CPB Selects Poynter Institute to Deliver Enhanced Public Media Digital Transformation Program

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 15, 2024) — The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced today that it has selected the Poynter Institute to develop and deliver a new and significantly larger second phase of its Digital Transformation Program. The training will educate and coach up to 225 public media entities and hundreds of station leaders and their staff to develop and optimize an audience-first, multi-platform approach to their organizational strategies, operations, and culture. The virtual training will be funded by a grant of up to $5 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

The initiative builds upon the success of the first Digital Transformation Program, also run by Poynter, which in 2022-23 trained 79 public media entities and 458 station personnel. As a result of the program, the participating stations generated more than $3.1 million in new digital revenue and acquired more than 10 million new digital audience users/subscribers.

The new grant will allow Poynter to provide online training during the next three years for public media entities via two main tracks – Fundamentals and Advanced. The Fundamentals track will be offered for up to 150 station leaders and their personnel who have not yet received digital transformation training. An Advanced track will be offered for up to 75 “alumni” station leaders and personnel who have already completed either the first phase of the Digital Transformation Program or another similar program.

“CPB serves as the steward of the federal appropriation and applies these monies in ways that enable public media to continue to deliver value to the American people,” said Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB. “Local stations are strongly connected to the communities they serve, and these communities are accessing media in many ways. CPB is forward leaning in embracing digital innovation and helping stations be future focused. Based on stations’ reviews, we have chosen the Poynter Institute to help continue our work accelerating stations digital transformation efforts.”

Public media leaders who participated in the first Digital Transformation Program praised the program for the fundamental changes it helped them make. 

“The Digital Transformation Program was exhilarating -- it was the best thing that I and my staff have ever been through. It has really focused us on our future and given us the tools to meet the challenges ahead,” said Pat Crawford, Executive Director of WUWF, a university licensee radio station based in Pensacola, Florida.

The Poynter Institute will customize Phase 2 of the Digital Transformation Program for each cohort. The nine-month virtual Fundamentals track will be offered to 50 stations and their professional staff each year for three years. It will identify strategies and best practices to help them adapt their organizational digital culture, offering one-on-one and peer group coaching sessions, as well as a series of educational webinars, work exercises, and resource materials that span the program curriculum. 

A new six-month virtual Advanced track will be offered for 25 stations and their staffs each year for three years. The Advanced track will include a more concentrated focus on core digital areas to strengthen stations’ ability to achieve more digital revenue and audience growth from “owned” digital platforms, such as station websites, YouTube channels, podcasts, and email/newsletters, and increase stations’ level of digital maturity. Station leaders in both tracks will receive focused data and analytics training to advance their degree of data fluency, and capability to identify, engage, and monetize new and existing audiences.

“This is a profound investment by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in strengthening local news in communities around the country, and Poynter is honored to be the partner to make this vision a reality,” said Neil Brown, Poynter president. “The Poynter-CPB partnership recognizes the vital role that public media plays in helping people navigate their communities and the world each day. We’ve seen the transformation this program creates with greater audience, revenue and engagement. We are eager to bring these capabilities to even more public media stations to help them serve their audiences as thriving digital enterprises.”

To learn more about the new enhanced Digital Transformation Program or register for one of three upcoming webinars, please click here. Applications for the Fundamentals track are now open until September 6, 2024, and the program will launch in January 2025.