Netherlands – (F2) Patterns of news media use (consumption of news)

In 2019, 57 per cent of the Dutch population said they were extremely or very interested in news, varying from 40 per cent in the youngest age group (18–24) to 63 per cent in the oldest age group (55+). Among all age groups, up to 10 per cent of people were not really interested in news (CvM, 2019a). Looking at the frequency of news use, 84 per cent of the Dutch were consuming news at least once a day, while 2 per cent consumed news less than once a week (CvM, 2019a; Newman et al., 2020).

Interestingly, on a weekly basis, the most popular news sources continue to be television newscasts (65%). This is followed by social media and all-news radio stations (each at 39%), websites or apps from traditional newspapers (36%), print newspapers as well as websites or apps from television or radio broadcasters (both at 31%), and websites or apps from other news services. Only 5 per cent of the respondents mentioned reading a print opinion or news magazine (CvM, 2019a). Consumption of all types of news has declined over the last three years, the hardest hit media being print and social media or blogs (CvM, 2019a). In 2019, 70 per cent of the Dutch used television as their main news source – 4 per cent less than in 2017. Additionally, online news sites were the second-most important news source (65% in 2019, 2% less than in 2017) followed by radio news and news on social media or blogs – both 39 per cent with a decline of, respectively, 3 per cent and 8 per cent compared with 2017 – in the third position. In recent times, print media was the least-used news source (33% in 2019, 7% less than in 2017) in the country. Considerable differences were also observed in the use of news media types across the age groups. Traditional news media (television, print, and radio) as main sources varied between 36 per cent for the 18–24 age group to over 42 per cent for the 25–34 age group. This reached more than 47 per cent for the 35–44 group, beyond 58 per cent for the 45–54 group, and 75 per cent for the 55+ group. The younger a person, the more likely they were to turn to online sources (including social media and blogs) as their main news medium. This varied between 65 per cent in the youngest group and 25 per cent in the oldest group. Overall, Table 1 shows that the average daily reach of traditional media declined between 2009 and 2018 – by 27 per cent for newspapers, by 7 per cent for television, and by 9 per cent for radio.

Nevertheless, Table 2 shows that public broadcaster NOS is the most-frequently used news source among the Dutch population, followed by free website nu.nl, RTL, and popular newspaper De Telegraaf, which is more often read online than offline. Finally, SBS 6 (Talpa TV) that broadcasts the Hart van Nederland [Heart of the Netherlands] programme – a popular news bulletin focusing on regional news – reaches 28 per cent of the population on a weekly basis. Meanwhile, the online Dutch-oriented news source nu.nl was the 10^th most visited website in 2019 on a monthly basis (CvM, 2019a).

Therefore, on average, eight out of ten Dutch nationals followed the news on a daily basis. Nearly 69 per cent of those aged 18 to 34 consumed news on a daily basis, 80 per cent of those between ages 35 and 54 did, and 91 per cent of those older than 55. However, 29 per cent of the Dutch often and sometimes actively avoided news, which is a higher percentage compared with the other nine countries in the sample: that is Belgium (2%), Switzerland (3%), Germany (4%), South Korea (5%), Sweden (7%), Norway (8%), Hong Kong (9%), Finland (12%), and Denmark (14%) (CvM, 2019a; Newman et al., 2020).