The Dutch Media Monitor 2023: Gap in media use between generations widening

On 31 October 2023, the Dutch Media Authority, the Commissariaat voor de Media (CvdM), has published its annual Media Monitor. Within the Media Monitor, the CvdM closely monitors media developments in the Netherlands and provides insights into media concentration and media plurality since 2001.

The key trends of the Media Monitor 2023: 

Daily use of traditional media - television viewing, radio listening and newspaper reading - continues to decline in the Netherlands. Media use, especially by young people, is increasingly happening online and on platforms of the major international players. This is shown in the Media Monitor 2023, which the Dutch Media Authority has just published. The challenge for both media policymakers and the media sector is to continue to ensure independent and diverse media in light of these developments and to enable a new generation to connect with quality media and professional journalism in an online environment. It is therefore important for policymakers to reflect on the visibility of professional journalism, especially in an online environment.

The gap between the media use of young people and older age groups is widening. Whereas people over the age of 65 mainly use linear television, radio and daily newspapers, young people's main media types are social media, viewing online and listening online. The use of TikTok, as well as Instagram and Snapchat, continues to increase. Young people are also using TikTok increasingly for news. For linear television channels, we see that usage does not increase as users get older. The fact that young people are using traditional media less and less can therefore not be considered an age effect, but a generation effect. The Media Authority is concerned whether young people are sufficiently exposed to quality news and professional journalism online. To learn more about how young people use news on social media, the Commissariaat will be conducting a study on this in the coming year. This research project is a follow-up to developments in media behaviour and news use among young people, which the Commissariaat has previously identified in both the Media Monitor and the Digital News Report Netherlands.

Increasing market share among less media companies

The Media Monitor maps the concentration on the media markets. Through mergers and acquisitions across the years more and more market share has shifted to fewer media companies. This infographic (in Dutch) shows the development of concentration on the traditional media markets in the Netherlands from 2011 to 2022.

Use of AI presents both opportunities and risks

The use of AI will increasingly gain importance in news creation and news use. Generative AI, for example, may be used for the creation of text, images, video and audio. This presents opportunities, but also risks. For example, the news industry is concerned about ChatGPT's use of news articles and the risk of AI applications generating and disseminating misinformation. New European laws and regulations for the platforms and AI are in development. Keeping track of how AI will play a role in news creation and news use is on the Dutch Media Authority's agenda.

About the Media Monitor

The Media Monitor monitors annually the developments in the Dutch media sector. Its aim is to provide policymakers in the field of (international) media policy with information and advice. The Dutch Media Authority’s legislative task is to monitor concentration and financial-economic conditions in the media sector, and its impact on pluralism and independence of the media.

• English summary of the Media Monitor 2023
• The Media Monitor 2023 (NL)
• The Media Monitor 2023 infographic 

Source: the CvdM