Norwegian media have for many years given a lot of space to cover Norway’s national sport. But in the last six years, interest has declined sharply, figures from the analysis company Retriever Noreg show. Cross-country skiing is still the winter sport that receives the most mention in the Norwegian media, but much less than in Marit Bjørgen and Petter Northug’s golden years. Between 2010 and 2018, the number of notices about cross-country skiing in Norwegian media was between 30,000 and 35,000 a year. Last year, the number was down to 23,614. So far this year, 14,248 cases have been published about cross-country skiing. National team coach for the women’s cross-country skiing Pål Gunnar Mikkelsplass believes there is a complex explanation for the development. – Perhaps the media have less money, they travel less. There are many other sports. Our girls are compared to Haaland, for example, Mikkelsplass rams up. He meets news during the press meeting for the women’s national team at the Mosetertoppen stadium on Wednesday. – Declining interest is never positive. But I don’t think it has only happened with cross-country skiing, says Mikkelsplass. Less competition and fewer profiles Analysis manager Benedicte Andersen in Retriever Norway points to several reasons for the decline: PROFILE LACK: Analysis manager Benedicte Andersen in Retriever Norway believes Petter Northug’s cross-country exit is one of the reasons why media coverage of cross-country skiing has decreased. Photo: Sara Johanna Ringhagen / news – We like to win in cross-country skiing. But we want more competition. We see that in recent years Norwegians are clearly the best and take turns being on the podium, she says. – You lose a bit of that novelty value in that there is a bit of bad competition with other nations, she adds. Andersen also highlights the lack of big profiles that offer themselves. – After all, Petter Northug was in a special class there. He received a lot of media coverage, and is the most talked about winter athlete in the last 15 years. It is only Marit Bjørgen who has approached that level when it comes to being visible in the media, she says. Several channels and platforms A third reason could be that the media landscape has changed a lot in recent years and that it is no longer just news that broadcasts championships and competitions, Andersen believes. – There are several channels, platforms and many competing for the audience, she says, and explains that this does not only apply to winter sports, but also to championships in other sports. The analysis by Retriever Retriever has generally looked at the coverage of the entire sport of cross-country skiing, not just championships and individual athletes. Tala in the analysis includes all notices in Norwegian editorial sources, online, paper, TV and radio. Matters that are published both online and in paper count twice. The surveys cover the period 1 January 2010 to 28 September 2024. One of the main findings is that the number of notices about cross-country skiing has decreased from 35,805 in 2018 to 23,614 in 2023. This is a decrease of well over 30 per cent. Retriever has also looked at the media coverage of the biggest championships in cross-country skiing. Almost half as many stories were published about the Olympics in Beijing in 2022 as there were about the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. The World Cup in Oslo in 2011 received a lot of media coverage, with 479 reports every day during the championship, while during the World Cup in Planica last year there were published 196 cases each day. Media coverage of the Tour de Ski had a clear peak year in 2018, with 570 cases on average each day during the competition, compared to 147 cases on average each day this year. – You can no longer see everything linearly. And I think that has a lot to do with viewership and attention, in that it is more difficult to find the broadcasts from both the World Cup and the championship, she says. Therese Johaug says she herself struggles to find out where she can watch skiing. – It varies from news to TV 2 to Viaplay. I think it’s difficult myself. Who broadcasts the ski race, which channel should I click on? It might mean that people don’t care as much, because it’s a bit more cumbersome, she says in a press conference on Wednesday. Johaug believes that the athletes themselves must take responsibility for maintaining interest in cross-country skiing. – We have to offer more of ourselves. We have to dive more into our lives, be a fly on the wall and create a cool image, she says. Skiforbundet has other figures The Skiforbundet has been presented with figures in the analysis. Press manager Espen Graff in the association has sent the following comment by e-mail: UNEINIG: Head of communications and society Espen Graff in the Ski Association. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen – Cross-country skiing is together with football the most talked about sport in the country, and has a unique position in Norway. Several of the largest media houses in Norway report back that issues dealing with cross-country skiing are still among the most read, and the statement from our media agency shows that the media coverage is higher and more stable than the statement to news, writes Graff. – At the same time, it is important to emphasize that it is absolutely necessary to adapt to new requirements and a new reality. There is a lot of focus on this, he continued. Graff also writes that cross-country skiing, like everyone else, must “relate to a continuously changing media landscape and an audience with a different approach and different needs”. – That is why it is positive to have a discussion and a focus where, among other things, sponsors and athletes discuss what is important going forward in order to maintain the great interest. The commitment is great, writes Graff. Andersen in Retriever Norway emphasizes that there are still many cases being prepared about cross-country skiing. Since 2018, cross-country skiing is mentioned in 180,300 publications, while biathlon, by comparison, is mentioned in approx. 60,000 postings in the same period, and a jump of 55,500 postings, Retriever’s research shows. Equinor: – An attractive sport Last week it was announced that Equinor has finished as the main sponsor of cross-country skiing after the coming winter season. Nor will Sparebank 1 continue after the season. Thus, two of cross-country skiing’s three main sponsors are out. Last month, sponsor manager Stein Bugge at Sparebank 1 told VG that he had noticed that the visibility of the cross-country skiers had decreased. Sponsor manager Thea Moen at Equinor wrote in an e-mail to news that media coverage is not a factor in their assessment of the sponsorship agreement. – For our part, we have seen Norwegian cross-country skiing as an attractive sport for sponsors, writes Moen. Equinor is now making a change in who and what they will sponsor going forward, she explains. – As a company, we have an ambition to be a leader in the energy transition – and we also want our sponsorship agreements to clearly show that, writes Moen. Published 02.10.2024, at 18.59
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Media coverage of cross-country skiing has decreased sharply since 2018 – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
