Locate Alternative Media in the Digital News Ecosystem: A Cross-Country Comparative Study of Alternative-Mainstream Audience Overlap Networks

This study examines alternative media within the digital news ecosystem in six European countries: Norway, Sweden, Austria, Germany, France, and Spain. Using a network approach and a cross-country comparative design, we analyze audience overlap between alternative and mainstream media, the positions alternative media occupy within these networks, and how media systems and political contexts may shape these dynamics. Our findings show that while overall audience overlap is low, it is higher in countries where far-right populist parties have greater institutionalized access to political discourse. We also identify alternative media enclaves within the Northern-type media system characterized by strong professional journalism—particularly in Sweden, where far-right populist actors remained politically marginalized at the time of data collection. This study advances audience-centric alternative media research and offers insights into how contextual factors may shape the relationality between “alternative” and “mainstream”.