A Typology of Media Innovations: Insights from an Exploratory Study

Abstract

The concept and phenomenon of media innovation is gaining some attention in the academic community, policy circles and among practitioners. However, the phenomenon is still poorly defined and not well understood. This paper therefore first analyses how media innovation is framed in the literature on media economics and media management. Then it considers to what extent the standard analysis of innovation could be applied to the media field, considering, on the one hand, the traditional view on innovation policy and, on the other hand, some of the most common indicators of innovation. Based on this information, the paper suggests a novel conceptualisation of media innovation. Furthermore, an analysis of statistical indicators on R&D expenditure leads to three assumptions related to media innovation, namely (1) that the Media and Content Industries (MCIs) are much less innovative than the ICT industries, or/and (2) that R&D statistics do not properly capture the innovativeness of the MCIs, or/and (3) that the innovative activities in media and content are largely taking place elsewhere (for instance in the ICT sector). Whereas the statistical indicators point towards the second explanation, a small round of expert interviews in Flanders revealed that there is a case for assumptions (1) and (3) as well. First of all, it was shown that all forms of innovation defined in our typology exist in the media field, but not with the same importance. The most important ones from the media industries’ point of view seems to be the innovation related to the product, notably concerning the core (e.g. creation of new types of TV shows) and business model innovation. There is also technological innovation taking place in the media industries, for instance concerning new ways to access and interact with the content but this innovation comes from out the media sector (e.g. HD-TV, search engines) and at best the media industries try to adapt to this rapidly changing technological context.

Perceptions of Intra-Organizational Collaboration and Media Workers’ Interests in Media Innovations

“…While the field of innovations has been marked as lacking theoretical substance when applied to the media sector (see reviews in Mierjewska & Hollifield, 2006;Sylvie & Weiss, 2012;Wirth, 2006), there have been distinct attempts at addressing such voids in recent scholarly debate (see reviews in Bleyen et al 2014;Dogruel, 2014). To date, relatively few scholars of media innovations, media studies and media management have commanded close attention to the interplay of innovation and organizational dynamics in media firms (exceptions include Baumann, 2013;Bleyen et al 2014;Nielsen, 2012;Raviola, 2010), This article focuses on the interest and intra-organizational collaboration of distinct media workers and shapes how media technologies come about. It is thus less concerned with the innovation of media technology per se.…”

Las startups periodísticas como ejemplos de innovación en el mercado mediático español. Estudio de casos

“…Estas transformaciones no solo obligan a los medios a reformular sus productos, sino que también afectan a sus procesos de producción y distribución, su organización interna y sus formas de captación de recursos económicos (Bleyen et al, 2014;De Lara et al, 2015: 237). En compañías mediáticas establecidas, las grandes infraestructuras, que suponen unos costes fijos elevados, significan un lastre a la hora de innovar y sobrevivir en el mercado actual (Küng, 2017: 90), en el que la flexibilidad es una ventaja competitiva (Baumann, 2013).…”

Interna förhandlingar om journalistikens framtid

“…Många gånger sker det endast inkrementell och rutinartad innovation (Dogruel, 2014), snarast än disruptiv innovation. I mediebranschen tillägnas vanligen mindre resurser till innovation jämfört med andra branscher (Bleyen, Lindmark, Ranaivoson & Ballon, 2014).…”