Issuu

Mediafin’s Update & innovations

Survey results

Trust Insights

Strategies for growth & Cases

Let’s wrap up

Mediafin’s Update

Diversification

December 2017

PR bureau

December 2024

Market Research Agency

April 2022

Vastgoed Media

December 2025

PR bureau

May 2022

Data Platform

April 2026

Influencer lifestyle agency

Mediafin paid distribution De Tijd | L’Echo keep growing year after year

517,200

Daily reach De Tijd | L'Echo

2,271,700

Monthly reach De Tijd | L’Echo

Trustmedia Update

Team Trustmedia

Hans De Rore Managing Director

Trustmedia

Finance

Bart Demeulenaere

Sales Director

Advertising & Agency Lead

Luxury, Lifestyle & Retail

B2B

Government, Mobility, ICT & Telecom

Sven Lybaert Head of Product & Innovation

Bart Gunst Head of Mediafin Intelligence, Marketing, BI and Advertising Operations

Mediafin Intelligence Marketing

BI & Advertising Operations

Marit Ginevro Head of B2B communication & Trade Marketing

Tom Michiels Head of De Tijd|L'Echo Connect

Native strategy Creative concepts & content Innovation

Growth turnover

Turnover Trustmedia Revenue mix by channel (2025)

Innovations

New App: evolving through video driven content

Top

Central

Bottom

Editorial destinations (homepage, investing, entrepreneurship, Mijn Geld, Sabato)

Audio, video, puzzels

Current affaires & key topics

Key highlights

Latest updates

Moments (The essence & Weekend)

Mijn Tijd

Building habits with new and accessible formats

Text – Audio - Video

De Belegger/ l’investisseur

New website & magazine

De 5 Weekend podcast by De Tijd

Weekly podcast that makes your life richer, smarter and easier. Every week, Erwin Deckers picks five items that are sure to inspire and invites a few guests to discuss them.

Preview & teasers in De 7

Launched on Saturday 28/02 - 7am

Weekly format on Saturdays

Theme: De Tijd Weekend + SabatoNL Only

Long-form podcast (40-50 minutes) + video snippets.

Sponsoring pack: 4 weeks

Daily podcast | Ranking downloads May 2026

AI Charter De Tijd & L’Echo

Charter on the editorial use and standards of AI

Trust is at the heart of our journalism

To uphold this commitment, we ensure:

1. Final editorial accountability

2. Human oversight and review

3. Transparancy regarding the use of AI

4. Continuously updated approach that keeps pace with developments in AI

Image campaign L’Echo “Oser

commence ici”

Reinforces L’Echo’s role as a trusted guide helping people understand the world, make confident decisions, and act faster.

L’Echo has evolved from a financial newspaper into an essential source of insights on business, personal finance, innovation, politics, culture, and societal trends.

Through in-depth journalism, expert analysis, and inspiring stories, L’Echo empowers people to take the next step with confidence.

Multi-channel rollout: TV, radio, digital out-of-home (DOOH), print, social media, and online video, developed with AKQA Brussels.

PROPOSITION

Club Sabato is the living expression of Sabato: an exclusive paid membership, initiated and curated by the editorial team, that extends the magazine far beyond the page.

Through a handpicked selection of exceptional experiences, privileged access and inspiring encounters, the Club helps discerning members make the most of their precious free time - discovering the very best in style, culture, travel, gastronomy and craftsmanship, always through Sabato’s distinctive lens of quality, relevance and refinement.

Strategic Partnerships

Trustmedia and the B2B eco-system

Launch new B2B-categorie

Strategies for Growth

Campaigns with

Effie Awards: Launch new B2B

As a sponsor of the Effie Awards, Trustmedia supports the launch of the new B2B category.

By doing so, we help give successful B2B campaigns greater visibility and recognise their proven impact.

CMO Voices with UBA

Trustmedia x ACC

Strategies for growth with UMA

Awards

Belfius Press Awards

Strategies For Growth

How agencies can create value in an increasingly complex media landscape

The respondents represent 25% of advertising pressure in Belgium 25%

Methodology

Methodology:

Online survey + follow-up by telephone

Fieldwork period: April 23 – May 22, 2026

Research sample:

N=68 advertisers, (co)responsible for media spending decisions

• 3/4 work with a Belgian agency

Strategies for Growth

2025 → 2026

2025: Focus on the role and added value of local media agencies

2026: Expanded focus on AI, fragmentation, ROI, effectiveness and measurement challenges

The media landscape is becoming more complex

Internationalisation

Fragmentation

Internationalisation is creating tension in the local market 68%

The increasing internationalisation (organisation/management) of media agencies is viewed negatively by 68% of advertisers.

