On the whole, the Flemish are interested in the news: 54 per cent expressed that they are “very interested” in news and just over 25 per cent expressed “extreme interest” in it. The gender gap in news interest appears considerable, with almost 20 per cent of women and 30 per cent of men extremely interested in news. Age also plays an important role in news interest: Flemings aged over forty have a significantly higher interest in news, although among the youngest generation (ages 16–24), 65 per cent are still interested in news (Newman et al., 2020; VUB & RMG, 2020).
News consumption patterns among the Flemish people are rather diverse. On a daily basis, 85 per cent get their news via television, newspaper, or radio. Other popular ways to consume news are via social media (25%) or mainstream Flemish news sites (45%). Younger generations stay away from more traditional ways of news consumption and mostly get their news online. A trend of shifting to online news consumption is noticeable for the entire Flemish population during the past decade (VUB & RMG, 2020).
The largest television news broadcaster is the Flemish public broadcaster VRT. With its news programme on channel Één at 19:00, it reaches approximately 1.2 million people and has a market share of almost 50 per cent in that slot. The second-largest news broadcaster in Flanders is the commercial broadcaster DPG Media. Its news programme on channel VTM at 19:00 reaches approximately 0.8 million people and has a market share of 34 per cent (CIM, 2019).
VRT is also the largest news broadcaster via radio; its main channels Radio 2, Studio Brussel, MNM, and Radio 1 reach 52 per cent of all Flemish people on a daily basis. While the focus of the news is the same, differences across channels are adapted to the needs of the target audience. For example, MNM reaches predominantly Flemish youth and people with lower education levels. The news broadcasts on MNM are more accessible, devote more time to explaining things, and focus a bit less on political news. Radio 1 reaches an older, much more educated audience and is a more specialist, dedicated news channel, evident in the nature and quality of their news bulletins. The most popular commercial radio broadcasters are Q-Music (12.4%) and Joe (9%), both part of the DPG Media group. All these radio stations can also be streamed online and via DAB+ (Digital Audio Broadcasting +) (VRM, 2019b).
Only 22 per cent of Flemish people read print versions of newspapers on a daily basis – and this number is declining year by year. As of 2015, more than 30 per cent still read their newspaper in print. Most Flemish people (67%) consume their news online, on either news sites or via the apps of news media. The most popular newspaper is Het Laatste Nieuws, the print version of which has a weekly readership of 36 per cent and the online version 53 per cent of all Flemish people. The second-most popular newspaper is Het Nieuwsblad, which reaches 26 per cent weekly with their print version and 35 per cent online. The quality newspapers have a substantially lower reach, with the most read of them being De Standaard, with a weekly readership of 9 per cent in print and 14 per cent online. Regional newspapers have a weekly readership of about 10 per cent in both online and print (CIM, 2019).
Flemish public broadcaster’s news site (VRT News) is the third-most visited news site. This places it just behind the market leaders Het Laatste Nieuws and Het Nieuwsblad, with 27 per cent, and just ahead of their main commercial competitor VTM News, which has an online reach of 24 per cent (Newman et al., 2020). It is to be expected that VTM News will be further integrated into the website of Het Laatste Nieuws now that the former title has assumed full ownership of the latter.
Consuming the news on social media has risen substantially (52% in 2017 to 61% in 2019). While this mode of news consumption is the most popular in the younger generation, it is also gaining ground among older Flemish people (De Marez & Vandendriessche, 2019). The market leaders are Het Laatste Nieuws, with almost 950,000 followers on Facebook, followed by Het Nieuwsblad, with 786,000; VRT Nieuws has approximately 365,000 followers on Facebook, just behind VTM Nieuws with 425,000 (HLN.be, n.d.; Nieuwsblad.be, n.d.; VRT NWS, n.d.; VTM NIEUWS, n.d.).
