POLICY BRIEF

Adapting Public Service Media for the Age of Platforms

3 April 2025
In this second Policy Brief supplied by PSM-AP, academics Michał Głowacki, Filip Świtkowski and Catherine Johnson, discuss ways to balance legacy, technology and audience needs for future development. 
A graphic shows a tiny man and woman standing in front of a smart TV with a remote control.

This Policy Brief was originally published by the Public Service Media in the Age of Platforms (PSM-AP) project, and has been republished with permission. You can read the first Policy Brief here.

By Michał Głowacki, Filip Świtkowski (University of Warsaw) and Catherine Johnson (University of Leeds)

Public service media (PSM) worldwide have consistently been subject to social and technological changes.

However, recent years have brought several new challenges. These include radical changes in media use, the advent of streaming services, and the dominance of big tech. The new competitors for the attention of citizens have challenged public service media as an institution and project. Moreover, the profound changes in the media landscape have affected the broadcasters themselves, requiring them to transform into fully digital, online-first organisations.

In this context, we present results from research conducted during the second year of PSM-AP, a large-scale comparative research project analysing ‘Public Service Media in the Age of Platforms’. In this brief, we put forward a series of findings and recommendations on the organisational and cultural challenges facing PSM in six markets across five countries (Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Poland and the UK). This report is based on in-depth interviews with PSM employees (top and middle management) in nine European PSM organisations (BBC, Channel 4, DR, ITV, RAI, RTBF, TV2, TVP and VRT). The collected data was analysed in line with country-specific organisational reports and industry documents.

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Transforming PSM Organisations in the age of platforms

The transformation of the media ecosystem, dominated by technology giants such as Netflix, Apple, Alphabet and Amazon, challenges the established operating practices and organisational structures of PSM. All PSM organisations in our study are increasingly shifting towards internet-delivered television. Our study suggests that this requires PSM organisations to transform their operating practices, including integrating digital skills.

Structures and cultures forged for a broadcast context can make adaptation a greater challenge, particularly in the face of departmentalisation, bureaucracies and silo-based communications inherited from the past. As audiences shift to internet television at different rates, responding to and balancing different audience needs and managing brand perceptions is central, leading to shifts in commissioning and distribution strategies. These changes need to be navigated in relation to extant public service remits and obligations set out in policy.

Despite these shared concerns, the trajectory towards online-only delivery varied for the PSM organisations in our study. For those PSM organisations most mature in the transition to digital first (in Denmark and the UK) there was a strong commitment to an online-only future, albeit one tempered by the need to maintain broadcast delivery for audiences not yet using online TV (BBC, DR) and, for commercially-funded organisations, the challenges of generating sufficient ad revenue online (Channel 4, ITV, TV 2). For the Belgian PSM organisations (RTBF and VRT) the transition towards digital first is more incremental, while in Italy (RAI) and Poland (TVP) broadcasting remains more resilient, leading to strategies focused on evolution rather than revolution.

Our study, therefore, identified four key factors that are shaping the ways in which the rise of internet delivery and competition from streamers is managed with our selected PSM organisations:

Funding available to PSM

For ad-funded PSM, the balance between rates of decline in broadcast ad revenues and the ability to generate sufficient ad revenues online is key. Meanwhile, declining public revenues can exacerbate the costs of providing both broadcast and online delivery.

Audience behaviours

The extent and rate at which audiences are shifting to online viewing o continuing to view broadcast television impacts strategies adopted by PSM because requirements for universality mandate continued provision for all audiences.

Infrastructure

Challenges differ in markets heavily dependent on digital terrestrial, where a shift to internetdelivery depends on a different infrastructure, versus those more dependent on cable/satellite, where broadcast and online TV can be delivered through the same infrastructure.

Uptake and use of high-speed internet

How widespread uptake and use of high-speed internet is impacts audience behaviours and affects PSM strategies.

A boy holds a tablet with the VRT Max loading screen displayed.
VRT Max is VRT's digital streaming platform. Credit: VRT

Key findings

Good overall integration of digital thinking, but some areas of regulation and funding were seen to inhibit innovation

Most PSM organisations see themselves as ‘digital first’ rather than broadcasting organisations (BBC, Channel 4, DR, ITV, RTBF, TV 2, VRT). However, some retain a stronger attachment to broadcasting legacies (RAI) and maintain structural separation of broadcast and digital services, as well as technology and content (TVP). Meanwhile, funding challenges, legal obligations and bureaucracy (such as procurement law, paperwork, top-down hierarchies) were often seen as inhibiting the potential for technological and organisational innovation.

“Stretched PSB commissioners are paying less for commissions, and distributors are finding it more difficult to bridge larger budget deficits on high-end productions in the international marketplace”. – Head of Fiction, TV 2

Digital first commissioning tends to focus on ‘fewer but bigger’ titles

Some PSM organisations have shifted to a fully digital first commissioning strategy (BBC, Channel 4, DR), while others try to maintain a balance between the broadcast channels and VoD (RAI, RTBF, TVP). In digital first organisational contexts, commissioning strategies often focused on ‘fewer but bigger’ titles, with a smaller number of higher budget programmes produced to stand out in a competitive market (BBC, Channel 4, DR, ITV, TV 2). However, reductions in the scale and quality of commissions were also a consequence of declining advertising and public service revenues (Channel 4, TV 2, TVP).

