In one of its latest studies, CIM (the Centre for Media Information) revealed the most popular on-demand audio content in Belgium. The study highlights the most listened-to broadcasters, as well as the monthly top 100 of on-demand audio content, both in the north and the south of the country. We’re sharing all the details right here ⤵️

When it comes to broadcasters, the results are clear: RTBF clearly dominates the rankings. Apart from Mediafin, which takes second place with “Le Brief,” RTBF is only overtaken again in 25th place by Mediafin with “Tracker,” then in 29th by NGroup for NRJ content, followed by RTL in 30th with a program from RTL Podcasts. After that, RTBF regains its near-monopoly.

This dominance is due to its multiple brands (La Première, Classic 21, VivaCité, Musiq3, etc.) and its vast number of podcasts, particularly on La Première—188 different ones, in fact! RTBF produces an enormous amount of content.

It’s worth noting that this study is based on “Audio On Demand” log file data from participating broadcasters, so not all content producers are included—for example, Roularta is absent. However, CIM has announced that other media groups will be added to the study later on, as has already been the case with Mediafin.

In terms of the most listened-to brands for their podcasts and replay shows, the ranking is largely dominated by RTBF, with the top spots going to:

• La Première, with 1,505,419 streams spread across 184 programs and 7,858 episodes.
• “RTBF others”, including RTBF Sport and Spit, with 421,457 streams across 137 programs and 4,289 episodes.
• L’Echo, from Mediafin, with 183,490 streams spread across 10 programs and just 821 episodes.

Except for L’Echo, the number of streams is largely proportional to the number of programs and episodes produced! It also puts traditional live radio audience figures into perspective (see our article on the topic), where Nostalgie topped the list, followed by Radio Contact and VivaCité — while La Première only came in 6th place.

A look back at the most listened-to on-demand content in February 2024:

• “Les Clés” (La Première – RTBF), with 209,636 streams.
• “Le Brief” (L’Echo – Mediafin), with 168,103 streams.
• “Les coulisses du pouvoir” (La Première – RTBF), with 153,890 streams.

In the north of the country, VRT and DPG Media take the top spots, followed by Mediafin (NL). Like its French-speaking counterpart, VRT produces a large volume of content, spread across various brands (VRT NWS, Klara, Radio 1, Sporza, MNM, etc.).

In Flanders, the three strongest brands in terms of podcasts and replay shows, according to the CIM ranking, are:

• Radio 1 (VRT), with 2,004,066 streams spread across 126 programs and 13,776 episodes.
• VRT NWS (VRT), with 1,034,734 streams across 16 programs and 2,079 episodes.
• Het Laatste Nieuws (DPG Media), with 873,164 streams spread across 25 programs and 1,589 episodes.

Here are the most popular contents from February 2025:

• De 7 (De Tijd – Mediafin), with 804,618 streams.
• Het HLN-nieuws (HTN – DPG Media), with 573,655 streams.
• Het Kwartier (VRT NWS – VRT), with 461,618 streams.

One clear takeaway when comparing the data from the north and south of the country is that podcasts and radio shows on replay are significantly more popular among Dutch speakers than among French speakers. The number of streams on each side speaks for itself!

To dig deeper, we wanted to compare these figures with the most popular podcasts in Belgium.

What we can say is that, apart from a few similar results (De 7, Stoute Schoenen, Het Kwartier, Nieuwe Feiten, Les Clés)—mainly on the Dutch-speaking side—the rankings are quite different!

This is either because Belgians’ favorite content isn’t actually Belgian (notably in the north of the country, where many of the most popular programs are in fact French), or because they are produced by broadcasters that are not (yet) included in this CIM study.