There is a dark cloud hanging over the public broadcaster’s seasonal offering of new programming: previously announced cuts of €100 million, or nearly 10 percent of the non-profit organization’s total budget. Viewers won’t notice much of this in the 2024-2025 season, says NPO president Frederic Leeflang, but programming will ultimately be affected.

The focus on NPO Start’s online service and live streaming will also change the programming mix. “We will no longer demand so many programmes that are only for linear TV,” says Lefflang. The NPO wants to reach more and more audiences at NPO Start, says NPO Director of Digital Transformation Lucien Brouwer. “Young people are watching less and less traditional media, so we have to remain discoverable for them.”

This is also one of the points highlighted by the coalition parties VVD, PVV, NSC and BBB in the main lines agreement: non-profit organisations should focus on digitalisation and reaching a younger audience.

For example, the NPO Start presentation included the NTR series. Frena – First In Announced. According to the broadcaster, the series should provide an in-depth look at the “wonderful life of rapper Frena”. Frena grew up in the Schilderswijk area of ​​The Hague, and chose “the hard road to success” rather than all kinds of temptations.

Also the new HUMAN/VPRO series Laura H. Made especially for NPO Start, this series tells the true story of a teenager from Zoetermeer who travelled with her husband and two children to the ISIS “caliphate” in Syria.

The public broadcaster has not yet commented on the question of where the programming cuts will be made during the season. The fact of closing the NPO3 TV channel, a measure that has been proposed several times, has previously been denied by the NPO.

The nonprofit has “a lot of linear channels and networks,” says Lefflang. “So we’re definitely going to have to make choices about that. If you go online and on-demand, you’re also going to have to say goodbye to linear in part. You have to throw away your old shoes when you buy new ones.” She also thinks the “proliferation of apps and websites” has to end.

Not only do nonprofits have to cut programs, they also have to make internal savings. As long as it doesn’t impact the nonprofit’s “multiple outputs,” meaning the variety of programs, nonprofits can collaborate more, says Lefflang. “So collaborate on HR, marketing, studio use. You can do a lot there.”

Overall, the task seems daunting: the accelerated digital transition at a time of cutbacks and under the watchful eye of a new government that includes parties critical of the non-profit (VVD MP Van der Velde has described the public broadcaster as a “useless thing that a lot of money goes to”).

In the background, research is also being conducted into the working culture of public broadcasting. This has shown that abusive behaviour is widespread within national public broadcasters and that signals about it have not been adequately addressed for years. As a result, several broadcast managers have resigned from their jobs in the past two years.

In light of the cuts, Lefflang says he doesn’t feel the need to prove anything. “We’re not afraid at all that we have to prove ourselves in order to survive.” She stressed that the coalition agreement states that the nonprofit is “really essential to democracy.”