By Montenegrin media outlets recorded a combined net profit of €1.88 million in 2025, more than three times the amount reported a year earlier, according to research conducted by the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (TUMM). The study, “Financial Performance of Media Outlets in Montenegro in 2025”, found that total revenues in the sector reached €64.09 million, approximately €7.5 million more than in 2024, while expenses increased from €56.01 million to €62.21 million.
TUMM has been monitoring the financial performance of media outlets in Montenegro since 2021. This is the fifth study published by the union, based on annual financial statements submitted by media founders to the Tax Administration, as well as data from the Ministry of Culture and Media, the Fund for Promoting Media Pluralism and Diversity, and other publicly available sources.
According to Tax Administration data, the media outlets covered by the analysis employed 2,072 people, although the actual number may be higher, as some outlets engage part of their workforce through service contracts or temporary employment agencies.
The research found that public funding continues to play an extremely important role in the functioning of Montenegro’s media market. The largest individual revenue was recorded by the national public broadcaster, Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG), at €26.24 million, while local public broadcasters generated a further €10.8 million and the Albanian-language weekly Koha Javore nearly €180,000. This means that public media outlets collectively generated more than €37 million, accounting for over half of the total revenues of the media outlets included in the study. RTCG, local public broadcasters and Koha Javore recorded almost €32 million under other income, which, in the case of these publicly funded media outlets, largely consists of funding from the state and local government budgets and other public sources.
Alongside regular budget funding for public media, the state continued to finance private media through the Fund for Promoting Media Pluralism and Diversity. The Ministry responsible for the media allocated slightly more than €1.13 million to projects run by daily, weekly and periodical print publications and online news portals, as well as to the operating costs of their self-regulatory bodies. Meanwhile, the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services (AMU) awarded almost €864,000 for programming produced by commercial and non-profit radio and television broadcasters and for their self-regulatory bodies. In total, nearly €2 million was distributed through these two sub-funds.
The extent to which media outlets rely on public funding is also illustrated by the Annual Report on Transparency of Media Financing from Public Funds. According to data submitted by 392 public-sector entities, media outlets received €9.79 million in 2025, of which €7.63 million was allocated to financing public services and €2.16 million to sponsoring media content, advertising and other contracted services.
RTCG once again recorded the highest profit among individual media outlets, at €1.11 million. In terms of combined financial results, local public broadcasters came next, ending the year with a profit of €821,100, almost six times higher than the previous year. Their improved financial performance is linked to the full effects of the new Law on Audiovisual Media Services, which, following proposals by the Media Centre and TUMM, increased the mandatory contributions local governments must allocate to financing local public broadcasters. Of the 15 local public broadcasters, as many as 13 reported positive financial results in 2025.
Print media also continued to record positive results, generating a combined profit of €707,600. Despite longstanding predictions about the unsustainability of print media, the daily and weekly newspapers included in the analysis, most of which also operate well-developed online news portals, remain among the more financially successful private media outlets in Montenegro. Three out of four print media outlets ended the year with a profit.
Online news portals remain the most numerous media category, but also the one whose exact size is the most difficult to establish. At the beginning of October 2026, 62 portals were registered in the Ministry of Culture and Media’s online register, although the actual number is considerably higher. It should also be noted that during 2026, the Tax Administration transitioned to a new integrated information system, IRMS, a process accompanied by technical problems and extensions of deadlines for submitting financial statements. As a result, the findings for online portals are based solely on the data available at the time of the research. The portals for which financial data were available recorded a combined profit of €214,000.
Private radio stations also recorded a combined positive result, with a total profit of €89,500, followed by news agencies with €45,400 and periodical publications with €27,300. The only segment to record an overall loss was private television, which ended the year with a combined loss of €1.14 million. However, this does not mean that most television stations operated at a loss: of the ten stations for which financial data were available, seven recorded a profit and three reported a loss.
