Public Service Media in an Age of Platforms
PSM-AP is a three-year research project that examines how public service media organisations, regulators and policymakers are adapting to a new platform age dominated by the likes of Netflix, YouTube, Apple and Amazon.
For almost 100 years, public service media (PSM) have played a central role in European culture and society. However, since the 2010s the rise of global platforms and streaming services has transformed the environment within which PSM operates. PSM organisations are having to compete with global streaming services, such as Netflix and YouTube, for audiences, revenue and talent. And they have had to develop new on-demand services and online content that can only be delivered through the online systems owned by global platforms such as Google, Apple and Amazon. PSM-AP asks how PSM organisations, regulators and policymakers are adapting to this new platform age, and how this might alter the social and cultural values of PSM and its ability to operate in the public interest.
PSM-AP focuses on television, which remains at the heart of PSM. It will compare data gathered within and across six countries: Belgium (RTBF, VRT), Canada (CBC), Denmark (DR, TV 2), Italy (RAI), Poland (TVP), UK (BBC, Channel 4, ITV).
The project includes the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA) as project partners and will generate industry and policy briefs, reports, blogs and press articles aimed at securing the public value of PSM.
The project starts on 1 November 2022 and runs for three years until 31 October 2025.
PSM-AP is supported by UKRI, United Kingdom; FWO, Belgium; DAFSHE, Denmark; and NCN, Poland, under 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.
