**2. EITB's multiplatform initiatives for new audiences**

EITB is undergoing a profound digital transformation process that had its turning point in 2020 when the corporation merged its business units of radio, television and internet under EITB Media, and conducted a transversal restructuring to coordinate the content production. This process took place in the aftermath of the Digital Single Market, adopted by the European Union in 2015 to unify the 27 national digital markets and facilitate cross-border online activity [32]. Public media have to combine the challenges of digitization with the need to redefine their public service mandate in a scenario of increasing platformization and individual rather than collective media habits. Within this context, the European Broadcasting Union and its members have pledged to six core values for Public Media Service: universality, independence, excellence, diversity, accountability and innovation [33, 34].

Children and teens have been the target audience as part of EITB's public service duty since its foundation in 1982. The offer of digital contents and services in new platforms, specially in the Basque language, and geared to children and teens, is one of the twelve priorities in EITB 2030 Strategy. EITB acknowledges in this strategy that the "loss of emotional connection with the youth" [35] is one of the five challenges that it needs to face in order to improve its public service, because Basque youth between the ages of 18 and 29 mostly consume digital media, specially YouTube followed by subscription platforms.

## **2.1 Digital contents for children**

The first digital community for children in EITB was born in 2001, but in 2011 all the entertainment contents for children were grouped in the webpage of the new community Hiru 3 (today 3Kluba). Between 2016 and 2019 EITB created the Hiru3 mobile application for smartphones and tablets and the Hiru3TB application for Smart TVs. In 2020, the new YouTube channel for 3Kluba opened, and today has 10,000 subscribers and 2,200 videos. All the child-oriented contents (in the Basque language) can also be seen in other platforms: ETB3 TV channel, the web of 3Kluba (https://www.eitb.eus/eu/hiru3/), and the BVoD seven-day catch-up service EITB Nahieran both in the web (https://www.eitb.eus/es/nahieran) and in the mobile app. Since 2020 some children's programs have been broadcast simultaneously in ETB3 and the web eitb.eus.

The app 3Kluba is the cornerstone of the corporation's multiplatform strategy for children's audiences because of its options, functionalities and contents. The app divides the contact for three age brackets (0 to 4, 5 to 7, and from 8-year-olds forward), and a drop down menu allows users to go to the web of 3Kluba, store favorite contents, become members of the children's club, and issue parental alerts. All the cartoons have a clickable icon that shows the values held by 3Kluba, as part of EITB's public mandate (the importance of the Basque language, entertainment, knowledge, culture, friendship, and cooperation). The number of users for the app 3kluba has grown 12% from 2019 to 2022, from 47,637 to 53,384, but only in one year, from 2019 to 2020, the users increased by 86%. The multiplatform strategy of 3Kluba also includes interactive games in its webpage. The contents for children amounted to 63% of all the youth-oriented contents in 2020 [36].
