Why so?

According to numbers published by Mediebyråforeningen, total income for radio advertising in Norway was down 10.7 % in 2018 compared to 2017. This figure pertians only to national advertising sold through agencies but it represents the lion’s share of ads on national radio in Norway. In 2018 they sold 380 million Kroner worth of national radio ads or approximtley 62.5 million Australian dollars. 

The Norwegians blame the revenue slump on the FM shutdown of 2017 which resulted in a huge loss of listeners for the Norwegian national stations. However local radio stations continue to broadcast on FM and is outside of these numbers and are seemingly unaffected.  

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Sweden, according to a report in radionytt.no radio advertising was up by a massive 22.4 % in 2018 for the same period. Sweden launched three new national channels in 2018 – all of them were commercial stations broadcasting on FM. 

Go figure.