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Country profile

Luxembourg

Official name: Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Inhabitants: 645,397 (January 2020)
Official languages: Luxembourgish (national language), French (administrative language), German
Households: 211,000
Average household size: 2,44
Religions: Roman Catholic 98%, other 2%
Largest city: Luxembourg (124,509, January 2021)
Form of government: constitutional hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary-democratic system of government
Head of State: Grand Duke Henri, Duke of Nassau (since 7 October 2000)
Head of the government: Prime Minister Xavier Bettel (DP, appointed December 4, 2013)
EU-member since: 1952 (founding member)
Unemployment rate: 5,7% (2021)
Debt ratio of all public budgets: 18,2%
GDP per capita in purchasing power standards: 274 (Germany: 121; EU: 100)
GDP purchasing power parity global: 0,049%
Digital advertising spending: approx. 231 million euros (2021)
Broadcasting fees: no
Large media and communication companies: Cie SECS, Enterprise des P&T, ITI Holdings, iTunes SARL, M7 Group SA, Microsoft Luxembourg, Orange Luxembourg, Osmose Media SA, RTL9 SA, RTL Group SA, Saint-Paul Luxembourg SA, SES Global, TX Group

General

Luxembourgish journalists fulfill a special task that is rarely required in a global comparison: they usually report not in their native language, Luxembourgish, but in one of the country's other official languages. Many Luxembourgish media outlets are produced in German – traditionally considered the press language of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg – or French – the country's administrative language. The linguistic diversity of the Luxembourgish media landscape is complemented by the widespread use of broadcasting services from Luxembourg's neighboring countries. Thus, the average Luxembourgish population watches RTL Tele Luxembourg like the German television station PRO 7 and the French TF1The heterogeneity of Luxembourg's media landscape reflects the diversity of Luxembourg's population structure. 44 percent, or almost half of all residents, hold a passport other than Luxembourgish – a full 16 percent of them belong to the Portuguese-speaking minority.

International influence on the Luxembourg media system has increased steadily since the 1990s, as the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, due to its location in the heart of Europe and for tax reasons, attracts globally operating companies that manage their pan-European business from there. Major US corporations such as Apple, Microsoft or Netflix have established their offices in Luxembourg. The headquarters of information technology companies, such as the global satellite operator SES Global, the satellite platform M7 and the parent company of the Polish TVN, ITI Holding. The headquarters of Europe's leading entertainment group, RTL Group SA, is in Luxembourg.

As a consequence of the economic media crisis in Europe, readership numbers in Luxembourg have declined in recent years and production costs in the broadcasting sector have increased. Publishers in particular, but also television and radio stations, are increasingly dependent on advertising revenue. Critics see a connection here with what they have observed as a deterioration in journalistic quality in the Luxembourg media. Many of Luxembourg's media sectors are experiencing steady growth – digital advertising expenditures in particular more than doubled between 2017 and 2022 alone. The fact that Luxembourg's media advertising expenditure, despite this steady increase, is only a fraction of that of other European countries shows how small the Grand Duchy's media market truly is. By comparison, in Germany, gross advertising investments in the mass media are sometimes 100 times those in Luxembourg.

Fig. I: Total digital advertising expenditure (in million euros), 2017-2022

Source: Statista 2023

Press

Due to the country's small geographical size and population, the Luxembourg press landscape is subject to considerable limitations. Newspapers often operate simultaneously as local and national publications. Furthermore, the financial and personnel resources required to establish an extensive international network of correspondents are lacking. The resulting focus of Luxembourg's print media on local and national – rather than international – news is reflected in the unusual habit of Luxembourg's readers to obtain information about domestic political issues primarily from the press. In European countries, television is generally the primary source of information on this topic.

