number of female users.

Most important international events in Sweden in 2024

The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 – This international songwriting competition is the world’s largest live music event and will this year take place in Malmö, Sweden. The Eurovision Song Context gathers approx. 160 million viewers globally and is an important cultural event that brings together European nations every year. https://eurovision.tv/event/malmo-2024

Almedalsveckan – Almedalen week is an annual democratic and political meeting point that takes place for several days at the end of June on the Swedish island of Gotland. Here, policymakers, NGOs, lobbyists, consultants and people from various industries and backgrounds get together and debate, network, and have meetings on different societal, corporate, and social issues. https://www.almedalsveckan.info/english

The European Parliamentarian Election – Between June 6 and 9, Swedes as well as other EU member-states, are going to the polls to elect the members of the EU Parliament that will drive EU legislation for the next five years. https://elections.europa.eu/en/

Sweden by the Numbers*
Population 10.5 million
Languages spoken Swedish
Religions (% of population) Protestant (63.9%), other Christian (4.1%), Muslim (2.5%), not religious (26.8%)
GDP per capita $56,785 (2023)
(Real) GDP growth rate -0.2% (2023)
Inflation rate 2.5% (Feb. 2024)
Unemployment rate 8.5% (Feb. 2024)
Key sectors and industries (% of GDP) Services (63.62%), industry (23.95%), agriculture (1.46%), other (10.97%) – 2022
Mobile penetration (X per 100 people) 97 (2023)
Internet users (% of population) 96% (2023 – over age 16)
Corporate profit tax: 20.6 (2023)
Rate of consumer tax or VAT: 25% (2024)

* Statistical data from Ekonomifakta.se, Swedish Foreign Ministry and the Swedish Statistical Central Database (SCB).

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Scandinavian Communications
Email: cr@scandcomm.com
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