Media in Belgium - statistics & facts

Television: public differences

Belgium's largest media outlet is arguably the VRT or Flanders' national public-service broadcaster. In Dutch-speaking Belgium alone, VRT's channels such as Een or Canvas were among the most-watched channels as of 2021. The VRT was also responsible for some of the sports shows or travel programs that became the most popular television shows in Flanders in 2021. In the south, on the other hand, the Walloon audience market share is more split across different broadcasters. Here, RTBF shares the market leader position with the Luxembourgish RTL Group, with both broadcasters having a market share of around 20 percent. The most popular TV programs in French-speaking Belgium in 2020 were also significantly different with a focus on news.

Radio: domestic versus abroad

Much like for television, VRT is a big name in Flanders' radio market. In 2021, VRTs public radio station Radio 2 was undoubtedly the most popular of the more than 20 Dutch-language radio stations in the country, almost reaching a market share of 30 percent. Studio Brussel or StuBru (alternative, rock) and MNM (pop music) are other popular VRT brands, with market shares of around eight percent in the same year. In 2021, Wallonia's most popular radio station was RTBF's VivaCité, which made up over 12 percent of total listening time.

Print: a familiar pattern

When it comes to news and print, Mediahuis and DPG Media (since 2019 the new name of De Persgroep) are the dominant players on the newspapers market in Flanders. Mediahuis is the publisher of popular newspapers Het Nieuwsblad (1.13 million readers per daily issue in 2019), investigative newspaper De Standaard (490,000 readers in the same year), and several local newspapers. DPG Media, on the other hand, is the publisher behind Flemish newspaper market leader Het Laatste Nieuws, along with the qualitiy newspaper De Morgen. In Wallonia, Groupe Rossel controls the majority of the print market as the owner of business newspaper Le Soir and the popular Sudpresse. When it comes to online consumption, almost all popular online news brands in Flanders in 2020 were of domestic origins. This was slightly different for Wallonia, as the French-speaking region's most used online news brands included several foreign brands.

This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.