By Trendeline Bucolli, RTK

Public broadcasters across the Western Balkans are facing a challenge that is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: younger audiences are slowly moving away from traditional radio and linear broadcasting.

The reasons are structural. Over the past decade, media consumption habits have fundamentally changed. Platforms such as Spotify, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and streaming services increasingly dominate the attention economy, especially among younger generations. Public broadcasters are no longer competing only with other radio or television stations. They are competing with algorithms, personalized feeds, and platforms designed to capture attention continuously.

During a professional mobility visit to Sweden and Denmark, I explored how Scandinavian public broadcasters are responding to this transformation, particularly how they approach younger audiences in an increasingly fragmented digital environment.

What became clear very quickly is that broadcasters such as Sveriges Radio and DR are not trying to “save radio” in its traditional form. Instead, they are redefining what public service content looks like in a digital media environment.

Public Service Beyond Traditional Broadcasting

At both organizations, the focus is no longer centered on bringing younger audiences back to traditional broadcasting platforms. The priority is ensuring that public service content is accessible across the platforms where audiences already spend their time.

This shift changes the entire philosophy of production.

Content is no longer treated as something tied exclusively to FM frequencies or fixed programming schedules. Stories move across multiple formats from live radio and podcasts to social media clips, mobile apps, streaming platforms, and on-demand audio.

Despite intense global competition, Scandinavian public broadcasters continue to maintain significant audience reach. Sveriges Radio remains one of Sweden’s most trusted media institutions and continues to reach millions of listeners every week through its radio channels, digital platforms, and podcast ecosystem. Public reporting from Sveriges Radio also points to continued growth in digital listening and on-demand audio consumption.

In Denmark, DR has similarly emphasized the growing importance of streaming and digital consumption. According to recent Danish media reports referencing DR audience data, DR’s streaming ecosystem continues to play a central role in national media consumption, while Danish public service platforms collectively account for a substantial share of streaming usage in the country.

However, technology alone does not explain their relevance.

The Communication Gap

Perhaps the most noticeable difference is communication style.

Listening to youth-oriented programs, podcasts, and digital productions from Scandinavian public broadcasters, one immediately notices a different tone from what is still common across much of the Western Balkans. The communication is significantly less formal and far more conversational.

Presenters often speak in a language that resembles everyday communication rather than traditional institutional broadcasting. Programs feel more spontaneous, interactive, and closer to the way younger audiences naturally communicate online and offline.

This difference is visible not only in vocabulary, but also in rhythm, humor, storytelling style, and audience interaction. Hosts are generally more comfortable expressing personality, curiosity, and emotion. Conversations are allowed to sound human rather than overly scripted or institutionally distant. In many Western Balkan public broadcasters, communication still largely follows the traditional model of authoritative broadcasting — highly formal, carefully structured, and emotionally restrained. While this approach reflects professionalism and editorial discipline, it can also create distance for younger audiences who increasingly expect communication to feel direct, transparent, and relatable.

Credibility Through Authenticity

Scandinavian broadcasters appear to operate on an important understanding: younger audiences do not necessarily reject serious journalism. What they often reject is communication that feels detached from their everyday media experience.

This does not make journalism less professional. In many ways, the opposite may be true.
The credibility of Scandinavian public broadcasters appears to come not only from institutional authority, but also from their ability to communicate in ways that feel accessible and authentic. Communication style itself becomes part of the trust-building process.

Younger audiences do not necessarily reject serious journalism. What they often reject is communication that feels detached from their everyday media experience.

Lessons From SMiD 2026

An important part of this experience was also participation in the SMiD 2026 anniversary conference, From Print to Prompt: Media and Communication Research and Education in the Era of GenAI, held at Roskilde University on May 7–8, 2026.

The conference marked 50 years of media and communication research in Denmark and focused on how artificial intelligence, platform transformation, and changing audience behavior are reshaping journalism, communication, and media education.

Many of the discussions at the conference reflected the same structural challenges currently facing public broadcasters: algorithmic distribution, AI-generated content, trust and verification, audience fragmentation, and the growing difficulty of maintaining engagement in rapidly evolving digital environments.

One recurring theme was particularly relevant: adaptation can no longer be treated as a temporary innovation strategy.

It has become a permanent condition of media work.

Researchers, editors, and journalists repeatedly emphasized that audience behavior changes too quickly for static editorial models. Continuous experimentation  testing formats, studying audience engagement, analyzing platform behavior, and adjusting content accordingly  is increasingly becoming part of everyday journalistic practice.

What the Western Balkans Public Broadcasters can learn

For broadcasters in smaller and politically complex media markets such as the Western Balkans, Scandinavian models cannot simply be copied. Financial resources, institutional stability, and levels of public trust differ significantly.

Still, the broader lesson remains highly relevant.

The future of public media may depend less on defending traditional formats and more on understanding how audiences experience media today. Increasingly, audiences are looking not only for information, but also for communication that feels genuine.

In that sense, technology alone may not be the strongest advantage of Scandinavian public broadcasters.

It may be their ability to sound authentic in an era where authenticity itself has become one of the rarest forms of credibility.

Funded by the European Union, the Innovation. Media. Minds Program: Support to Public Service Journalism in the Western Balkans, is managed by the Goethe-Institut on behalf of the European Commission and in collaboration with its implementing partner DW Akademie. The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.