Innovation in commercial and public service media in the Baltic countries: the role of global digital intermediaries

This article analyzes the discourses of Baltic media leaders regarding how innovations in their organizations were affected by the perceived effects of global digital intermediaries Facebook, Google, and YouTube. Innovation in media organizations is often associated with digital transformations. In the Baltics, however, some innovative measures, such as digital-born outlets that produced linear television, surpass digital and are directed at reducing the effects of global digital intermediaries. Innovation in public broadcasting is led by a goal to reach new audiences and are as market-driven as commercial media. Both enthusiasm and skepticism toward global digital intermediaries has been expressed, but the established media organizations that had an early online start are showing more enthusiasm for the future.