The linguistic diversity of the Luxembourg media landscape is reflected in the practical design of newspapers and magazines, which – with a few exceptions – always contain articles written in different languages. Exceptions include, for example, the purely French-language daily newspaper The Daily or the more than forty-year-old Portuguese-language weekly newspaper ContactIn addition, more and more international newspapers and magazines are being offered, as many expats and commuters live in Luxembourg and demand them.

Due to their alleged proximity to the country's political parties, the Luxembourg print media are considered to be a "consensual and biased press." Critics even go so far as to call them "party newspapers," since they have not distanced themselves ideologically from the parties since they co-founded them. Subscriptions are sometimes passed down through the generations out of political loyalty. So far, one has clearly not been able to detect a political bias in the Luxembourg Journals because it officially supported the liberal Democratic Party of Luxembourg – until a restructuring of the editorial staff took place in 2012 due to new ownership structures. The Marxist-oriented Newspaper from Lëtzebuerger Vollek still has a clear party-political affiliation, as its de facto owner is the Communist Party of Luxembourg. The publishing houses have a particularly strong influence on the Luxembourg press market. Editpress Luxembourg SA (in cooperation with the Swiss media company TX Group) and Saint-Paul Luxembourg SAUntil the 2010s, they still accounted for over 90 percent of Luxembourg's readership. Both are also suspected of having ties to political groups: Editpress Luxembourg SA is said to be close to the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party and the Luxembourg trade unions; Saint-Paul Luxembourg SA represents views similar to those of the Christian Social People's Party.


Apart from the suspected party-political ties, the archbishop’s publishing house Saint-Paul Luxembourg SA At least indirectly, religious interests, as the company's largest shareholder for many years was the Archdiocese of Luxembourg, i.e., the Roman Catholic Church. In April 2020, the Archdiocese of Luxembourg finally sold its shares in the company to the Belgian media group Mediahuis, which has since also published the daily newspaper Luxemburger Wort. Through a minority stake held in Mediahuis by Lafayette SA, the archdiocese's asset management company, the Archdiocese of Luxembourg remains indirectly connected to the group and thus also to the newspaper Luxemburger Wort.

In addition to its conservative character, Luxemburger Wort, Luxembourg's largest daily newspaper, founded in 1848, maintains an international outlook. By publishing Luxemburger Wort in English, German, French, and Portuguese, Saint-Paul Luxembourg SA, the then publisher, attempted to establish itself as a multilingual media house. In contrast to the success of Luxemburger Wort, which remains the leading newspaper in Luxembourg in 2022, the free newspaper Point24 and the purely French-language version of Luxemburger Wort, Le Voix, were rarely in demand. The publishing house was forced to cease production in 2011 despite government press aid. After its tenth anniversary, Le Voix has still not been able to compete with its French-language competitor, Editpresse, Le Quotidien. The publisher is currently working on new digital formats and, in addition to Luxemburger Wort, is continuing to publish its television newspaper Télécran and the Portuguese-language Contacto. A few months after Mediahuis acquired shares in Saint-Paul Luxembourg SA, Saint-Paul Luxembourg laid off 71 of its then 330 employees at the end of 2020. Saint-Paul Luxembourg SA's major competitor is the media company Editpress Luxembourg SA, founded 65 years later (in 1913), whose capital is largely owned by the OGB-L trade union. Editpress owns – according to the Luxembourgish word – the largest newspapers in Luxembourg: the Tageblatt and Le Quotidien. The French-language weekly Le Jeudi and the Portuguese-language Correio, however, were discontinued in 2019. Editpress publishes the weekly newspaper Lux-Post together with the Belgian newspaper publisher Rossel. The publishing company Edita SA – jointly founded by Editpress and the Swiss media company TX Group – produces the newspaper L'Essentiel, which is available free of charge in newspaper boxes at train stations and bus stops. Not only has the publishing company's official goal of appealing to a young, affluent readership been achieved since its founding in 2007, with more than half of its readers being between 15 and 24 years old. L'Essentiel is also so successful among readers over 25 that it can be considered the second most popular newspaper in Luxembourg (see Table I).

