Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods high in fat, salt or sugar. Country report 6, The Netherlands.
Date: 2021-07-08
Institutions: Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety
Subjects: Netherlands, child, eating habits, electronic commerce, fats, nutritional disease, public health, report, salted product, sugar product, theory of marketing

Study on the exposure of 
children to linear, non-linear 
and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

SANTE/2017/C4/040 – Country report 6  

The Netherlands 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, DG SANTE 
Directorate Public Health 
Unit Health Information and Integration in all policies 

E-mail:  sante-consult-C2@ec.europa.eu  

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Study on the exposure of 
children to linear, non-linear 
and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

SANTE/2017/C4/040 – Country report 6  
The Netherlands 

Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, DG SANTE  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2021 

Linguistic Version 

Catalogue Number 

ISBN 

DOI 

EN PDF 

EW-02-21-782-EN-N 

978-92-76-38825-8 

10.2875/204906 

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Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Table of contents 

PREFACE .................................................................................................................... 7 

GLOSSARY .................................................................. ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. 

1.  COUNTRY-SPECIFIC REGULATIONS .................................................................. 11 

1.1  Marketing regulations .................................................................................. 11 
1.2  Dietary guidelines ....................................................................................... 11 

2.  SURVEY RESULTS ............................................................................................. 13 

2.1 
Socio-demographics .................................................................................... 13 
2.2  Online activity ............................................................................................. 14 
Awareness of HFSS food advertising .............................................................. 25 
2.3 
2.4  Memory of HFSS food advertising .................................................................. 29 
2.5 
Awareness of HFSS food advertising depending on online activity ...................... 33 
2.6  Memory of HFSS food advertising depending on online activity ......................... 37 

3.  ONLINE MONITORING ...................................................................................... 39 

3.1 
3.2 
3.3 

Standard digital monitoring of food and drink advertisement ............................ 39 
Avatar studies ............................................................................................. 40 
Passive metering ......................................................................................... 51 
3.3.1.  Online activity ................................................................................ 51 
3.3.2. 
Exposure to advertising ................................................................... 54 
3.3.3. 
Exposure to HFSS foods and drinks advertising .................................. 55 
3.3.4. 
Average exposure to food and drink advertisement for children and 
adults ........................................................................................... 57 

4.  VIEWING PATTERNS ......................................................................................... 59 

4.1  Global breakdown ........................................................................................ 59 
Breakdown by day part ................................................................................ 59 
4.2 
4.2.1. 
Breakdown by hourly timeslot .......................................................... 60 
Breakdown by channel category .................................................................... 60 
Breakdown by channel ................................................................................. 62 

4.3 
4.4 

5. 

IMPACTS OF HFSS-RELATED TELEVISION ADVERTISING .................................. 65 

5.1  Global breakdown ........................................................................................ 65 
5.2  Detailed breakdowns per age group ............................................................... 68 
5.3  Relative HFSS food impacts .......................................................................... 72 

6. 

INDUSTRY EXPENDITURES ............................................................................... 77 

6.1  Media expenditures in 2015 and 2018 ............................................................ 78 
6.2 
Expenditures per food category ..................................................................... 79 
6.3  Online advertising expenditures .................................................................... 82 

7. 

LIST OF CHANNELS ........................................................................................... 85 

5 

 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

PREFACE 

This country report presents all results regarding the exposure of children to linear, non-linear 
and online marketing of foods high in fat, salt or sugar in the Netherlands.  

The way the results are presented in this country report might differ from the way the results 
are presented in the main report. The country reports focus on simply presenting the results per 
country where the main report takes the analysis a step further.  

The country report is structured in the following chapters: 

1.  Country specific regulations with regard to advertising of food and non-alcoholic 

beverages; 

2.  The results of the survey on self-reported exposure to HFSS marketing; 
3.  An analysis of the online exposure to food marketing;  
4.  An analysis of the viewing patterns on linear audiovisual media services; 
5.  An analysis of the spotlist data in HFSS advertising impacts on linear audiovisual 

media services, including: 

a.  A global breakdown of spots and impacts; 
b.  A detailed breakdown of HFSS impacts; 
c.  An analysis of relative HFSS impacts, in which the advertising impacts are 

weighted by the viewing data. 

6.  An analysis of the industry expenditure on HFSS marketing; 
7.  A list of television channels included in the analysis. 

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 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
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GLOSSARY 

The following definitions are used throughout this report: 

Adults 
Adults are defined as persons aged 18 years and older. Throughout the report, ‘adults’ and 
‘18+’ are used interchangeably.  

Age-gating 
Age-gating is used by brands to try to restrict access to their content and/or profile specific 
online services in such a way that only people who are over the legal age can view that content 
or follow their profiles. 

Advergame 1 
Advergames are games specifically designed for advertising. These games are explicitly 
marketing-communication, developed by companies or organisations to promote their brand or 
product. The brand or product is the protagonist, central character, or key feature in the game. 

Advertising 
Commercial communications that are controlled by food and non-alcohol drinks brand 
advertisers. This means that, by definition, user-generated content (including posts by e.g. 
influencers) was not considered advertising for the purpose of this study. 

