Strategic Innovation and Public Value in European Public Service Media

In an era of disruptive digital innovations across the media landscape, Public Service Media (PSM) are threatened like never before in their history. Commercial streaming platforms are a dangerous competitor on the content side, while most of the media consumption is shifting from linear channels to social media. In this scenario, the legitimacy and sustainability of the large publicly owned media corporations have been questioned. This thesis investigates how PSM in Europe are taking advantage of digitalization to strategically innovate and increase their public value outcome for contemporary societies. To do so, a qualitative multiple case study was conducted, taking into consideration two countries with two very different media models and public service broadcasting systems: Italy and the Netherlands. Innovation strategies by the two PSM companies, Rai and NPO, have been assessed through a deductive analysis based on mixed methods data collection: in-depth interviews with experts and strategy documents by the organizations. To analyze the data, a conceptual model of analysis was developed selecting concepts from the existing literature. Social, cultural and political were considered as the most relevant dimensions of public value for PSM, and therefore included in the model. Findings showed that public value across those three dimensions is improving thanks to digitalization processes and strategies carried out by the two broadcasters. In Italy, Rai has just started an ambitious transition to become a digital media company, a process that will require significant restructuring in the organization, In the meantime, Rai is trying to implement new content and offering strategies on its streaming platform, and coordinate and reorganize its social media activity more strategically. In the Netherlands, NPO can just act as a coordinating body of several different independent broadcasters, each of them having its own strategic approach toward digitalization. However, they are all carrying out innovative projects on topics such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) or the Metaverse, driven by the competition against each other for new audience. In both cases, achievement of public value seems to be positively influenced by innovation strategies. Italian and Dutch PSM are succeeding in making their services more accessible and equal (social dimension), providing high-quality content, stimulating new talents and providing educational tools (cultural dimension) and offering more widespread and accessible news without losing information quality and integrity (political dimension). The thesis’ conclusion is that, despite the undergoing media revolution, European PSM are heading in the right direction to keep their role relevant, legitimate and sustainable for today’s societies.