Table I: Reach of the largest newspapers in Luxembourg in 2022 (print)

daily newspaperCirculation (readers 15 years and older)Reach among the population (%)owner
Luxembourg Word117.60022%Media House
The Essence88.30016,6%Edita/ Editpress/ TX Group
Daily newspaper25.9004,9%Editpress/TX Group
The Daily12.3002,3%Lumedia/ Editpress
Newspaper from Lëtzebuerger Vollek3.3000,6%ZLV

Source: Plurimedia study by TNS-Ilres 2022

Table II: Reach of the largest newspapers in Luxembourg 2022 (Online)

daily pressCirculation (readers 15 years and older)Reach among the population (%)
Luxembourg Word21.4004.0%
The Essence12.8002.4%
Daily newspaper8.4001.6%
The Daily3.7000.7%
Source: Plurimedia study by TNS-Ilres 2022

Broadcasting

Even two decades after the adoption of the media law establishing the public radio station Radio 100.7, private broadcasters continue to dominate the audiovisual media sector in Luxembourg. In particular, the predominance of private radio stations RTL Radio Luxembourg and Eldoradio This is surprising when one considers that, in contrast, in almost all other European countries, private television and pay-TV channels are more popular than private radio (see Fig. II). This can be partially supported by an important empirical observation: the majority of Luxembourgers (62% of residents) prefer foreign TV channels to domestic ones for political information and therefore likely compensate for their need for local and regional broadcasting by using private radio instead of television. Unsurprisingly, foreign broadcasters achieve a considerable reach in Luxembourg, even though the domestic broadcaster RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg is the most popular with the population, with a reach of 17.5 percent (see Fig. III).

Since in Luxembourg, except for the Chamber TV, whose programs are limited to the transmission of parliamentary debates and occasional political background reports, no public television station exists, the Luxembourg State transferred the CLT-UFA SA an important task: the dissemination of content – including content in the Luxembourgish language – that should correspond to that of a public broadcaster. CLT-UFA is a subsidiary of the RTL Group and is also responsible for awarding Luxembourg broadcasting licenses. In a framework agreement from 2007, CLT-UFA agreed to broadcast daily radio and television programs that meet agreed minimum standards, even without receiving financial assistance such as a broadcasting fee. These minimum requirements include, for example, the obligation to provide information on all daily news relevant to the population of Luxembourg. The framework, valid until 2020, also establishes key fundamental principles of reporting, such as respecting plurality of opinion.

Due to numerous factors, the Luxembourg radio market must cope with critical economic conditions: firstly, the central position of the RTL Group makes access difficult for other companies; secondly, the sales market is comparatively small due to Luxembourg's small population. Furthermore, competition is hampered by the availability of numerous foreign broadcasters. When considering the market shares of radio stations available in Luxembourg, the dominance of the RTL Group is striking. RTL Radio Luxembourg and Eldoradio occupy the first two places among the most listened stations and will reach an audience of more than 40 percent of the population in 2022. But also RTL Radio in German enjoys great popularity.

In contrast, the public broadcaster, which focuses on cultural topics, Radio 100.7 in 2022, just 3.8 percent of the population. Ètablissement de Radiodiffusion Socioculturelle du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg (ERSL) Radio 100.7 operates neither with the help of license fees nor advertising revenue, but solely through income from sponsorship agreements, donations, event organization, and direct financial support from the Luxembourg state. Furthermore, the law stipulates that the state can provide additional funds not earmarked for technical equipment if they are necessary to ensure the program's operation. The Luxembourg Ministry of Culture added €6.8 million to the public radio station's 2023 budget. By comparison, the figure was €4.8 million in 2013.

Especially in the early 1990s, politicians, such as MP Anne Brasseur, questioned the existence of the cultural station due to its consistently low ratings. In 2013, Jean-Paul Hoffmann was elected director and announced, Radio 100.7 to reposition itself by expanding its online presence. However, to date, the low ratings have not been counteracted.

