VILNIUS – A study commissioned by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) indicates that increased consumption of public service media in Lithuania correlates with a rise in the usage of private news websites.
The research, conducted by Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates (O&O), suggests a complementary relationship between the public broadcaster, LRT, and commercial news outlets, contradicting claims that public media crowds out private competitors.
The findings arrive as the Lithuanian government prepares to debate legislation on April 16 that could alter the funding and operational independence of LRT.
Audience Data and Market Trends
The study analyzed four years of audience data covering the period from 2022 to 2026. The results show a consistent positive link across key audience metrics, suggesting that public service journalism can help to sustain overall news consumption rather than cannibalize it.
Key data points from the study include:
- A 1 per cent increase in LRT page views is associated with a 0.7 per cent increase in commercial page views.
- Higher engagement with public service news is linked to higher overall news consumption across the market.
- No “substitution effect” was found, meaning users do not switch away from private media when using public services.
According to the EBU, the research focused on day‑to‑day usage patterns of Lithuanian audiences and controlled for broader market shifts such as macroeconomic trends and changes in overall internet penetration, in an effort to isolate the relationship between LRT and commercial outlets.
Alexandre Fall, Head of Competition and State Aid at the EBU, stated: “From a competition perspective, the evidence shows no substitution effect between public service media and commercial news. On the contrary, the data points to a complementary relationship, where increased engagement with public service content is associated with higher usage of private news services.”
Lithuanian Legislative Reforms
The timing of the report coincides with proposed legal changes that could significantly reshape the governance of the public broadcaster. LRT is established and regulated under Lithuania’s Law on the Lithuanian National Radio and Television, which sets out the broadcaster’s remit, management and financing framework as a public institution founded by the Seimas, the national parliament.[1]
The government’s April 16 debate will focus on measures that could make it easier to dismiss the Director General of LRT. The proposals also include the introduction of new forms of oversight of editorial activities and a significantly expanded governance structure, shifting more decision‑making from the current council‑and‑director model towards multilevel boards and committees.
Supporters of the reform argue that the changes would improve accountability and make the broadcaster more responsive to elected institutions. However, media‑freedom advocates and several international journalism groups warn that easing the removal of the Director General and extending political or administrative oversight into editorial processes could weaken safeguards that were originally designed to insulate LRT from direct government pressure.[2]
Some critics of public media have argued that the existence and funding of such broadcasters put undue pressure on private companies. However, the EBU argues that LRT actually helps grow the total news audience, which provides a benefit to commercial publishers.
“If you weaken public media to ‘protect’ the market, you risk damaging the very ecosystem you are trying to defend,” Fall added.
European Competition and State Aid
The Lithuanian findings align with previous independent research conducted across Europe, which also concluded that public and private media growth are linked rather than mutually exclusive. That body of work has increasingly informed EU‑level debates on how state‑funded broadcasters should be treated under competition and state aid rules.
From a regulatory perspective, the EBU suggests that since no “crowding out” of private media is demonstrated, restrictions on public service media cannot be justified as a means to protect market competition. Instead, it argues, such measures risk undermining a key provider of trusted information at a time when European institutions are urging member states to bolster media pluralism and resilience against disinformation.
The report argues that the primary pressures facing commercial publishers are structural rather than the result of public media activity. These factors include:
- Declining advertising revenues.
- The expanding influence of global digital platforms.
- Shifts in consumer behavior.
In that context, the EBU contends that the Lithuanian data makes ongoing complaints at the EU level-which allege that public funding for broadcasters like LRT distorts competition-increasingly difficult to sustain, particularly where public broadcasters are bound by a legal mandate to provide universal, politically independent news and information.
The Lithuanian government is scheduled to debate the proposed changes to LRT’s governance and funding on April 16, in a session that will be closely watched by media regulators, EU institutions and press‑freedom advocates as a test case for how far member states can go in reshaping public broadcasters while maintaining formal commitments to editorial independence.
Worth a look
