Ster, saleshouse of the Dutch public broadvasters, suffered a sharp decline in turnover in the first half of 2025.
Sales of advertising time at the NPO and regional public broadcasters amounted to 88.9 million euros, a decrease of 15.8 per cent compared to last year, as reported by MarketingReport.nl.
Television was particularly hard hit, with turnover falling by 18.5 per cent to €69.3 million. Radio recorded a loss of 7.1 per cent (€18 million). Only the digital branch grew, by 31.9 per cent to €1.6 million, but this increase was too small to compensate for the decline.
The two main causes were the absence of major sporting events such as the European Championships or the Olympic Games, and the shift of viewers to online platforms. However, for the latter category, Ster has been allowed to sell only advertising for charities for several years, which means that the growing online consumption can hardly be exploited.
