Inhabitants: 19.08 million (2022)
Religions: Orthodox (81.9%), Protestant (6.4%), Roman Catholic (6.4%)
Largest city: Bucharest (1.8 million inhabitants)
Form of government: republic
Head of State: Klaus Iohannis (since December 2014)
Head of the government: Marcel Ciolacu (since June 2023)
EU-member since: 2007
Unemployment rate: 5,6% (2023)
National debt in relation to GDP: 51.36% of GDP (2021)
GDP: 284.1 billion USD (2021)

Advertisement costs total: approx. 900 million USD (2021)
Television viewing time per inhabitant: 225 min/day (2022)
Large media and communication companies: Societatea Romana de Radiodifuziune, Mediafax Group, Ringier, Central European Media Enterprise, Intact Media Group, Adevarul Holding, Editura Evenimentul si Capital, Digi Communications
Broadcasting fees: none (since 2017)

History and Profile

The Romanian revolution of 1989 not only resulted in the violent death of the dictator couple Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, but also led to a liberalization of the centralized media sector. Although the number of newspapers and TV stations has naturally multiplied as a result, critics complain that the expanded media offering, mostly produced by foreign private providers, has not necessarily led to a liberal-progressive national discourse. Nevertheless, compared to its Stalinist past, in which the Romanian media were misused as an ideological instrument of totalitarian mass education, the country and the media sector have probably experienced the greatest democratization push like no other EU member state.

Although the number of daily newspapers - many of which are aimed directly at the various ethnic groups in the multi-ethnic state of Romania - increased dramatically after 1989, the real media revolution took place in the TV sector: the majority of Romanian citizens, who had previously lived in enforced isolation, were given a glimpse of the outside world through the medium of television. The emancipatory potential of the power of images was, however, weakened by the fact that in Romania many of the old communist elites who remained in power despite the revolution were far less liberal than in other Eastern European countries. The best example of this is certainly the first attempt at a free Romanian TV station (Free Romanian Television), which was shut down just two months after its launch in the spring of 1990 by the Frontul Salvarii Nazionale (FSN), the predecessor of today's Democratic Party.

Today, Romania has a TV landscape that is essentially characterized by the dominance of private broadcasters, which have enormous market shares in large cities, and the public TVR broadcasting group, which dominates in rural areas, where around 45 percent of the population still lives. The excellent broadband coverage has certainly contributed to the fact that the relevance of the print newspaper market has declined much faster than in many other European countries. The transition to digital journalism and the monetization of online content are important aspects for the Romanian newspaper market. Publishers were therefore wise to act quickly - accordingly, many switched to online news portals as early as the early 2010s, which are still among the most visited websites in Romania today (see Table I).

In recent years, there have been efforts to strengthen media freedom, fight corruption and ensure journalistic integrity. Various organizations and media associations have taken initiatives to support the rights and protection of journalists. Romania now ranks 53rd out of 180 on the Press Freedom Index (as of 2023). This puts the southeastern European state ahead of the EU countries Poland (57th), Bulgaria (71st), Hungary (72nd) and Greece (107th).

media companies and corporations

On the other hand, Romania has seen a worrying increase in media concentration in recent years, triggered by economic consolidation. A few media companies dominate the market and control a significant number of media channels. The biggest players include Intact Media Group, Central European Media Enterprise, Ringier, Mediafax and Digi Communications.

Intact Media Group
The Intact Media Group is one of the most diversified media companies in the country and is active in the areas of TV, radio, print and online media. The core of the group is Antena, the most popular private TV station after Pro TV. Intact also operates two radio stations (Radio ZU and Romantic FM) and publishes Jurnalul Na?ional, one of the most widely read Romanian newspapers.

Central European Media Enterprise (CME)
The CME Group, which is active in Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia in addition to Romania, operates Pro TV, the country's most viewed private broadcaster (see Fig. I). Pro TV offers a wide range of programs, including news, entertainment and sports. The diverse offering on the TV market extends to five other specialty channels (Pro TV International, Home TV, Pro Arena, Pro Cinema and Home Gold).

Ringier

Ringier is a media company headquartered in Switzerland, which also has a presence in Romania. It owns several newspapers, including the daily Libertatea and the business newspaper Ziarul Financiar. Ringier also has online news portals and is active in printing, distribution and digital media.

