Media and Advertising Market Trends of Estonia in 2021

In 2021, the total volume of the Estonian advertising market was 96 million Euros, growing by as much as 18% compared to the previous year, and showing a small 2 percent decrease compared to the year before the previous one.

With an annual growth of almost one fifth, it must be taken into account that the COVID-19 virus outbreak that started in 2020 hit the world very unexpectedly, sending the advertising market turnover downwards sharply in all countries. Estonia was no exception. The local advertising market fell the most in the second quarter of 2020. The last quarter of 2020 showed signs of stabilization in the advertising market, and 2021 as a whole almost reached the level of the previous year (though remaining in the red by 2.3%), while in the second half of 2021, the media advertising market grew by 9.5% (compared to the same period in 2019).

In terms of advertising market share, the largest share in 2021 is still in the hands of television (28.1%), (as it was in the previous years), earning 27 million Euros. The share of the local internet advertising market in the total volume was 26.1%, reaching 25.16 million Euros, just slightly below that of television. The share of outdoor advertising was 18.2% (17.52 million Euros). Advertising in print newspapers accounted for 12.8% of the total market and amounted to just over 12 million Euros. Last year, the volume of radio advertising made up 10.8% of the total market and earned 10.42 million Euros. The share of magazines was 4%, and the volume was 3.86 million Euros. 

Looking at the growth percentages of advertising spending by media type, we must also compare the previous year of decline in order to understand what impact the special situation announced at the beginning of 2020 has had on media consumption and the usage of media types, which has clearly been reflected in the proportions of advertising volumes. 

Although the financial volume of advertising investments in all media types has increased in 2021 (compared to 2020), not all media types have been able to achieve their former attractiveness, lagging behind the volumes of 2019. Compared to 2019, in 2021, more than half of the media types could grow: internet (12.1%), outdoor media (2.6%), and television (2.3%). Radio, magazines and newspapers have not been able to recover their advertising volume due to the obvious changes in consumer behavior triggered by the lockdown of 2020. The figures of listening to radio channels and reading print media is no longer at their former levels.

As a consequence of the special situation of 2020, the emphasis in marketing – as well as in consumers' media usage preferences – has been directed towards online channels. It should be noted that besides local Estonian websites, a large volume of advertising flows to foreign internet companies. According to Kantar Emor’s data, 21.5 million Euros of advertising money moved out of Estonia through 13 major agencies in 2021, an astonishingly huge part of the total advertising spending of 25.16 million Euros. Compared to 2020, Estonian advertising money invested in Google and Facebook has increased by as much as 33% and compared to the year before the pandemic, by as much as 41%.

The most popular media segments in Estonia in terms of daily reach were search (78%), social media (77%), local internet portals (70%), commercial TV (53%), commercial radio (47%), OOH (34%), in-store radio (29%), newspapers (26%), and DOOH (19%).