Anders Berglund (right in photo), Sales Director of Aftonbladet, and Kalle Jungkvist, Senior Advisor of Schibsted Media Group, publisher of Aftonbladet, said the Scandinavian publishing pioneers are not resting on their laurels as the company intends to ramp up all sales activities.

“Growth and reach are at the core of our strategy,” said Jungkvist. “We see so many opportunities to commercialise our business on all the emerging digital platforms.”

Aftonbladet has a daily print circulation of 260,000, and more than 50 per cent of the population visits its website weekly. Schibsted launched its freemium model in 2002 and has attracted 150,000 subscribers, features other paid services and in total makes up about 25 percent of revenues.

It doesn’t hurt that the company has the ever-evolving and growing online classified portal Blocket in its portfolio; 7 out of 10 Swedes have sold or purchased something on the site. Schibsted owns about 25 companies in various fields of content and advertising that give it a strong foundation from which to expand.

Berglund says Aftonbladet has about 100 sales staff selling all the company’s inventory across all platforms.

“Packaging is the key and we are finding that big formats are our biggest success on all our digital platforms,” he said. “The TV program is a big attraction for our clients, as well as for mobile.”

Video: Simon Morice and David Willox, ICM Business Video. www.wan-ifra.icmbusinessvideo.co.uk