Efficiency of regional public service broadcasters in Spain using DEA and benchmarking

The current high public deficit situation of the Spanish economy forces us to analyse the management of public service companies, their allocation of resources and how well they are managed. This is always a relevant topic for media management, but even more nowadays given the economic context. Upon analysing and individually comparing different public services of regional television networks, we can see significant differences in production management styles in comparison to the results achieved. Thus, within the past two decades there seems to be a difference of 200 million euros annually in the allocation of public funds. Furthermore, many regional networks have an annual audience viewership double that of other public regional networks with higher public budgets. These differences justify the need for a comparative evaluation or benchmarking among the 13 public entities in order to find out and learn what makes one network more efficient than another as it pertains to production management. This article is structured as follows. First, we will study the efficiency of production management of organisations by using benchmarking and data envelopment analysis methods. The next Next, in Section 3, we will review the production management and results of public regional television networks in Spain. section contains the analysis methodology, variables and outcomes as applied to regional public service television in Spain . Finally, we shall review the results and implications for said management including future research. Theories employed to frame this piece of research include efficiency and benchmarking as applied to media industries. Efficient management of resources is likely to be the key economic and business research question. Benchmarking is a widely used technique in consulting and professional management, even though it has been used in research to a lesser extent. Within this article, we shall analyse the efficiency of regional public television services in Spain using benchmarking and the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. This technique allows for the analysis of efficiency in the use and management of public resources and results obtained therein. It also permits for the measuring of productive efficiency of each regional public television service in order to propose necessary adjustments to achieve efficiency for those public entities that are not efficient. We will do this with two goals in mind. One, to evaluate and compare the performance of regional public television networks; and two, to propose policy measures to improve management efficiency. Basically, we can conclude from this research that from the 13 Spanish regional television services, seven manage themselves efficiently, while the other six are inefficient. If we analyse the management styles adopted by each institution discussed herein, the traditional model stands out as being efficient in only two cases (Catalonia and Galicia), while the outsourced model is efficient in five cases (Aragon, Asturias, Extremadura, Canary Islands and Murcia). On the contrary, there are four inefficient television networks managed using the traditional method (Andalusia, Madrid, Valencia and the Basque Country), whereas two adopt the outsourced management method (Castilla-La Mancha and the Balearic Islands). Therefore, the traditional management method is efficient in only 33% of cases, while outsourcing is efficient in 71% of the institutions that use them. Without a doubt, the outsourced model maintains the greatest overall efficiency when compared to the traditional management model. This article offers an original theoretical model so as to assess efficiency of public service television based on four aspects: market experience; subsidies; external procurement; and audience share. It permits to be tested empirically in the Spanish case and any others, even though consensus in scientific literature has not been reached. Regarding practical implications, this piece of research recommends regional public service television to change some of their inputs/outputs to enhance efficiency and ensure future sustainability.