Yle’s next 100 years may look much less like television and radio and much more like a digital public space competing with social networks, streaming platforms and artificial intelligence. As Finland’s public service broadcaster marks its centenary on 9 September 2026, four Finnish media and culture experts have outlined how Yle could evolve, in a debate that also reflects the challenges facing public service media across Europe.
Founded in 1926, Yleisradio, better known as Yle, began with radio before expanding into television and eventually digital services such as Yle Areena and Yle.fi. A century later, the fundamental purpose of public service broadcasting remains, but the environment in which it operates has changed almost completely.
News increasingly reaches audiences through social media, international streaming companies compete for viewing time and generative AI is beginning to insert another layer between journalism and its audience. In an analysis published for its centenary, Yle asked four experts to consider what the broadcaster might become during its second century.
Yle’s next 100 years may depend on owning its platforms
One recurring question is whether public broadcasters can continue relying on platforms controlled by international technology companies.
Anu Koivunen, Professor of Media Studies at the University of Turku, argues that Yle cannot simply distribute itself across every new social platform. Social media will remain necessary for reaching audiences, she said, but Yle must continue developing services that it controls itself.
A possible model is already being discussed elsewhere in Europe. In August, BBC Director-General Matt Brittin proposed a new generation of the broadcaster’s digital platform built around what he described as a “public service algorithm”. The concept could allow independent creators to publish alongside BBC material while applying public service standards rather than the commercial incentives governing platforms such as YouTube.
Koivunen suggested that something similar could eventually work for Yle: effectively a public service alternative to social media, operating under European rules on privacy and data protection and less dependent on foreign technology companies.
The issue extends well beyond Finland. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has identified AI, Big Tech, trusted journalism and digital transformation among its strategic priorities for public service media in 2026.
Live broadcasting could remain difficult to replace
Not everything from the broadcasting era is expected to disappear.
Koivunen expects live programming to retain particular value because some events depend on audiences experiencing them simultaneously. Sport, Finland’s Eurovision selection Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) and the Eurovision Song Contest are examples of content that cannot easily be reduced to individual clips circulating through social media feeds.
This may leave public broadcasters with an unusual advantage. While television schedules become less important for films, series and ordinary programmes, major shared events can still create large audiences at the same moment.
That role also connects with one of the traditional arguments for public service media: creating experiences shared across different demographic and social groups, even as media consumption becomes increasingly fragmented.
Public service media could fill gaps left by the market
The future of Yle may also depend on producing material that commercial companies have fewer incentives to finance.
Film and television critic Leena Virtanen argues that Yle should take greater responsibility for programmes exploring Finnish history, including documentaries and historical drama. She also wants more political satire, a genre she says commercial broadcasters rarely produce in Finland.
The same principle applies to domestic film and television production. Yle is an important financier of Finnish audiovisual content, meaning decisions made by the broadcaster can affect the wider creative industry.
Virtanen argues that high-quality Finnish drama and entertainment can continue providing shared cultural reference points in an increasingly fragmented media environment.
This illustrates a broader question for European public broadcasters. Their future role may be defined not only by whether they can compete with Netflix, YouTube or TikTok, but also by whether they continue producing journalism, culture and entertainment that the commercial market would otherwise provide only in limited quantities.
Reaching young audiences means going where they already are
Owning independent platforms does not mean abandoning social media.
Venla Niinilampi, chair of the journalism students’ association Vostok at Tampere University, argues that Yle needs to continue investing in social platforms precisely because that is where younger audiences spend their time.
The format matters as much as the platform. Short videos need to capture attention almost immediately in an environment where users can simply swipe to the next piece of content.
For a public broadcaster, however, success on social media does not necessarily have to translate directly into traffic. Niinilampi suggests that repeated exposure can establish Yle as a recognisable and trusted source, potentially creating a relationship with younger users before they become regular news consumers.
The dilemma is therefore unlikely to be a choice between proprietary services and social media. Public service organisations may increasingly need both: external platforms for discovery and their own digital infrastructure for deeper relationships with audiences.
Artificial intelligence could become the new intermediary
The more radical transformation could come from AI.
Olli Seuri, Associate Professor of Journalism and Editor-in-Chief of Finnish media outlet Uusi Juttu, expects people may increasingly consume information through what he describes as super-platforms or AI companions.
Instead of opening a news website, users could ask an AI system what happened that day, request an explanation of a political development and then use the same service for entertainment or information searches.
That creates a fundamental problem for journalism. The European Broadcasting Union has warned that AI companies are increasingly positioning themselves between news organisations and audiences, potentially making elements such as bylines, editorial standards and the original source of information less visible.
Seuri nevertheless expects independent journalistic organisations to survive. Public service media in particular could provide an alternative to global platforms because societies will still need spaces where information is produced according to journalistic standards rather than purely algorithmic or commercial incentives.
Public broadcasting may survive by becoming something different
If Yle were created for the first time in 2026, Seuri argues, it would probably bear little resemblance to the traditional combination of radio and television channels. It would likely be more digital and more interactive from the beginning.
That may be the central question facing public service media across Europe during the coming decades. Their institutional purpose does not necessarily require preserving the technologies through which that purpose was originally delivered.
Radio transformed Yle during its first decades. Television transformed it again. The internet produced Yle.fi and Yle Areena. Social platforms forced broadcasters to distribute journalism in formats controlled by other companies. Artificial intelligence may now change how audiences discover information itself.
After its first century, Yle’s next challenge is therefore less about predicting which technology will dominate in 2126 than deciding what should remain public when the technology around journalism continues to change. If public broadcasters can preserve trusted journalism, cultural production and genuinely public digital spaces while adapting their distribution, the institutions may survive even if the traditional idea of a broadcaster does not.
