The newspaper was published in Estonian, and it was one of the country's most popular tabloid-style productions.
In 1998, after the Norwegian media group Schibsted purchased a stake, it moved to being a tabloid.
Sõnumileht maintained a serious press imago until 1998 while being run by editor-in-chief Mark Luik.
Under the pressure of new owners, it turned to yellow media in October 1998 with a successful launch campaign.
Around the same time Mart Luik resigned, the new editor-in-chief was the 25-year-old sports journalist Urmo Soonvald.