Mediafax Group (PubliMedia International)
As part of the Eastern European Media Pro conglomerate, PubliMedia publishes the daily newspaper Gandul in Romania, which has been published exclusively online since 2011. Otherwise, Mediafax is one of the largest news agencies in Romania and plays an important role in disseminating news and information to other media organizations. It provides news content in the fields of politics, business, sports and culture.

Digi Communications

Digi Communications, also known as RCS & RDS, is a leading telecommunications provider in Romania and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, including Hungary, Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic. Founded in 1994, the company offers a wide range of services, including Internet, television, fixed-line telephony and mobile communications. In addition, the group is also active in the media market and operates the news portals Digi24 and DigiSport as well as the television channel DigiSport 1

The public broadcasting company Societatea Romana de Radiodifuziune (public radio, founded on November 1, 1928), which also includes the Societatea Romana de Televiziune (public television, founded on December 31, 1956), has a long tradition. However, the chronic underfunding of public television has meant that it can hardly be considered a serious competitor today. In terms of viewer numbers, the TVR's television stations are surpassed by the private stations, especially by the long-standing market leader Pro TV of the Central European Media Enterprise., The situation is completely different in the radio sector.

SRR

The Societatea Romana de Radiodifuziune (SRR) is the public radio company in Romania. It was founded in 1928 and has been the most important institution for radio broadcasting in Romania ever since, and thus occupies a much more important position for radio in Romania than its counterpart TVR for the television market. The SRR operates several national and local radio stations and produces programs in various languages and genres. The main station is Radio Romania Actualita?i, which focuses on news, current affairs, culture and education.

SRTV (TVR)
The Societatea Romana de Televiziune (in English “Romanian Television Company”), or simply Televiziunea Romana (in English “Romanian Television”), which belongs to the SRR, short: TVR) is the country's public broadcasting group. It operates a total of six channels, which, however, only achieve small market shares compared to the private providers: TVR1, TVR2, TVR3, TVR Cultural, TVR Info and TVR International. The institution is financed through advertising and, until 2017, also through broadcasting fees, which most recently amounted to the equivalent of 17 euros per year. As in other European countries, SRTV was subjected to severe criticism from representatives of the private broadcasters during the period of license fee financing. They called for an absolute ban on advertising on SRTV channels, as they saw a competitive advantage in the double financing.

Fig. I: Market shares of the largest TV channels in Romania, January 2023

Source: Paginademedia.ro

Internet

Over the past 20 years, Romania has invested heavily in expanding its telecommunications infrastructure, laying the foundation for a high-performance digital economy and society. Broadband expansion has brought the country on a par with other advanced nations. Internet connections in Romania are often considered to be among the best in the world - in terms of internet speed, Romania was even the top country in Europe for several years. In 2023, Romania's average internet speed will be 170 Mbit/s (broadband speed) - that puts it in second place in Europe behind Denmark (188 Mbit/s).

The southeastern European state has thus managed to gain a competitive advantage compared to other European countries. The high-speed connections have made Romania an attractive destination for digital companies that benefit from the high-performance infrastructure. Accordingly, Romania also benefits from a significant role in the European start-up scene. The country has a thriving tech industry in which many innovative start-ups are emerging. The Internet has given these companies access to global markets and investors and made them important players in the European technology industry. The result: between 2015 and 2019 alone, there were a total of 402,428 start-ups, with a large number operating in the software sector. Most of them are based in Bucharest, making the Romanian capital one of the top locations for start-ups in Europe.

But network coverage is excellent not only in the cities, but also in the countryside, where only slightly less than half of the population (45.4 percent) lives. In 2021, around 88 percent of households across Romania were equipped with a broadband internet connection. This is also reflected in the internet usage figures. In 2023, the number of internet users within the Romanian population will be 93.4 percent.

The top 10 of the ranking of the most visited websites in Romania are dominated by the US giants Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms, Inc. While Alphabet is represented here twice with its search engine Google (rank 1 and 6) and the video portal YouTube (rank 2), Meta Platforms is in third place with the social network Facebook. In addition, Instagram (rank 10), another social network from Meta Platforms, is represented in the top 10. Meta Platforms Messenger WhatsApp (rank 17) is also in the top 20. The video portal TikTok (rank 15) from the Chinese mega-corporation Bytedance, which is very popular especially among younger users, also stands out.

