INTRODUCTION: "The impulse to write this publication stemmed from the rapidly evolving Western European as well as Polish media markets in recent times. The acceleration of these changes has been particularly noticeable since the end of the last century and the beginning of the present one; their unprecedented dynamics and temporality, however, make any attempt to describe the role of the media in the contemporary human environment a difficult task. Looking from this perspective, it therefore seems imperative to capture and consolidate a certain image of the media market, at a specific moment of its transformation. Our intention was to gather comprehensive information on the current shape of media markets in selected European countries, as well as Poland, and to leave the reader with a sense of complete knowledge in this regard. As the primary objective, we considered the need to show the evolution of the media (in historical terms), necessary to outline the current shape of the media markets in question. This makes it possible to identify in which areas the greatest change has taken place, what it involves, and how the processes of change have shaped contemporary media systems. From this perspective, an image of today’s media emerges, subject primarily to technological pressures, but also influenced by ever-deepening consolidation processes. The latter depend on business circumstances, political decisions and changes in how the public uses the media. However, in outlining images of contemporary markets in this way, we have not attempted to define the fields of challenges and prospects for individual media segments, wishing instead to encapsulate the most important information in this publication about the functioning of media at the start of the third decade of the 21st century."(...)