Timet o turn the spotlight on the Dutch TV market. I recently had a great follow-up chat with Ton Rozestraten, CCO of RTL Nederland – the largest commercial broadcaster in the Netherlands.

When we spoke last year, Ton stirred things up by openly criticising the Dutch JIC, SKO,for moving too slowly on measuring addressable and cross-screen consumption. That’s changed. Ton is now much happier with the roadmap – more on that in a moment.

First,a few quick stats to set the scene:

• Public broadcaster NPO     commands ~40% of viewing.
• RTL NL holds ~25%, Talpa     ~15%, with the rest spread across smaller players.
• Viewing split: Live     TV 51%, Timeshift 16%, BVOD 3.2% (small but growing), SVOD 17%, YouTube     9%.

BVOD and SVOD are continuing to grow, as expected, at the expense of linear, with big shifts among younger audiences (the 13–34 demo looks completely different). Interestingly, demand for commercial TV remains strong — broadcasters often sell out of inventory. But, as in most markets, digital growth isn’t yet offsetting linear declines, making addressable linear TV critical for monetising inventory at a premium.

Addressable TV at scale: Dutch broadcasters have now launched addressable TV nationally. It’s small but will grow over time (as more IP-enabled inventory comes available).

Cross-screen measurement by September: For the first time, broadcasters will measure viewing across all devices, unlocking incremental reach and new revenue streams beyond the big screen. Importantly, this is an industry-wide initiative— not just RTL.

Bundling streaming services: Following trends in other European markets, sales houses are selling Disney+, HBO Max, Showtime, etc., helping offset linear declines.

Ton is optimistic that, with these shifts, the Dutch TV market could return to growth in 2025/26.

The Netherlands remains a hugely important media hub, not just because of its strong TV market but also because of its role as a base for so many global andEMEA operations — great infrastructure, top talent, and yes, probably an attractive tax environment too, but I don’t know much about that!

If you want to understand how the Dutch market is evolving — from addressable to cross-media measurement — watch the video.