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This paper investigates the demand for televised football games. It examines how factors specific to television on the one hand and factors specific to the football game on the other hand, influence the viewing figures of televised football. In our case we are analysing viewing figures for football matches from the Norwegian top division shown on the Norwegian public service channels NRK1 (financed by licence fee) and TV2 (financed by advertising) in the period 1998Á2007, and viewing figures for football matches from the Danish top league on the Danish commercial cable and satellite channel 3' in the same period. The purpose of the analysis is to identity (a) the motivation of different segments of viewers to watch televised football; and (b) potential scheduling practices of different television companies based on factors that influences viewing preferences. Findings suggest that the viewer ratings of televised football are dependent on factors related to scheduling than by football interests among the audience. Ultimately, the study supports the theory of audience segmentation for public service broadcasters and commercial channels. Most viewers on public service broadcasters watch programs, also football games, driven by general viewing habits and scheduling strategies, while the smaller audience on a commercial channel is more likely to select programs based on presumed interests for the game.

In an attempt to manage a looming revenue crisis in their transition from print to digital, many local newspapers have implemented user payment (paywalls) in their online editions. This paper asks what the business and civic implications of such introduction of user payment are. Comparing audience metrics on a sample of eight local news websites (four Norwegian,four Danish) for 52 weeks before and after paywall introduction, this study finds that the numbers of both pageviews and unique visitors decrease upon the transition from free to feebased access to the news. Hard paywalls have a more negative immediate effect on traffic than soft paywalls. This difference equalizes over time and the traffic mainly remains at a decreased level regardless of paywall type. Traffic development in Norway is somewhat better than in Denmark in a short-term perspective, but national differences also even out over time. We posit that while paywalls may constitute a new revenue stream for local news media under financial pressure, they also challenge the civic function of the local news media since fewer people consult them.

This paper utilizes a nationally representative survey to gauge the ways in which media users engage with their local newspapers by using features that allow for sharing, liking, and commenting. The main results indicate that significant predictors for different types of news engagement vary, but that age and education emerge as two of the more interesting varieties. Implications are discussed—for instance, how both psychological and behavioral experiences constitute the concept engagement and how our results challenge the technology-optimistic argument that social media presence on a newspaper website promotes audience engagement in the journalistic process.