Media Viability Learning Brief

"There are no one-size-fits-all solutions for enhancing media viability and any workable strategy needs to be tailored to the organisational needs of the partner outlet."

This learning brief summarises the main strategies and approaches embraced by media development actors to tackle the challenges associated with media viability. The brief was developed by the Protecting Independent Media for Effective development (PRIMED) programme to offer a point of departure for the country-specific strategies falling under the PRIMED programme. Implemented by a consortium of media support organisations, PRIMED is a three-year initiative to support the provision of public interest media in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone. The programme seeks to build the resilience of public interest media to political and economic pressures that are undermining viability and to develop information ecosystems that enable a better flow of trusted public interest media content. With a strong focus on research and learning, PRIMED is also looking to shape media development policy and practice globally. PRIMED is, therefore, also seeking to test and develop the sector's understanding of viability strategies and approaches through practice, monitoring and evaluation.

Drawing on the work of media development organisations such as Deutsche Welle Akademie and Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), the paper notes that work in the field of media viability remains diverse and fragmented. There is, therefore, a pressing need to reach consensus on the key indicators of success and how these indicators can be measured across the PRIMED programme. The brief, therefore, defines media viability for the PRIMED programme, examines how it can be measured, highlights key strategies for improving media viability in vulnerable contexts, looks at the issue of evidence of impact, and shares lessons learned.

As explained in the brief, at the time of writing, there was no agreed definition for "media viability". While all current approaches address the financial aspects of media operations, most practitioners believe that viability is also linked to the manifold conditions needed to ensure professional standards, editorial independence, and pluralism. Drawing on definitions of viability of DW Akademie and MDIF, the brief explains that PRIMED's definition is linked to the preexisting economic and political conditions in the three target countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone), which have worsened as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, political instability, and pressures on media. PRIMED, therefore, seeks to improve the ability of potentially viable public interest media outlets to become more resilient to uncertainty while continuing to serve the public interest.

As with the definition of viability, there is also no single approach to measuring media viability. According to the brief, PRIMED will seek to measure viability at the ecosystem level and at the institutional level. It will examine the extent to which media partners become more resilient to environmental shocks and stresses by improving their management systems and adopting new business practices. The programme will analyse their organisational performance against a resilience index that includes their ability to deliver inclusive and relevant public interest content.

Strategies to improve media viability need to be tailored to the organisational needs of the partner outlet, according to the brief. PRIMED encourages a fully holistic approach to improving media viability that could include some of the following components: Undertaking systemic reform such as enhancing legal frameworks and regulatory structures; fostering organisational development such as innovation in business management and capacity-strengthening at the senior level; connecting with audiences so that content responds to audience needs; diversifying income streams to move away from a reliance on advertising; and helping partners access donor funding and exploring possibilities for public funding.

When considering evidence of impact, the brief explains there are numerous factors that play a part in determining the success of initiatives aimed at enhancing media viability. Using the DW Akademie framework, these factors could be categorised as macro (national/regional economy, political stability); meso (advertising market, government interference in the market, media capture, competition from global tech companies, safety of journalists); and micro (commitment/mindset of owner and key personnel, management and technical capacity, content strategies). Other factors will need to be considered when assessing whether content serves the public interest. The brief mentions evidence of impact related to a number of activities by PRIMED partners. For example, Free Press Unlimited (FPU) concludes that, as a result of recent programmes aimed at improving business models, media partners have become less dependent on its funding and, in 2019, most beneficiary outlets reduced this dependency to 10-50% of their budget.

Although there is no silver bullet to overcoming the economic challenges of running a media organisation, the brief shares a number of learning points:

• Implement tailored interventions - Interventions must be individually tailored to an organisation's needs and must enjoy the full buy-in of the owner and of key personnel.
• Give media room to experiment - Media need to have the time and space to experiment with and test new approaches. This strategy requires financial resources, inspiration, and the right mindset.
• Listen to audiences - Media should ensure they are continuing to meet audience needs and should be prepared to make changes to products and adjust newsroom workflows if research findings call for a course correction.
• Engage in collaboration in order to improve reach, impact, and efficiency - Alliances and partnerships can serve to extend audience reach beyond traditional coverage. They also provide added value in terms of introducing new areas of expertise, talent, and specialisation.
• Keep in mind that reach and viability do not necessarily go hand in hand - While media need to engage with and grow their audiences, there are no guarantees that audience size and credibility ultimately translate into financial security.
• Combine support of content production with business support - The experience of multiple media development organisations suggests that support with introducing new business models should be an integral part of all development programmes, particularly those aimed at creating new content or formats.