With funding stagnant since 2008, the broadcaster is racing to adapt to a digital world – and a hard pivot might be the key to ensuring its survival.

Last week, Whakaata Māori announced the end of its flagship daily news bulletin, Te Ao Māori News, which has been a fixture for 20 years. A total of 27 job losses came with it, a heavy blow to the tight-knit team. There’s no doubt it’s devastating for Māori broadcasting, but, if we’re being honest, this move was a long time coming.

This isn’t just about one bulletin or 27 jobs. Whakaata Māori has been running on the same baseline funding since 2008. Think about that – 16 years with no real increase. The time-locked $10.3m boost from the last government, which has now expired, was a temporary lifeline. With no signal of additional support from the current coalition, Whakaata Māori faced a fiscal cliff – and it had to pivot hard.

This is part of a wider story about media in Aotearoa. It’s 2024, and six daily TV news bulletins have been axed this year alone – TVNZ’s 1News at Midday, 1News Tonight, Newshub Live at 6pm, Newshub’s AM Show, Newshub Late and now Te Ao Māori News. Soon, there’ll be just two left (TVNZ’s 1News and Stuff’s ThreeNews, both at 6pm). Audience behaviour is shifting, especially for younger Māori viewers. People are scrolling through  Instagram, TikTok and YouTube – not sitting down for an hour-long news show. If you’ve read the Where Are The Māori Audiences? report, this won’t surprise you.

The pivot to digital

Whakaata Māori has been talking about a “digital-first” strategy for years, but this time, it’s putting its money – and its people – where its mouth is. Te Ao Māori News is already partially digital, streaming live on social and anchored by the teaonews.co.nz website. The Māori+ app is finally on smart TVs, and the Whakaata Māori 2024 annual report showed digital engagement was skyrocketing: a 32% increase in traffic, and Instagram engagement up over 492% during events like Waitangi Day. It has a whopping 1.5m followers on TikTok and more than 103,000 on Instagram.

These are real wins, but they’re not enough. The problem is that social media engagement often doesn’t translate into meaningful audience loyalty for Whakaata Māori. People might watch a clip on Instagram, but will they click through to a long-form interview or tune in regularly? Probably not. This is the issue Whakaata Māori is facing.

Obviously, none of this change happens without pain. The newsroom will feel gutted by the loss of 27 colleagues, and the departure of the head of HR during the restructuring speaks volumes. Change is hard and for the staff who have dedicated years to building this organisation, it’s devastating. The drawn-out nature of these changes hasn’t helped either – people have been waiting for the axe to fall for months.

The challenges facing Whakaata Māori are symbolic of what’s happening across the sector. Māori language agency Te Māngai Pāho funds a lot of Māori media but its focus has been slow to adapt to a digital-first reality. Programmes like Ahikāroa prove it can be done – a digital-first drama with a loyal, engaged audience. However, many legacy shows still feel stuck in a linear TV mindset, even when they’re streaming. You can’t just throw a TV episode on Facebook and call it a digital strategy.

There’s also tension around funding. Auckland-based Waatea News, jointly owned by the Manukau Urban Māori Authority and Te Whanau O Waipareira Trust, for example, has tended to receive the bulk of iwi radio news funding – which is distributed annually from Te Māngai Pāho – and produces hourly bulletins for stations across the country. However, iwi like those in Northland and the central North Island have shown they can create high-quality, regionally focused news products with less funding. It raises questions about fairness and transparency in how TMP allocates its resources.

The next chapter for Whakaata Māori

This is a pivotal moment. If Whakaata Māori can stick the landing on its digital transition, it could set the standard for Māori media in a post-linear world. The likes of weekly current affairs show Te Ao with Moana and weekly live breakfast and late-night Māori satire show Something for the People show that younger, digital-first audiences are reachable. But Whakaata Māori has to figure out how to turn clicks into connection – how to move beyond the 10-second TikTok clips and build a loyal base.

The thing is, Whakaata Māori doesn’t have a choice. Linear TV is dying. The fiscal cliff is real. This pivot isn’t just a strategy – it’s survival. If they can pull it off, it might just mark the beginning of a new era for Māori media – one where digital storytelling not only thrives but becomes the new standard for preserving and celebrating te reo Māori and tikanga Māori in a rapidly changing world.

If they don’t, it’s not just a newsroom or a bulletin we’ll lose. It’s one of the strongest platforms we have for Māori voices, stories and futures.