How platformisation transforms public service media: A new research agenda

The expansion of global digital platforms has significant implications for public service media (PSM), which now operate within a platform ecosystem in which a small number of transnational technology companies increasingly shape the conditions under which media are produced, distributed and consumed. In this introduction to a special issue of Convergence on ‘Comparative Approaches to PSM in the Age of Platforms’ we set out how platformisation fundamentally reshapes the institutional conditions under which PSM operate, challenges the public service remit, reconfigures core values and invites a reconsideration of PSM as a democratic institution. Arguing that this represents a profound transformation, we identify five key dimensions that distinguish platformisation from earlier processes of digitalisation: platforms have created a fundamentally different democratic environment; platforms operate at global scale; platforms create asymmetric dependencies; platforms alter the cultural logics of audiovisual production; platformisation challenges PSM’s normative foundations. Building on the Public Service Media in the Age of Platforms (PSM-AP) project, this introduction argues for the importance of comparative research for understanding this transformation and sets out an agenda for the future of PSM studies based around six core themes: values, ecosystem, audiences, portals, content and role. The introduction argues for the urgency in addressing these themes if we are to understand how PSM—as a systemic intervention designed to drive public and societal value—is to be preserved in the age of platforms.