Netherlands

[NL] Media Monitor: The Audiovisual Media in the Digital Age

IRIS 2013-5:1/35

Rosanne Deen

Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam

In February 2013, the Media Monitor of the Commissariaat voor de Media (Media Authority - CvdM) published a report entitled Analyse en Verdieping #2, Over audiovisuele media in het digitale tijdperk (Analysis and Deepening #2, about audiovisual media in the digital age). The report contains, as the title suggests, an analysis of developments in the field of audiovisual media in the digital age. Over ten years ago, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science instructed the Commissariat for the Media to develop a monitoring system for media concentrations. Since then, the Commissariat reports annually on the state of affairs in the Dutch media market. The Media Monitor provides, for example, an insight into the implications of developments in the media on editorial independence, pluralism and accessibility of the media to the public. Consequently, the Dutch media landscape continues to function properly, because it can quickly be rectified when an undesirable situation is likely to arise. In addition to the publication of annual reports, the Media Monitor publishes incidental reports on specific themes, as is the case in the current report.

The report includes the results of four studies on: the digital television channel packages; the digital radio channel packages; web radio channels; and videos on news sites. Chapter 1 of the report, which deals inter alia with digitisation of the media, is written by one of the three guest authors, Prof. Jos de Haan, Professor of ICT, culture and the knowledge society at Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau. In Chapter 1, Professor Jos de Haan considers that the media user has to deal more than ever with a varied and rich media landscape. He concludes that the developments in the use of media are wider than the migration from analogue to digital and that the consumer has become part of the media world through the use of social media and user-generated content. The second chapter concerns the use of television. This use is clarified by the second guest author, Mr Bas de Vos, the director of “Stichting KijkOnderzoek”. According to Mr Bas de Vos, the most significant development in the field of television is the increased digital reception. Chapters 3 and 4 address the various forms of the digital television offer and the availability of news videos on news websites. Research conducted on news videos appearing on news websites shows that many Dutch newspaper publishers, in contrast to publishers in our neighbouring countries, only sparsely enrich their text messages with videos. The fifth chapter details the views of the third guest author, Mrs Liedewij Hentenaar, Director of the “Radio Advies Bureau”, on the use of radio. Mrs Hentenaar’s chapter shows that the radio remains high in the ranking in the Netherlands when it comes to time devoted to media. Finally, chapters 6 and 7 deal with the offer of digital radio stations and the offer of Netherlands-oriented web radio channels.

In short, the report shows that the digital media offer has significantly increased and has become more diverse than ever before. The opportunities in the field of audio and video in this digital world are endless. The development and enhancement of the offer has led to more choice. However, in relation to the traditional channels, this additional offer is used to a limited extent only. So far, the extensive offer does not seem to lead to the use of a greater variety of sources by the consumer. In the short term it is not expected that this will change dramatically. However, it is evident that the developments of recent years will continue and that the amount of audio and video material on offer will only increase.