World Media Economics and Management Conference 2016

In order to secure its future in the new digital landscape, the media industry is increasingly convinced that innovation is required. However, in recent years the need to innovate has become even more pressing and complex, due to the fast pace in which digital technology is evolving. Several media organizations, particularly in the Western world, have begun to realize that they need to do more than just simply making cuts in their workforce and hoping that advertising market will improve sometime. These media companies now understand that they are faced with a greater challenge and need to go further in order to find innovative formulas for their work processes and business activities. The so-called ‘labs,’ special units for R&D&I into these companies, are one the most promising ways to harness the impact of digitalization on the media industry. This type of innovation, known as “intrapreneurship,” provides a counterpoint to classical entrepreneurship as a way of generating innovative ideas. This paper analyzes the emerging phenomenon of labs from the theoretical, typological and empirical viewpoints. The first part contextualizes the phenomenon and offers and overview of the main examples all over the world to end up identifying four different types of labs that currently exist worldwide. The main contribution made by this study is that it is the first indepth analysis of labs in Spain and includes corresponding models and trends.