Eesti Päevaleht print edition to be discontinued

Estonian newspaper Eesti Päevaleht will no longer be available in print form from April and will continue as a digital publication under the Delfi news portal. Eight people, including three journalists will be laid off.
Owner Ekspress Grupp said that the decision follows changes in reading habits and preferences of its customers as print subscriptions are falling and their digital counterparts on the rise. The company also suggested that the popularity and trustworthiness of digital media is growing. No other Delfi Meedia publication will be affected at this time.
Eight people will be laid off in connection with the changes, including five technical workers and three journalists, Delfi Meedia said.
Urmo Soonvald, editor-in-chief of Delfi and Eesti Päevaleht said the Eesti Päevaleht trademark will not disappear from the Estonian media landscape. The EPL trademark will be used for Delfi's opinion section, culture topics and the weekend extra LP, which have been making up roughly two-thirds of the newspaper's volume for some time, Soonvald explained.
The number of Delfi Meedia's digital subscribers exceeded 100,000 for the first time in December. Argo Virkebau, CEO of Delfi Meedia, said that print subscriptions have been seeing an annual decline of 5-10 percent from one year to the next, while the expenses on printing, raw materials and home delivery have only gone up.
The Delfi Meedia subscription service will contact all print subscribers either over the phone or via email to find a way to proceed.
By the final month of 2023, Eesti Päevaleht's print run had dropped to 7,985, down from 15,100 in January 2019. The run was still 21,700 in the first month of 2014. A quarter of a century ago, 48,600 copies of the newspaper were printed in January.
On June 5, 1995, the Hommikuleht, Päevaleht (formerly Noorte Hääl) and Rahva Hääl merged to form Eesti Päevaleht. On September 29, the newspaper Eesti Sõnumid was also incorporated.
Business daily Äripäev was the first major Estonian newspaper to no longer be available in print form from January 2023.
The Tervis Pluss magazine is also not published in print from January of this year.
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