75% are negative about increasing investments in international Big Tech at the expense of local media

52% are negative about the internationalisation of media groups

AI is rapidly changing expectations

57% Already perceive AI as having a significant impact on campaign creation, media planning and media buying (4/10 limited impact)

96%

87% believe AI helps generate insights from campaign results faster. expect AI improves planning efficiency. believe AI is raising the bar for media agencies.

85%

Question Q4.1. In your opinion, how great is the impact of artificial intelligence today on the creation of campaigns, media planning and media buying? Q4.3. To what extent do you agree with the following statements? Rather + strongly agree

More data, less clarity

82% find cross-media measurement challenging

69% see the lack of uniform KPIs as a challenge

74% struggle to accurately attribute ROI

62% see media channel fragmentation as a challenge

Question Q5.2. To what extent do you experience the following challenges? Major + very big challenge

Only 53% feel they have visibility on media budget ROI

believe unstructured and fragmented data makes ROI difficult to measure accurately

believe ROI is difficult to measure accurately today

Question Q6.2. To what extent do you currently have a clear view of the ROI of your media budget? Q5.2. To what extent do you experience the following challenges? Rather + strongly agree

In a complex world, local becomes more valuable

(totally) agree (totally) not agree

Trust in local media matters

Question Q2.1. In general, to what extent do you agree with the following statements? Rather + totally agree

Trust remains a local advantage

71% believe local Belgian media offer stronger guarantees for advertisers, compared to social media

73% agree local agencies and local media partners strengthen each other in delivering effective campaigns

Question Q2.1. In general, to what extent do you agree with the following statements? Rather + totally agree

Expectations towards agencies are shifting

The agency role is becoming more strategic

Top expectations

Translating business objectives into successful media strategies

Ensuring an integrated cross-media approach

Providing insight into ROI and effectiveness

ROI of the media budget was the 2nd most important criterion when choosing a media agency (40%).

Integrating data and insights

Prioritising long-term brand building

Question Q3.2. What do you currently expect from a media agency at a strategic level? Give your top 3, where 1 is the most important and 3 the least important. Top 3 total

AI is creating new expectations towards agencies

optimisation of campaigns

Greater efficiency and cost savings

Transparency about the use of AI

Strategic advice on the use of AI

Better insights and forecasting / predictions Tools and dashboards

Guidance and training around AI

Question Q4.3b What specifically do you expect from a media agency in terms of AI?

Most frequently mentioned as the primary expectation

AI is changing tasks, not the value of expertise

82% expect that AI makes human expertise more important

90% expect AI will replace certain agency tasks

69%

expect that AI makes the strategic role of agencies more important

99% expect that AI remains insufficiently reliable without human interpretation

Question Q2.1. In general, to what extent do you agree with the following statements? Rather + totally agree

Local agencies have an AI opportunity

The complexity of effectiveness

Brand impact and engagement dominate campaign evaluation

Over 9 in 10 advertisers rank them among their top 5 KPIs.

Important KPIs in campaign evaluation - ranked (%)

Question Q6.4. Which KPIs are most important to you when evaluating campaigns?

A shared view of effectiveness is still missing

58%

report cross-media measurement efforts remain insufficient 55%

Report efforts to demonstrate ROI remain insufficient

63%

Report campaign effectiveness measurement remains insufficient

report that the Belgian market today is (rather) insufficiently advanced in measuring campaign effectiveness

Question Q6.5. To what extent do you think sufficient efforts are currently being made in Belgium in terms of… Rather + totally insufficient

Q6.6. To what extent do you agree with the following statements? Rather + totally disagree 45%

5 signals from Belgian advertisers

Signal 1

Complexity is increasing

More international decision-making

More AI

More fragmentation

More measurement pressure

The complexity challenge is also an agency opportunity

Signal 2

Local relevance matters

96% local media drive effectiveness

71% local media offer stronger guarantees vs. social media

Local expertise remains a competitive advantage.

Signal 3

Agencies are expected to become more strategic

Business strategy

ROI & effectiveness

Data interpretation

Business understanding

Advertisers want guidance, not just execution.

Signal 4 AI increases the value of human expertise

90% tasks replaced

99% human interpretation remains essential

82% human expertise becomes more important

The future agency combines AI and human judgment.

Signal 5

Collaboration creates effectiveness

73% say they reinforce each other

79% see value in shared measurement initiatives

The strongest outcomes come from connected local ecosystems.

1. Be the strategic translator

Translate business objectives into effective media strategies.

What this means for agencies

2. Own the human layer in AI

Use AI to optimise and accelerate, but differentiate through interpretation, judgement and advice.

3. Defend local relevance

Bring Belgian market knowledge, trusted media contexts and local expertise into every decision.

4. Build effectiveness together

The strongest outcomes come from connected local ecosystems.

Engagement

KPI overload

94% - Brand impact

91% - Engagement

Question Q6.4. Which KPIs are most important to you when evaluating campaigns?

