De Europese publieke omroepen online

Television programs are no longer only available on linear television. Almost every program that is broadcasted on the traditional television can also be viewed online a few minutes later. Especially younger people do not consume their media at a fixed time in front of a big screen anymore, but rather watch content on a phone, tablet or computer whenever they want. For the European public broadcasters this change in the audience’s consumption patterns means that they have to change the way they offer video content. This study explores how four different European public broadcasters are reacting to this changing online media landscape. In order to do so, this study combines three research methods. The first method is a content analysis. This method is used to create an overview of the offer of video on demand by the British, Dutch, Belgian and Polish public broadcasters. Secondly, another content analysis covers the strategy documents from the selected broadcasters to get information about their online strategy. Thirdly, interviews with the broadcaster’s policy makers were conducted to get additional and more detailed information about the broadcasters’ online strategy. All the analyses are divided in three different focus areas: platform, content and interactivity. The first content analysis shows that the broadcasters are all using the possibilities to distribute video on demand, but are not fully using the opportunities to create specific online content or to add interactive parts to the on demand platforms. The second content analysis and the interviews show that the broadcasters have a very similar strategy about how they are sharing content with other online companies. A difference between the strategies of the public broadcasters, is their way they earn money with content. Their offer of content through online platforms differs from partly free to paid subscriptions. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the public service broadcasters are aware of their need to change. To do so they are adjusting their strategy to reach a new audience online. However, this study also shows that there is a difference between the offer, which is more traditional, and strategy, which is more progressive. The public service broadcasters are advised to let those two concepts correspond and learn from each others online offer and strategy in the future.