Children 
For the purpose of this study children are defined as people younger than 182. 

Children channel  
A television channel broadcasting programmes that are mainly targeted at children. 

General channel  
A television channel broadcasting programmes that are not mainly targeted at children. 

Gross Rating Points (GRP)  
GRP can be interpreted as the total number of times an advertising spot was seen in either 
absolute terms (GRP000) or as a percentage of the target group (GRP%). Hence, GRP measures 
the exposure to HFSS advertising, which is referred to as ‘HFSS impacts’ throughout this report. 

Healthier food options 
Food options that are not classified as HFSS foods or drinks.  

HFSS foods 3 
Foods and non-alcoholic beverages containing nutrients, and substances with a nutritional or 
physiological effect, in particular fat, trans-fatty acids, salt or sodium and sugars, of which 
excessive intakes in the overall diet are not recommended or that otherwise do not fit national 
or international nutritional guidelines.  
The term ‘HFSS foods’ is used when referring to HFSS foods and non-alcoholic beverages. The 
term ‘drinks’ is used to refer to non-alcoholic beverages. 
In this study we use a coding framework to establish a classification for HFSS products (please 
see Section 2.2.5 for more information on this classification). The term ‘HFSS products’ include 
HFSS foods and brands predominantly associated with, and selling HFSS foods. This included 
quick service restaurants (i.e. products and advertisements for quick service restaurants that do 
not feature specific products).  

(HFSS) impact  

1   European Commission (2016). Study on the impact of marketing through social media, online games and 
behavior  

mobile 
on 
(http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/consumer_evidence/behavioural_research/docs/final_report_impact_m
arketing_children_final_version_approved_en.pdf)). 

applications 

children’s 

2   Source: Tender specifications, call for tenders N° SANTE/2017/C4/040, Study on the exposure of children 

to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods high in fat, salt or sugar.  

3   Source: Terms of Reference (page 9). 

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 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Impact is a measure of how often a spot is viewed: it yields the absolute number of times a spot 
was seen over a given timeframe. This is also referred to as the number of impressions. 

Linear audiovisual media services4 
Television broadcasting, that is, “an audio-visual media service provided by a media service 
provider for simultaneous viewing of programmes on the basis of a programme schedule”. 

N 
Total number of units (respondents) in the sample under study. Note that we also use “n” for 
sub-groups of respondents. ‘n’ is defined as the number of units (respondents) in the sample 
that concern a specific situation. This implies that “n” is always smaller than “N”, the total 
number of units (respondents) in the sample. 

Non-linear audiovisual media services5 
On-demand audio-visual media services, that is, “an audio-visual media service provided by a 
media service provider for the viewing of programmes at the moment chosen by the user and at 
his individual request on the basis of a catalogue of programmes selected by the media service 
provider.” 

Other online services 
Those online services that were not covered by the 2010 version of the Audiovisual Media 
Services Directive, which served as a starting point for this study, such as social media, search 
engines and websites. Concurrently with the study, the AVMSD was amended in 2018 and the 
EU Member States were instructed to transpose the amendments into their national laws by 
September 2020. 

Out-of-Home media 
Out-of-Home media, also known as outdoor advertising, is advertising that reaches consumers 
when they are in public places, in transit, waiting or in commercial locations. Formats of Out-of-
Home media include e.g. billboards and posters. 

Peak hours 
The hours for which either the measured viewing rate or the advertising impact is the highest.  

Quick service restaurant 
Quick service restaurants are defined by having a brand identity that is strongly associated with 
HFSS products, low prices, standardised offerings with limited changes and consumer self-
service6. Also referred to as fast-food chain. 

Rating (rat)  
The rating is a metric used in viewing data and can be interpreted as the audience in absolute 
terms (rat000) or as percentage of the target group (rat%) during a specific timeslot (in this 
study, per hourly timeslot). 

(HFSS) spot  
The insertion of an (HFSS) advertisement.  

Universe  
Universe is defined as the number of people in a specific target group. 

4   Definition  as  provided  in  the  Directive  2010/13/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  of  10 
March 2010 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action 
in Member States concerning the provision of audio-visual media services (Audio-visual Media Services 
Directive). 

5   Definition  as  provided  in  the  Directive  2010/13/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  of  10 
March 2010 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action 
in Member States concerning the provision of audio-visual media services (Audio-visual Media Services 
Directive). 

6   Muller,  C.C.  &  Woods,  R.H.  (1994).  An  expanded  restaurant  topology.  Cornell  Hotel  and  Restaurant 

Administration Quarterly, 35(3), 27-38. 

10 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

1.  COUNTRY-SPECIFIC REGULATIONS7 

This chapter summarises the main marketing regulations and dietary guidelines in the 
Netherlands. 

1.1  Marketing regulations 

• 

There are several regulations in Belgium that covers food and advertising or broadcasting8: 
In 2005, the Dutch advertising code authority implemented the Advertising Code for 
food products9 as a voluntary industry self-regulation. The objective of this code is to 
establish a body of rules with which all advertising for foods specifically intended for the 
Dutch market should comply. The advertising industry (including advertisers, 
advertising agencies and the media) have formed an agreement with this Code, 
regarding the rules with which advertising messages should comply, and they assume 
responsibility for the timely correction and/or suppression of conflicting advertising 
messages. Anyone who suspects violation of the Code, can submit a complaint. The 
Advertising Code Committee will recommend the advertiser to discontinue that way of 
way of advertising. If the advertiser still does not comply, the committee might take the 
violation public.  