Engagement project

2 ambitions

1. Engagement as “The extent to which a target audience actively interacts with a brand, message, campaign, or content, thereby demonstrating attention, interest, involvement, or intent.”

2. Correlation between

- Engagement media channels / media titles

- Engagement advertising

Large sample of 4,100 Belgians

Online survey

38 news brands evaluated (across all touchpoints)

Engagement driven by 6 dimensions

72 De Tijd | L'Echo

Engagement index 0-100

Frequent users (> 1 / week)

De Tijd | L'Echo generate the highest engagement among frequent users

A significant positive correlation (r = 0.46) exists between engagement with news brands and engagement with advertising within those brands.

Interested in learning more? Let us know.

Coffee break

Trust Insights

The Trust Insights Toolkit

1. Data as a SOURCE Audience Insights

2. Data as a TOOL Campaign Excellence

3. Data as a SERVICE Effectiveness Insights

1. Data as a source

Research

Mediafin Intelligence & Profacts

Decision Makers

Local is King

Power of Podcast

Belgians and their Electric Vehicles

Engagement

Power of thought Leadership

Consumption Luxury Goods

Belgians and their Real Estate

Power of ESG

Trust in News

Government Communication

2. Data as a tool

Trustmedia IQ /AI

Trustmedia IQ

Tailor-made Targeting

Briefing

Advertiser / Agency

Scan

Build

Connect

AI analyzes all available contextual & audience targeting options

Create a tailormade targeting solution

Deliver campaign to the selected audiences & contexts

Trustmedia IQ

Key

take-aways

DECOMPLEXING

SERVICING AGENCIES

ACCURACY

From briefing to scanning (all our) data to a tailormade solution

Average time for datadriven offers was cut from average 1,5h to 15 minutes

From tens of standardized data segments to scanning all data (> 330 segments & contextual solutions) and building a tailor-made datasolution

3. Data as a service Reporting &

Attention

We share detailed insights in the results of a digital campaign with the advertiser: during & after the campaign

CTR by format or visual

Insights in clickers

Reporting on the brand impact of High Impact Advertising

First on the European mainland since summer 2020

Reporting on the brand uplift of High Impact Advertising

Benchmark | Brand standings

The point of departure, as compared to benchmark

Brand lift summary

Brand lift total

9.9%

The total brand lift, all metrics summarized Evaluation

Excellent brand uplift Average benchmark campaign: 4 – 8%. Benchmark uplift outstream campaign: 7%

Total uplift % contribution per metric

AWARENESS | CONSIDERATION

| ACTION INTENT

Clicks & Impressions

Brand impact

Reading behavior clickers Profile

The report Continuous improvement

Details on delivery & placements

Insights in reading behaviour of clickers

The report

Insights in the profile of clickers

Integration of brand impact metrics

Introduction of Attention measurement Beyond impressions

Impressions

Viewable impressions

Attention

Clicks

Attention Index = Exposure AND Interaction

Exposure

Intensity

Display: avg. viewable time on screen

Video: IAB viewability, audibility, completion, and fully on-screen by quartile Prominence

Ad’s share of screen

Interaction

User presence & ad interaction

Touch

Scroll, hover, swipe

Screen

Landscape, portrait, fullscreen

Playback

Pause, resume, skip

Audio

Volume up/down, mute

Next up: ‘in development’ with DoubleVerify

Delivered impressions: Average index display June 122* Viewable impressions: Average index display June 140*

Strategies for growth

Acces to Trustmedia’s audiences

ClubWAW/Yaka!, Take The Lead AI

New Insights

Changemakers

City Guides

Sabato Design Awards

ClubWAW/Yaka!

New Insights

Future of Europe

Investors Academy

Finance Avenue, Tracker Live

Club Sabato

Beursvoyeurs

Meet the Team

Finance

Kristof

Geert Spapen

Katrien

Kristof Vranckx

Annemie Detroch

Luxury, Lifestyle & Retail

Business Partner

Accountmanager

Contact

Karina

Liesbeth Verborg

Laurens Peeters

Heleen Van Damme

Mobility, ICT, Telecom & Governement

Sven Lybaert

Head of Product Innovation

Karina Jacobus

Business Partner

Hervé Dumoulin Advisor Mobility Markets

Product & Innovation

Strategies for Growth

What’s next?

Strategies for Growth for the agencies

Intakes & Interviews

Native series

UMA / UBA Get Together

Native Series in De Tijd | L’Echo, tijd.be | lecho.be

Campaign trade press

Native

6x220

Let’s wrap up

Wrap up

Together we help advertisers reach their goals:

Growth From reach to engagement driven by trust

Future proof

Thank you

Trustmedia, part of Mediafin – Tour & Taxis, Havenlaan 86c b309 Avenue du Port, Brussel 1000 Bruxelles sales@trustmedia.be