New Zealand (Aotearoa) is a small, high-income parliamentary democracy whose media and digital landscape has been shaped by its colonial history, the Treaty of Waitangi, and the market-oriented reforms of the 1980s and 1990s. These reforms introduced extensive privatisation and deregulation, leading to comparatively low public media investment and regulatory settings that remain constrained by international trade commitments. While the screen sector attracts significant foreign production through incentive schemes, domestic media—especially journalism—faces sustained revenue decline as advertising has shifted toward global digital platforms such as Google and Meta.

Government investment in ultra-fast broadband has enabled strong growth in the wider digital economy but has also accelerated audience fragmentation and intensified competition across media subsectors. In this context, New Zealand’s small market size, fragmented regulatory framework, and limited leverage over multinational platforms pose ongoing challenges for sustaining a diverse and resilient media system. This report examines market concentration across the country’s media and internet sectors, identifying dominant firms and New Zealand–specific regulatory dynamics that shape sector outcomes.

Recommended citation: Thompson, P., and McTernan, C. (2025). “Communications, media and internet concentration in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2019-22.” Draft. Global Media and Internet Concentration Project.