NPO to increase digital streaming budget by 94 million euros

The Dutch public broadcaster NPO is significantly shifting its budget toward digital platforms, planning to allocate an additional 94 million euros to NPO Start and NPO Luister in 2027. This investment aims to accelerate the transition to a digital media organization and better reach younger audiences. To facilitate this, the NPO will introduce ‘Start-first-titles,’ where fiction and documentary productions debut on NPO Start before appearing on traditional linear television.

This strategic shift involves reducing spending on linear television and radio. While the NPO faces overall budget cuts, the government has partially reversed some planned reductions, providing 23 million euros for new programming. However, organizational and operational costs will be reduced, with the NPO's own budget and broadcaster management fees both seeing decreases.

In conjunction with these financial shifts, legislative reforms are underway to modernize the public broadcasting system. NPO Start will expand its role from a ‘catch-up’ service to a platform hosting original, digital-only content. The proposed reforms also include restructuring the current eleven broadcasting associations into four larger broadcasting houses and merging the NOS and NTR into a single organization under the name NOS.