The broadcasting industry stands at a pivotal moment marked by constant change, reinvention, and dramatic shifts in audience engagement and revenue generation. While broadcasters possess a rich heritage deeply embedded in local culture, a central tension arises: does this heritage become a barrier to innovation or a source of strength as broadcasters evolve? Transformation, according to industry leaders, is no longer optional, it is essential.
To navigate this complex landscape, broadcasters must address three core imperatives: adapting to shifting audience consumption habits, novel monetisation strategies, and strategically embracing multi-platform distribution.
Embrace nonlinear audiences and reinvent content strategies
Linear television viewership is continuing its steady decline. Accelerated by the proliferation of high-speed internet, on-demand alternatives, and intense competition from gaming, music and social media platforms, the shift away from scheduled TV is clear and irreversible. Younger audiences are increasingly adopting nonlinear viewing patterns and are unlikely to revert to traditional linear habits later in life.
Yet, linear TV is not obsolete. Verticals such as news and live sports continue to sustain linear viewing, acting as cultural touchpoints that viewers prefer to experience live. Indeed, the rate of decline is slowing in certain markets, partly due to aging populations and free-to-air policies guaranteeing prominent events are broadcast live.
Acknowledging this fundamental shift, broadcasters are proactively investing in their streaming platforms. Initially designed merely as catch-up services, these platforms now stand as destinations in their own right, boasting expansive on-demand libraries and premiering original content. French broadcasters such as France Télévisions, M6, and TF1 exemplify this evolution, offering extensive on-demand catalogues that turn their streaming services into primary content destinations. They have effectively transformed from traditional broadcasters into dynamic streamers, increasingly adopting industry terminology like “users” and “time spent,” indicative of this new reality.
Innovate monetisation: leverage addressability and diversification
As traditional advertising revenue models anchored in linear TV experience significant disruption, broadcasters must innovate to achieve financial sustainability. A key advancement has been the growth of addressable advertising, spearheaded by UK initiatives such as Sky AdSmart, which emerged over a decade ago. Addressable advertising allows broadcasters to deliver highly targeted ads on a regional and local basis, improving advertiser outcomes and significantly enhancing monetisation effectiveness.
Recent data from Europe’s five largest markets (the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) underscores this shift, indicating a notable acceleration in online advertising post-2020. Broadcaster video-on-demand (BVoD) services accounted for 6 per cent of total broadcaster advertising revenue in 2019, but this increased to 10 per cent by 2022 and is projected to reach 20 per cent by 2029. The UK leads this evolution, anticipating online revenue will represent 40 per cent of total broadcaster advertising revenue by the end of this decade, with approximately one-fifth of all broadcast airtime already addressable.
Diversification beyond traditional advertising is also gaining momentum. Broadcasters such as ITV and RTL have become significant global content producers, successfully selling formats internationally and to streaming giants like Netflix. This strategy not only diversifies revenue streams but positions broadcasters prominently within a broader content ecosystem. Other broadcasters, such as Germany’s ProSieben, have diversified their investments into non-video digital assets, expanding their business portfolio and mitigating reliance on traditional TV revenue.
To capture a larger share of digital advertising budgets, broadcasters are simplifying ad-buying processes. ITV, Channel 4, and Sky recently introduced a self-serve private marketplace intended to attract more advertisers and promote brand-building campaigns beyond traditional last-click attribution models.
Strategic multi-platform distribution and partnership management
Today’s media landscape is fragmented, featuring numerous players—from traditional broadcasters and pay-TV operators to connected-TV platforms and online video giants—competing fiercely for the premium video audience. Within this ecosystem, broadcasters face significant challenges in maintaining prominence and discoverability across platforms, many of which have conflicting commercial objectives.
While owning and operating proprietary streaming services remains crucial, broadcasters increasingly recognise they cannot rely solely on their owned-and-operated environments. Instead, they must strategically distribute content across platforms where significant audience segments already reside. This “test and learn” approach on third-party platforms has become essential to engaging younger demographics who have limited or no exposure to traditional linear TV.
The recent partnership between Netflix and French broadcaster TF1 illustrates this strategy vividly. TF1 allows Netflix exclusive first-run rights for a new daily soap opera for five days before airing it on linear TV. This partnership represents a sea change, combining distinct audiences and creating added value for the broadcaster’s intellectual property. Moreover, platforms like YouTube now allow broadcasters to directly monetise their content through advertising sales, offering additional financial opportunities.
Yet such strategic partnerships require careful management. Broadcasters must maintain control over brand integrity, viewer relationships, and monetisation. The newspaper industry’s history offers a cautionary tale, where excessive reliance on third-party platforms resulted in diminished brand power and loss of revenue control. Hence, broadcasters must balance external collaboration with strategic autonomy, safeguarding their long-term commercial interests.
Collaboration among broadcasters themselves is equally critical. The UK market has demonstrated effective models for over two decades, exemplified by joint initiatives like Freeview’s Freely, which pools resources and expands collective reach. Such cooperative frameworks allow broadcasters to retain control while acknowledging the limitations of isolated strategies, ultimately enhancing their competitive positions and viewer discoverability across the multi-platform environment.
Mastering the art of dynamic adaptation
The future of broadcasting is not about preserving outdated models, but rather about strategic, dynamic adaptation. Broadcasters must proactively evolve their content offerings to align with nonlinear viewing trends, innovate monetisation through addressable advertising and revenue diversification, and thoughtfully navigate a fragmented multi-platform ecosystem via selective, strategic partnerships.
Broadcasters who similarly embrace innovation, diversification, and strategic partnerships will be best positioned not merely to survive, but to thrive in the new digital age.