“Our audience of traditional television is getting older. We have to have these things that will be such a lure, if not linear television, then on our VoD, because we know that this VoD will be our second pillar. And in time we will see which will be the stronger pillar, traditional television or digital, because it all depends to a large extent on financing.” – Programming Office, TVP

Balancing different audience needs and brand perceptions are central challenges for PSM

Reaching and maintaining audiences was a challenge across the PSM case studies, particularly as audiences shifted away from broadcast viewing at different rates. Engaging younger audiences that are turning away from broadcast television and PSM was a common concern. However, for some, this needed to be balanced with maintaining a broadcast offer to meet the needs of older audiences (BBC, RAI, TVP). For others, more educated 30-40 year-olds were of particular concern as a group that is valuable for advertisers and shifting from PSM to SVoD (DR2, RTBF, VRT). Brand perceptions were positioned as essential for creating and maintaining audience trust and loyalty. In some contexts, the PSM brand was seen to directly strengthen audience trust in digital (e.g. RTBF), while in others the highly-politicised and polarised nature of the PSM brand was an impediment to trust (TVP).

“We play this role by trying to reach all audiences, because if, for example, we get to the 80-year-old lady who can’t afford the Netflix subscription, we’re still bringing these stories with this richness, and we do it because we think her life will be better because of it.” – Head of Digital, RAI

Despite widespread restructuring to become more agile, integrating digital skills remains a challenge

Most PSM organisations in this study have undergone restructuring to remove silos in internal communication systems and use more agile approaches adopted from the tech sector (BBC, Channel 4, DR, ITV, RAI, TV 2, VRT). Some senior managers argued for more decentralisation and cross-departmental negotiations as an effective model of PSM management (TVP). However, even where the organisation had been restructured, most PSM organisations remained editorially led (BBC, Channel 4, RAI, RTBF, TVP, VRT). Additionally, the extension of digital skills across the organisation remained a significant challenge. Integrating digital skillsets and technologies typically developed in commercial settings involved negotiating a clash between commercial and PSM mindsets.

“The other challenge is, maybe, digital skillsets within the BBC. We have a lot of people who want to become more digitally minded, but they don’t have the necessary skills to do that. We have enacted so many training programmes to train people. But the problem is that they’re not actioning any of that learning in a practical or pragmatic way in their day-to-day jobs. So, they come out of training going oh, yes, there’s all this stuff we could do, but I don’t think there’s applications really happening within that side.” – Head of Digital Media, BBC

Different approaches to distribution on social media, but challenges of monetisation and data access/protection remain

There are different approaches to third party distribution with some aiming to drive audiences to their own VoD platform (BBC, ITV, RAI, TVP), while others see social media as a key site for distribution (Channel 4) or adjust strategy according to content, platform and target audience (DR, RTBF, TV 2, VRT). Regardless of the strategy, challenges remain, including access to user data, concerns about data protection and the difficulties of monetising content on social media.

“We have a new strategy at RTBF now. It’s to get the public to our platforms because we don’t have any control on Facebook, and Twitter is a nightmare now, and so we want the audience to come to Auvio, our platform, but it’s very difficult for young adults, especially our kids. So we continue to distribute things on YouTube and Facebook, but the the goal is to bring them back on Auvio.” – Head of Content R&D, RTBF

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Key recommendations

  • Policymakers urgently need to address how to create regulatory and organisational regimes that enable PSM to innovate without diluting the values of PSM to citizens. PSM should be able to respond quickly to emerging technological trends, without having to go through lengthy, bureaucratic and inefficient procedures. Their social role should be strongly protected as one of the most important elements of future-driven social and critical media infrastructures.
  • Overall, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. The balance between broadcasting and digital commissioning and distribution is highly context specific. PSM should be aware of the risk that commissioning fewer/bigger titles will reduce the range and diversity of PSM content which could also diminish the ability to serve the needs of all audiences. Moreover, there is a need for Key Performance Indicators to define and measure success and these should be clearly aligned with PSM remits, including ensuring that all audiences benefit from PSM regardless of where and how they watch/use services, in accordance with the basic principles of intergenerational justice. Among the critical factors for PSM success is to emphasise and engage with the audience’s digital and civic literacies.
  • In an increasingly competitive online media context, brand perceptions of PSM are crucial for its future legitimacy. PSM organisations need to work on communicating the brand values of their organisations, including the VoD portal, across multigenerational and diverse audiences. Ensuring sufficient independence from political interference (e.g. EMFA implementation in the EU context) and clear accountability to the public are both essential to securing and maintaining trust in PSM brands.
  • Flatter organisational structures and greater integration of technology and digital skills are required for PSM to adapt to the challenges of the platform age. Organisational change must be accompanied by a shift in organisational culture and greater integration of digital skills across the workforce.
About the study

The study is the second milestone of PSM-AP, a three-year research project that examines how public service media organisations, regulators and policymakers are adapting to the new platform age, with a focus on television. The project is supported by the CHANSE ERA-NET co-fund programme, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under Grant Agreement no 101004509. PSM-AP is led by Catherine Johnson (University of Leeds, UK), together with Principal Investigators Tim Raats (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, BE), Michał Głowacki (University of Warsaw, PL), Hanne Bruun (Aarhus University, DK), co investigator Massimo Scaglioni (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, IT), together with postdoctoral researchers Catalina Iordache (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, BE), Dan Martin (University of Leeds, UK), Julie Mejse Münter Lassen (Aarhus University/DMJX, DK), Filip Świtkowski (University of Warsaw, PL), Antonio Nucci (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, IT), and supporting researchers Jacek Mikucki (University of Warsaw, PL) and Katarzyna Gajlewicz-Korab (University of Warsaw, PL). More information on the project can be found here.

Featured Image: Tiny people watch video with remote control and television multimedia box. Smart TV box, smart tv console, make your TV smart concept. Bright vibrant violet vector isolated illustration. Credit: Net Vector / Shutterstock.com

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