Ekspress Grupp defines a digital order as one whose value exceeds one euro per calendar month, billed separately and which can be terminated separately and at any time.

The group's online titles in Estonia alone include investigative weekly Eesti Ekspress, portal Delfi, agricultural weekly Maaleht, and daily Eesti Päevaleht (EPL).

Commenting on the 2023 results the group's board chair, Mari-Liis Rüütsalu, said: "Ekspress Group's digital revenue base is increasingly being based on sales revenue from digital orders."

"We are moving in the direction of the group's long-term goals of boosing digital subs volume to 340,000 customers in the Baltic states, by the end of 2026," Rüütsalu continued.

In Estonia, subscriptions to Delfi, EPL, Maaleht, Eesti Ekspress and AS Delfi Meedia – the latter publishing several titles – rose 20 percent on year to 2023 (and by 4 percent in the fourth quarter of last year), to 102,793, the company reports.

Conversely, the group's print circulation has been in constant decline, prompting further analysis of its viability.

Rüütsalu said that the two categories were not dependent one on the other, while boosting digital sub figures was "certainly important to us."

Ekspress Grupp also owns a 50 percent stake in AS Õhtuleht Kirjastus, which publishes the evening paper of the same name (ie. Õhtuleht); the company says subscriptions to this title rose by 10 percent on year, to 24,875.

Digital sales of Geenius Meedia OÜ, also owned by Ekspress Grupp, rose 25 percent on year, to 6,998 subscriptions.

In the other two Baltic states, Delfi A/S experienced an 87 percent rise in orders on year to 2023, to 26,427 subs in Latvia; in Lithuania the respective figures were 112 percent and 39,872 subs, Ekspress Grupp reports.

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