Ms Dee Forbes:

This has been a major focus of the organisation because it is reflective of our audiences are consuming media now generally. As I informed the previous speaker, the younger generation are now consuming their media through digital devices. Part of the reason for the land sale we did in 2017 was to generate some capital in order that we could improve our infrastructure. We have put a lot of money into improving our digital infrastructure, whether it be studios, cameras or equipment, to enable us to do all of that. The RTÉ Player is the choice now for many people to come to first and we have had to invest substantially in the player in order to make it fit for purpose because, of course, we are being compared with Netflix, Amazon, etc. It is something that we are continuing to do.

A digital first strategy in news has been prevalent for the past couple of years. Whereas people will recall a time when they would hear a news break at 6 p.m. or 9 p.m., as news stories break now people get them immediately because that is what they want. We have been adjusting our technology, on the one hand, but we have also been adjusting our content and how we deliver it, whether it is news, whether it is podcasts or whether it is the ability to hear and see content where and when one wants. A key aspect is that digital audiences are strong but we still have some way to go in maximising the revenue generated from that because, as everybody says in the media, there is not an equivalence in that one euro in the linear world does not equate to what is on offer in the digital world. That is the challenge the organisation faces.