The Dutch media landscape is characterised by strong media concentration, with two publishers and a public broadcaster dominating the news market. Commercial and public news media continue to focus on the digital transition, and have launched several initiatives to reach young audiences in particular.

The Dutch media landscape continues to be marked by high media concentration. Belgian publishers DPG Media and Mediahuis own more than 90% of all Dutch newspapers, and the former also owns the biggest news website NU.nl. Public service broadcaster NOS dominates the TV and radio market for news, in addition to being the second biggest player online.

Citing concerns about the pluralism of the Dutch news landscape and working conditions for journalists, the Netherlands Competition Authority (ACM) has postponed its decision on DPG Media’s plans to acquire TV and entertainment company RTL Nederland, which is the second biggest news brand in terms of offline reach. The Dutch Media Authority also warned that media consumers' move to social media and (international) streaming services risks displacing consumption of Dutch quality news. They called on legislators and media companies to ensure reliable Dutch journalism is prominently visible and easily findable.¹

Newspaper companies continue to focus on their digital freemium strategy, keeping their premium content behind paywalls to attract subscribers. Mediahuis reported stable subscriptions over 2024, with the growth of digital subscribers offsetting the loss of print subscribers. In line with their digital focus, NRC offered its subscribers one year of free digital access to all New York Times content. Due to decreasing demands for print, Mediahuis announced plans to close its printing press in Dutch capital Amsterdam, following a closure last year in Aachen (Germany).

News brands are actively seeking to reach younger audiences. In 2024, Mediahuis launched a new initiative C.Tru, an experimental space for developing strategies to engage Gen Z, and to develop a sustainable business model around that. Having successfully built young audiences on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, public broadcaster NOS continues to experiment with new online spaces. Their youth-oriented brand NOS op 3 previously tried out livestreaming on Twitch, and last year their child-oriented (ages 9–12) brand Jeugdjournaal published its own game on Roblox, a free online gaming platform popular with children and teens. The game features a virtual remake of the Jeugdjournaal studio, where children can play at being reporters and participate in news quizzes.

The generative AI upsurge has prompted Dutch newsrooms to increasingly experiment with AI systems, ranging from trial runs with AI news anchors (regional broadcasters RTV Drenthe, Omroep Oost, Omroep Brabant) to the development of in-house AI tools to optimise editorial processes (e.g. publisher DPG Media’s ChatDPG).

Several Dutch news media migrated from X to Bluesky, following Elon Musk’s takeover, amid fears for a subsequent increase in hate speech and mis- and disinformation. Public broadcaster NOS stayed on X ‘to safeguard the diversity of their platforms’, and commercial player RTL Nieuws stayed but turned off comments. In January 2025, newspaper De Volkskrant also ceased posting on Facebook, citing Meta's decision to get rid of fact-checkers in the United States and reduce hate content moderation.

Popular Instagram channel cestmocro (1.1 million followers) was at the centre of discussions about freedom of speech. Repurposing content from legacy news media including NOS, BBC, and Al Jazeera, cestmocro regularly posts news about the Israel-Hamas war from the Palestinian perspective, arguing they ‘choose the perspective of the repressed and not the oppressor’. The party leader of BBB (The Farmer–Citizen Movement) suggested banning the account, claiming it ‘is overflowing with antisemitism’ and has ‘a huge influence on young people’. However, legal experts argued this would amount to censorship, and that illegality should be judged per post or per comment.² It is worth keeping in mind though that research shows that just 3% of Dutch young people that follow cestmocro – or similar Instagram accounts RapnieuwsTV and ParraTV – consume no other Dutch (traditional) news brand (Schut et al. 2024).

Aspirant public service broadcaster Ongehoord Nederland (ON) (Unheard Netherlands) continues to be in the news. After complaints about disinformation and racism, sanctions, and – ultimately denied – requests to revoke their licence, their former chairman was fired after complaints about an unsafe work environment, restriction of freedom of speech, and misogynistic remarks. Unsafe work cultures have also been found at the NPO (the umbrella administrative body for Dutch public broadcasting service) and public broadcasters NTR and WNL.³

Tim Groot Kormelink and Kenza Lamot
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam

Changing media

TV and print have steadily declined as news sources over the past decade. Online and social media are flat at best, with Facebook use for news declining for the second year in a row.

Trust in Dutch news has remained fairly stable over the past ten years. After a peak during the early COVID-19 era (2021), trust numbers have slowly returned to mid-2010 levels. Trust in individual news brands remains high but is slightly down across the board in the last year. Public broadcaster NOS and local media are amongst the most trusted of the surveyed brands.

Footnotes