Hard
Diagnosis/Profitability
Non-revenue goals
News Co.
Practice this advanced diagnosis/profitability case interview question in the Media & Entertainment sector. Includes detailed problem prompt, clarifying questions, structured framework, and expert recommendation. Part of ProHub's 835+ consulting case library.
ProHub Comment
This case tests the ability to diagnose root causes using data analysis while balancing non-financial goals (trust) with business objectives (profitability). The key skill is recognizing that increased opinion programming correlates with declining trustworthiness, requiring candidates to synthesize programming data with viewer perception metrics and recommend solutions that address trust without sacrificing revenue.
Estimated Time
37 minutes
Difficulty
Hard
Source
Darden
20
/ 100
NewsCo. is a TV network that offers live news and pre-recorded entertainment programming. They’re concerned about a recent survey showing a decline in viewers’ trust. This is particularly worrisome because NewsCo. prides itself on high-quality journalism and uses the tagline “News You Can Trust.”
Our team was hired to identify the root causes and provide recommendations.
Clarifying Information
- What can you tell me about the survey? A US-based consumer intelligence agency compared NewsCo. to other major news networks across several dimensions. While NewsCo. scored well in most dimensions, only 46% of viewers considered it trustworthy. It ranked fourth most trustworthy out of six major news networks. In 2018, over 75% of consumers rated NewsCo. as trustworthy, ranking first. Survey respondents were asked to assess “NewsCo. is a reliable and trustworthy news source.”
- Does NewsCo. publish other forms of news, such as print or digital? Yes, NewsCo. operates a website, but management is currently focused only on its television programming.
- What is the client’s objective? NewsCo. wants to understand the root cause of the low trustworthiness score and recommended actions to improve it.
- How does NewsCo. generate revenue? NewsCo. earns most of its revenue from advertising on its TV programming, but it also earns revenue through cable subscriptions, website advertising, and selling prepackaged content to third parties such as airports and hotels.