World Media Economics and Management Conference 2016

Digitization and a range of accompanying innovations enabled over-the-top (OTT) platform companies such as Netflix, Apple or Google to enter the broadcasting sector. As a response, the traditional incumbent broadcasters and distributors built their own digital platforms. Platforms started to dominate different stages of the value chain – the industry became subject to the phenomenon of ‘platformization’. An ecosystem with a unique structure and competitive dynamics driven by the diverging business logic of platform companies emerged. This platformized broadcasting industry can hardly be captured by current approaches in the field of media and platform economics. Thus, the paper uses the theoretical framework of Platform Networks (PN), which extends existing platform theory. In an in-depth case study, the framework is applied to explain the changing structure and competitive dynamics of the digital broadcasting industry in Belgium. As a result, the paper argues that broadcaster, distributors and new entrants need to carefully balance competition and cooperation in order to create a sustainable digital ecosystem.