UNESCO and Deutsche Welle Akademie have developed indicators to assess media viability. These indicators serve as an amendment to UNESCO Media Development Indicators Framework, in which the media viability indicators become the 6th category of indicators. DWs understanding of media viability does not only include financial sustainability, i.e. economic survival, but also the ability of media outlets to produce high quality journalism in the long term. Therefore the indicators are divided into thematic dimensions representing the three levels of a media landscape. An updated indicators framework was published by DW Akademie in April 2020, under the title “Measuring Beyond Money: The Media Viability Indicators (MVIs)”.

Deutsche Welle Akademie also developed a model for media viability in 2019, which can be found under the title: “More than Money: Rethinking Media Viability in the Digital Age”.