Dutch TV market analysis
- Published: 15 October 2007 13:46
- Last Updated: 03 March 2008 16:08
Details on the TV market in the Netherlands including what programmes and formats are being bought and sold.
The Netherlands has 7.1 million TV homes – so not a large market by European standards. However with four major free-to-air broadcasting groups (NOS, SBS, RTL and RTL8) and 95% of the population connected to cable (66% to digital cable), it rates as one of the world's most competitive landscapes.
While cable is strong, there is room for a digital DTH player in the shape of Canal Digitaal, which reached 700,000 subscribers by the end of 2006. For the past few years, TV ad spend has grown at around 2% a year (Zenith Optimedia), taking the total to around €870m (£595m) in 2006. The newer networks rely on US acquisitions, but the Dutch still like UK shows.
NOS
Holland's byzantine public broadcasting system, NOS, has a licence fee but also gets around a third of its revenues from advertising. It has a 30% to 35% share of viewers.
Although it operates three main channels (plus its new digital service), airtime is divided between 23 public broadcasting organisations – each representing a cultural or religious interest. Under a new scheduling framework, Nederland 1 is family oriented; Nederland 2 is centred on news and culture; and Nederland 3 on kids, youth and experimental programming. Ned1 garners the best ratings, with hits including Fremantle's The Farmer Wants a Wife.
Some of the 23 NOS organisations are more acquisitive than others. General entertainment programmer AVRO has previously bought costume dramas such as Tipping the Velvet. More recently, it acquired the How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? format. BNN, which targets youth audiences, has benefited from a government-sanctioned increase in its output. Recent acquisitions include All 3 Media's Cash Cab.
RTL GROUP
RTL Group is a subsidiary of the German giant Bertelsmann. It consists of three networks – RTL4, RTL5 and RTL7 – which between them take 25% of viewing and 39% of ad revenue. General entertainment network RTL4 was launched in 1990 and is the largest of the three, ending 2006 as the top primetime channel.
Acquisitions have included The Oprah Winfrey Show though it tends to deal more in formats. Big hits have included Idols and Dancing with the Stars while X Factor, Wife Swap and Nanny 911 have also
featured prominently.
RTL5, relaunched in 2005, goes after a young adult audience with US movies, dramas such as CSI and 24 and formats such as Sex Inspectors and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. RTL7 (formerly Yorin) was rebranded in August 2005 to help reverse the network's declining
fortunes. The majority of its shows are targeted at young men.
There is a lot of sport, action series and classic sitcoms like BBC Worldwide's Dad's Army and 'Allo, 'Allo! and US sitcom MASH.
SBS BROADCASTING
Pan-regional broadcaster SBS launched in the Netherlands in 1995 with SBS6. It opened Net5 in 1999 and acquired FOX8 in 2001. It then renamed FOX8 as Veronica.
SBS6 is the most popular channel of the three, attracting 11.9% of viewing with a mix of news, entertainment and sports. It targets a similar demographic to RTL 4 – with US movies featuring prominently.
Echoing the pattern at RTL, sister network Net5 (6.5% share) is more reliant on acquisitions – doing well with US series such as Lost and Desperate Housewives in primetime and Friends and Charmed in access primetime. Veronica (5.8% share) shares a channel with Jetix, coming on air at 6pm.
Analysis
In autumn 2005, Dutch entrepreneur John de Mol launched entertainment channel Talpa TV as an evening block running from 6pm to 11pm. Backed by heavy investment in content, Talpa went for the sensationalist market. In 2005, it aired the Dutch version of Big Brother (a show it still has the rights to), during which a woman gave birth.
Despite also having US movie acquisitions, access to Dutch Premier League football highlights and high-profile deals with NOS on-screen talent, Talpa struggled to gain traction in early 2006, securing around a 7% share of the 20 to 49-year-old age group – short of the 10% promised to advertisers. Things picked up later in the year with flagship reality show Expedition Robinson and Endemol gameshow Deal or No Deal. But the network suffered because it did not have sister networks to cross-promote on. So, Talpa relaunched as a 24-hour digital channel in December 2006 to supplement its evening block.
This is good news for distributors since RTL8 needs more content. BBC Worldwide has already sold it the Impossible Pictures' series Primeval, and other UK distributors are optimistic. All3Media VP sales Liza Thompson says the relaunch of RTL8 is "a real opportunity for UK distributors with strong product".
As part of his content strategy, de Mol has set up an LA office under Stéfanie Gélinas to acquire ideas from US creatives for RTL8. It then plans to roll them out around the world.
For example, The Golden Cage – a Big Brother-style reality soap – launched on RTL8 but has already been picked up by America's ABC.