Beyond that, the rest of the ranking is dominated by a large number of Romanian websites. A total of eight news portals are represented in the top 20 - three of them for sports news alone. One example is the Romanian telecommunications holding company Digi Communications, which has a news portal in the top 20 with Digi24 (rank 7) and a counterpart for sports with Digisport (rank 12). Central European Media Enterprise is also represented twice, also with a news portal (Stirileprotv, rank 19) and a counterpart for sports (Sport.ro, rank 20). Ringier does the same with Libertatea (rank 11) for news and GSP (rank 8) for sports, which distributes the country's most widely read sports publication, Gazeta Sporturilor.

Tab. I: The most visited websites in Romania, June 2023

Rank	Webpage:	Description	Parent company
1.	Google.com	Social network	Alphabet Inc.
2.	YouTube.com	Video portal	Alphabet Inc.
3.	Facebook.com	Social network	Meta Platforms, Inc.
4.	Yahoo.com	email, web portal	Yahoo! Inc.
5.	Emag.ro	telecommunications accessories	Dante International
6.	Google.ro	Social network	Alphabet Inc.
7.	Digi24.ro	News	Digi Communications
8.	Gsp.ro	sports news	Ringier AG
9.	Olx.ro	e-commerce	Naspers
10.	Instagram.com	Social network	Meta Platforms, Inc.
11.	Libertatea.ro	News	Ringier AG
12.	Digisport.ro	sports news	Digi Communications
13.	Wikipedia.org	Encyclopedia	Wikimedia Foundation
14.	Stiripesurse.ro	News	SC European Business Environment SRL
15.	TikTok.com	Video portal	Bytedance
16.	Adevarul.ro	News	Adevarul Holding
17.	WhatsApp.com	messenger service	Meta Platforms, Inc.
18.	Vodafone.com	telecommunications	Vodafone Group Plc
19.	Stirileprotv.ro	News	Central European Media Enterprise
20.	Sport.ro	sports news	Central European Media Enterprise

 Source: Similarweb.com

Regulations

The media in Romania is regulated by various legal frameworks and institutions. The main law governing the media sector is Law no. 504/2002 on Audiovisual Media. It sets out the general principles and rules for the operation of audiovisual media. The National Media Authority (Consiliul Na?ional al Audiovizualului, CNA) is an independent regulatory body responsible for overseeing and regulating the audiovisual sector in Romania. The CNA issues broadcasting licenses, monitors compliance with standards and regulations, and penalises violations. The regulation of media ethics is carried out through the CNA's Code of Conduct of Journalism and the Ethics Guidelines, which set ethical standards that journalists and media organisations should adhere to. The regulation of media concentration in Romania falls under the jurisdiction of the Competition Council (Consiliul Concuren?ei). The Competition Council monitors and regulates economic concentrations, including concentrations of media ownership, to ensure competition and diversity in the media landscape.

Although Romania has a diverse and pluralistic media landscape, a lack of transparency in media funding (which is often opaque or even corrupt) and market difficulties have undermined the reliability of information and trust in the media. Similarly, the economic consolidation of the country in general and of the media market in particular has led to an increasing concentration of power in this market. Today, the main groups that dominate are Intact Media Group, Central European Media Enterprise, Ringier, Mediafax and Digi Communications. Added to this is the lack of independence of the media. While these large media groups manage to be self-sufficient, the remaining majority rely on external sources of funding, including subsidies.

Although freedom of the press is enshrined in the Romanian constitution, there have been concerns in the past about influence on the media and, as a result, about restrictions on freedom of the press. In particular, the staffing of the public broadcaster and the national media authority CNA have been affected on several occasions by political influence from various parties.

Sources/Literature

• Bunea, Iulia: AUDIEN?E ZI în luna IANUARIE. Pro TV cre?te ziua. Antena 1 scade la nivel na?ional, dar cre?te pe commercial, February 2023.
• Chirileasa, Andrei: Data shows Romania as 10th largest startup location in Europe, September 2022
• Kemp, Simon: Digital 2022: Romania, February 2022.
• RomaniaExperience: Internet Speed in Romania 2023, January 2023.
• Similarweb: The most visited websites in Romania, June 2023.
• Statista Research Department: Number of internet users in Romania from January 2017 to January 2023, 2023 (in cooperation with Kepios).
• Tenzer, F.: households with broadband access in Romania, Statista, 2023.