This systematic review examines how media innovation labs are conceptualized, implemented, and sustained within contemporary news organisations. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a protocol was registered in OSF, and comprehensive searches were conducted in Web of Science and Scopus (2010-2025), applying strict PICOS-based inclusion criteria that required studies to be peer-reviewed, open-access, empirical, and focused explicitly on media labs. Two reviewers independently screened all records in blinded mode, extracted data using a structured template, and assessed methodological quality with the MMAT 2018. Of 39 records identified, 14 studies met all eligibility criteria. The synthesis shows that media labs operate as protected experimental environments characterized by interdisciplinary collaboration, agile prototyping, and knowledge transfer. Strengths include institutionalized experimentation, cross-functional coordination, and strategic foresight; weaknesses involve siloisation, resource fragility, and cultural resistance; opportunities arise from emerging technologies and open-innovation ecosystems; threats relate to financial precarity, organizational inertia, and superficial innovation cultures. Overall, the evidence base is predominantly qualitative and geographically concentrated in Europe, limiting generalizability. The review highlights the need for longitudinal and comparative research to clarify how labs contribute to sustainable organizational transformation.
The media value chain is experiencing a transformation from linear models to dynamic platform ecosystems, enabling direct interactions between creators, distributors, and consumers. Drawing on a decades-spanning literature review and co-citation network analysis, this paper investigates key trends shaping media value-chain evolution. Through an evolutionary theory lens, a conceptual model for the emerging media value chain is developed based on the mechanisms of variation, selection, and retention driving the re-configuration of industry activity. This interdisciplinary approach provides a deeper understanding of the dynamics shaping contemporary media ecosystems, offering insights for both further research and wider industry practice. This study contributes both to understanding the evolution of media value creation structures and to mapping how scholarly perspectives on these transformations have co-evolved over time.
