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BIA-Brukerstyrt innovasjonsarena

Media Innovation Through the Corona Crisis (MICC) - how news media can build and implement innovation ability

Alternative title: Medieinnovasjon gjennom koronakrisen: hvordan kan nyhetsmedier forbedre og bruke sin innovasjonsevne?

Awarded: NOK 4.9 mill.

Project Number:

316534

Project Period:

2020 - 2023

Funding received from:

MICC was a two-year research project on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Norwegian news media and how news media pivoted their strategies for business opportunities to ensure their role in society. It is a collaboration between BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet), Kristiania University College, the Norwegian Media Authority, Kantar and the Norwegian Institute of Journalism (IJ). The theoretical frameworks for our research were service innovation theory, media innovation and crisis management, and our empirical data has been gathered using content analysis, interviews, surveys, workshops, and seminars. In our research, we argue that the pandemic acted as a catalyst for innovation in the short term and as an amplifier of ongoing innovation in the long term. Some news media saw the pandemic as an opportunity to create new and improved value through innovation processes, digitalization, and audience orientation. As a catalyst for innovation, the pandemic pushed news media into a meaningful, innovative mindset, transforming newsroom practices, characterized by autonomous, trusted cross-disciplinary teams by creating innovative solutions, digital workplaces, and new roles for practitioners. Furthermore, we see examples of how the pandemic helped news media explore servitization, that is the shift from a product-centric to a service-centric business model and logic, complimenting existing portfolios with services, which in the long run may allow for the replacement of one-time transactions with long-term relationships with customers. The emerging trends of servitization and digitalization appear to be related as innovation calls for more intensive use of digital technology. Thus, digitalization can have an enabling and constraining effect on servitization, but in our case, we see that digitalization evolves into a driver, creating opportunities for the introduction of advanced services. One reason for this is the emerging audience orientation which the pandemic also harnessed. Audience orientation was well underway (i.e. through digital subscriptions) in the media industry, but as the pandemic created a surge in informational need in society, the news media regained some of their role as providers of information, knowledge, understanding, and as arenas for social interaction. Our study also reflects the complexities in the relationship between innovation, digitalization, and value creation in the long run, as three interrelated change processes operating at different paces and with diverse intensities. One novel contribution of our research is an insight into the mediating role between service innovation and value-creation processes within news media. As an amplifier of the ongoing innovation process, we saw that the pandemic led many news media to seek solutions to meet their customers’ needs, making themselves more relevant and valuable to people. We saw traces of “public service”-inspired innovation in newsrooms, although the coverage of the pandemic lacked critical perspectives reflecting debates associated with the pandemic. Instead, this type of health journalism focused on the pandemic's economic, societal, and cultural consequences along with increased information dissemination in terms of volume and responsibility. The transition from a product-centric model to a service-oriented one is not easy. For instance, newsrooms expressed ambiguity regarding telework during the crisis, although they appreciated emotional, functional, and strategic benefits. As an opportunity to create new value, we identified three types of resilience strategies to cope with the crisis and support incremental innovation. Some organizations experienced a renewal of journalistic products and services, improving market positions and the opportunities for a more flexible and efficient work life. Whether these new, digital, and collective practices will last remain to be seen. Regarding news media’s societal role during the pandemic, we found audience support for news media gate-keeping functions and increased use of and subscription to online news media. The generally successful way news media coped with the pandemic suggests that some companies do better in crisis times and may have strengthened their position under the pandemic.

- - Endring i arbeidsrutiner ble drevet av både et ønske om å endring (ambition driven), men også fordi redaksjoene ikke hadde annet valg (urgency-driven). - Ny arbeidspraksis preget av strenge prioriteringer av arbeidsoppgaver og ressursfordelinger - Noen produktutvikling som går i retning mer lyd og bilde i tradisjonelle avishus - Digitalisering av tjenester som addressere publikums behov og ønsker - Mer samarbeid på tvers av avdelinger og profesjoner - Kompetanseheving innenfor service- journalistikk og helse-journalistikk. - Enorm dugnadsinnsats fra første stund for å levere gode nyheter fra hjemmekontoret - Journalister var litt overrasket og veldig stolte av at de produserte så mye god journalistikk under høyt press, usikkerhet og ny teknologiske forhold - Pandemien ble fremstilt som en sosial og kulturell krise - Mediene stilte få kritiske spørsmål til myndighetene - Nyhetssakene handlet som oftest om sosial adferd og risiko knyttet til pandemien, de var ofte vinklet negativt og brukte i stor grad autoritetskilder - Fall i annonseinntekter og en nedgang i papirinntekter, men enn oppgang i digitale abonnementsinntekter under pandemien - Krisen akselererte skiftet fra annonsebasert til brukerbasert forretningsmodell - Krisen akselererte skiftet fra papir til digital forretningsmodell, også blant nisjemediene - Utviklet nye tjenester for å tiltrekke seg nye kunder eller utforske nye markeder - Innovasjon og utvikling av eksisterende tilbud for å kunne tilby brukerne et verdiforslag som baserer seg på brukernes behov, interesser og ønsker - Tidlig ble krisen forstått som en trussel, men snart oppdaget mange at det gikk bedre enn fryktet - Krisen åpnet opp for flere muligheter til å videreutviklet sine tjenester til digitale eksisterende kunder og å levere et verdiforslag for å opprettholde eller styrke deres relasjon - Krisen forsterket en pågående forskyvning fra et produktsentrert verdiforslag til en logikk hvor tjenester står mer sentralt - I utviklingen av større visuelle presentasjoner basert på store data var det behov autonomi og samarbeid, tillit fra ledelsen og stor grad av frihet. - Man trenger journalister med stor forståelse for programmering og programmerere med stor forståelse for jouranlistikk - til tross for mange ulemper med digitale samhandlingsverktøy, opplevde informantene at journalister ble mer operative, fleksible og tverrfaglig med en fornyet digital kompetanse og selvtillit - Krisen skapte et stort behov for troverdige og nyttige nyheter - Stor interesse i og tilfredshet med pandeminyheter fra redaksjonelle medier - økt bruk blant de fleste publikumsgrupper - økt abonnement - Generell høy tillit til norske medier - Medienes portvaktrolle ble styrket - VGs koronaspesial spilte en stor rolle som informasjonsformidler for både myndighetene og samfunnet - Fornyet selvtillit blant flere redaksjonelle medier om deres samfunnsrolle og verdi

The project “Media Innovation through the Corona Crisis” (MICC) addresses the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for the Norwegian news media industry and how news media are pivoting their strategies for business opportunities in order to ensure their role in society. Our central objective is to offer a business perspective on how news media can increase the total value created for all stakeholders, including audience, employees and society as a whole. A key project outcome will be the development of a framework which identifies and analyses factors affecting news media innovation ability and value creation. Our theoretical hypothesis is that news media will create more value if they increase their innovation ability instead of improving their innovation capacity. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, we will analyze the ability layers of news media organizations which include customer experiences, service systems and business models. The research project will address knowledge needs among policy makers, regulators, and practitioners in the media sector, as well as in the academic field of media and business innovation. Questions are being raised concerning the business model of news media and the value of the Norwegian generous press subsidy system. As the press is overall a conservative industry, stakeholders are also concerned that cultural obstacles and centralized management limit innovation ability. Another concern is the lack of user involvement and customer experience management in media innovation processes.

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Funding scheme:

BIA-Brukerstyrt innovasjonsarena