Fig. II: Reach of the largest radio stations in Luxembourg in 2022 (shares of the population)

Fig. III: Reach of the largest television stations in Luxembourg in 2022 (shares of the population)

Internet

Luxembourg is one of the countries in the world with the highest internet usage among its population. General internet usage among the population was almost 99 percent in 2021 (Eurostat). As in other EU countries, daily internet usage has increased dramatically over the past few years: in 2007, just over half (56 percent) of Luxembourgers used the internet every day; in 2009, this figure rose to more than two-thirds (71 percent), and in 2014, this figure had risen to 87 percent. Eight years later, in 2022, this figure rose to 92 percent (see Fig. IV).

Fig. IV: Share of daily internet users in Luxembourg 2005 to 2022

Source: Statista (2023)

As in many other European countries, the most visited websites in Luxembourg are clearly dominated by US corporations. Ranked in the top six, in descending order, are Google and YouTube (Alphabet Inc.), Facebook (Meta Platforms Inc.), Twitter (Twitter Inc.), and Instagram (also Meta Platforms). Of particular interest is the Chinese search engine Baidu, which is also one of the most visited websites worldwide and ranks seventh in Luxembourg. Also striking is that not a single Luxembourgish website ranks in the entire top 10 (see Table III).

Table III: The ten most visited websites in Luxembourg, January 2023

RankWebpage:DescriptionParent company
1.Google.comSearch engineAlphabet Inc.
2.YouTube.comVideo portalAlphabet Inc.
3.Facebook.comSocial networkMeta Platforms, Inc.
4.Twitter.comSocial networkTwitter Inc.
5.Instagram.comSocial networkMeta Platforms, Inc.
6.Baidu.comSearch engineBaidu
7.Wikipedia.orgEncyclopediaWikimedia Foundation
8.Yahoo.comWeb portalAltaba.Inc
9.WhatsApp.comMessenger serviceMeta Platforms, Inc.
10.Amazon.come-commerceAmazon.com, Inc.

Source: Similarweb.com

media regulation

On the one hand, CLT-UFA SA, as the licensing authority, controls the licensing of national and international television and radio stations in Luxembourg. The company was formed in 1997 from the merger of Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion with Universe Film On the other hand, the group that was created is itself responsible for the provision of public service content. Both CLT-UFA and the public service Radio 100.7 are commissioned by the government by National Program Council (CNP) – particularly with regard to the protection of young people and political minorities. Since 1991, the CNP has not only been responsible for monitoring the content of public broadcasting programs, but is also authorized to make suggestions on how Radio 100.7 can optimize its fulfillment of its programming mandate.

Other important supervisory bodies of the Luxembourg media are the Media and Communications Service (SMC), who supports the Minister of Communications and Media (since December 2013, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Betterl, has held this office), and the Independent Commission for Radiodiffusion (CIR), which consists of only five members and provides independent reports before licenses are granted. With the 2010 reform of the "Loi 1991," the most important law regulating electronic media, all legally binding anti-concentration regulations for the media sector were abolished, as politicians, curiously enough, no longer identified any risk of distortion of competition, particularly for local radio stations.

In addition to the state funding of CLT-UFA and the Radio 100.7Since the introduction of press aid in 1976, numerous Luxembourg print media have been subsidized. The Luxembourg government is attempting to preserve the diversity of the press landscape. In proportion to the number of pages with editorial content, the following daily newspapers received state press aid in 2022:ageblatt, Luxemburger Wort, Le Quotidien and newspaper from Lëtezbuerger Vollek. State subsidies for newspapers and magazines currently amount to approximately 7.5 million euros per year. Meanwhile, the financing of the Marxist-oriented Newspaper from Lëtezbuerger Vollek, especially in the face of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, as it is accused by many sides of spreading the propaganda of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sources/Literature

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