Bakker (2018) conducted research on the prices of newspapers over the years. Figure 1 shows the trend in price increase between 2003 and 2018 (4% between 2003 and 2012, and 5% between 2013 and 2018). For the purpose of comparison, let us indicate that in 2017, the average yearly disposable income of more than 7.7 million Dutch households was EUR 41,000, which was a 10.8% increase from 2013 (EUR 37,000 per year, per household) (CBS, 2019).
Notes: Only the prizes of 6 regional titles were already available in 2018. For 2017, an average of 2016 and 2018 is taking because no figures were available. Source: Bakker 2018
The Netherlands also has several (wireless) Internet providers: the price of an Internet connection varies from EUR 22 to approximately EUR 80 per month. These prices are dependent on the connection times and various extra options, with the speed of the connection being one of them. The cheapest Internet and television combination package is EUR 45 per month, but prices of about EUR 100 per month are also be found (internetvergelijk.nl, 2020).
NPO Start (the national public broadcaster’s online video platform) has three subscription modes: 1) free of charge without creating an account, in which one can watch or listen live to television and radio, with a possibility to time-shift specific programmes (e.g., radio podcasts) in order to view or listen to them after the live broadcast; 2) free of charge with an account, which comes with extra options such as writing a child profile or starring programmes as favourites; and 3) NPO Start Plus, which makes it possible to watch and listen to ad-free radio and television programmes for EUR 2.95 per month. Programmes are available in HD quality and can be time-shifted, with the options of being viewed or listened to for a longer period. Previous seasons of some programmes are also available (NPO, 2019).