The Code specifies that “advertising for food products intended for children of 12 years 
and younger is not permitted” (article 8, par.1). This means that channels aimed at 
children should not contain advertising for food products, Other channels can only 
broadcast food advertising when less than 25% of the public is 12 years and younger. 
The only exception to this is food advertisements realised in cooperation with the 
government or approved nutritional authorities. 

1.2  Dietary guidelines 

National food dietary guidelines provide context-specific advice and principles on national 
healthy diets and lifestyles. It is a response to a country’s public health and nutrition 
priorities.10  

The Dutch food-based dietary guidelines are represented by a circle (the wheel of five). The 
circle is divided into five groups: (1) vegetables and fruit; (2) breads, grain/cereal products and 
potatoes; (3) dairy, nuts, legumes, fish, meat and eggs; (4) spreading and cooking fats; (5) 
drinks. Fruits and vegetables and breads, cereals and potatoes cover more than half of the 
circle. Animal source foods, spreads and cooking fats comprise a much smaller part of the circle. 
Water and other beverages such as tea, and coffee complete the circle.11  

Main messages of the Dutch food-based dietary guidelines involve eating more plant-based and 
less animal-based food. In addition, it involves eating a few portions of dairy produce and three 
cups of tea daily and one serving of fish and legumes weekly. It recommends to replace refined 
cereal products by whole-grain products, butter, hard margarines, and cooking fats by soft 
margarines, liquid cooking fats, and vegetable oils, and unfiltered coffee by filtered coffee. It 
recommends to limit or minimise the consumption of red meat, particularly processed meat, 
sugar-containing beverages and the salt intake.  

7   See Chapter 3.2 Mapping of marketing regulations in the main report for European regulations. 
8   The data on various regulations were obtained from the Joint Research (JRC) database based on a self-

reported questionnaire among all EU Member States. The data was extracted in February 2020. 
9   https://www.reclamecode.nl/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SRCNRCENboekje_oktober2017.pdf. 
10   http://www.fao.org/nutrition/education/food-dietary-guidelines/background/en/. 
11   http://www.fao.org/nutrition/education/food-dietary-guidelines/regions/countries/netherlands/en/. 

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 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
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2.  SURVEY RESULTS 

This chapter shows the results of the survey on self-reported exposure to HFSS food marketing 
on non-linear AV media services and other online services in the Netherlands conducted in 
September 2019. In the survey, questions were asked about online activity of children aged 4-
8, 9-12, 13-17 and adults aged 18 and older, their awareness of HFSS food advertising, and 
their memory of HFSS food advertising. The term ‘HFSS foods’ is used when talking about HFSS 
foods and non-alcoholic beverages including quick service restaurants.  

The remainder of this chapter is organised as follows. In the first section (Section 2.1) we 
provide a description of the sample. Then, we present the results of the survey on online 
activity (Section 2.2). The results on ‘awareness of HFSS food advertising’ and ‘memory of HFSS 
food advertising’ are presented in Section 2.3 and Section 2.4, respectively. In Section 2.5 we 
present the results of ‘awareness of HFSS food advertising depending on online activity’, 
followed by the results of ‘memory of HFSS food advertising depending on online activity’ in 
Section 2.6. 

2.1  Socio-demographics 

In the Netherlands, 1100 respondents completed the questionnaire (between 2 and 30 
September 2019): 323 children aged 4-8 years old, 272 children aged 9-12 years old and 251 
children aged 13-17 years old. For the adult group, 254 people aged 18 years and older 
participated. The respondent group was gender balanced (51% males, 49% females). The 
average age of children (4-17) participating in the survey (452 respondents) was 10.0 years 
old.12  

Table 1.1 shows the level of education the respondents were attaining at time of filling in the 
survey, per age group. In case no education was being attained at that moment, respondents 
filled in the highest education attained so far.  

Table 1.1 Educational level, per age group, 2019 

Educational level 

Early childhood education 

Primary education 

Lower secondary education 

Upper secondary education 

Post-secondary non-tertiary education 

Short-cycle tertiary education 

Bachelor or equivalent 

Master or equivalent 

Doctoral or equivalent 

No answer 

Total 

4-8 

99% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

1% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

9-12 

74% 

7% 

13% 

3% 

0% 

0% 

1% 

1% 

0% 

2% 

13-17 

18+ 

Total 

0% 

6% 

59% 

25% 

0% 

0% 

5% 

1% 

0% 

4% 

1% 

2% 

22% 

35% 

1% 

4% 

14% 

20% 

1% 

2% 

47% 

4% 

22% 

14% 

0% 

1% 

5% 

5% 

0% 

2% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: total number of respondents are 323, 272, 251 and 254, for the 4-8, 9-12, 13-17, and 18+ age 
groups respectively. 

In this report, we refer to school- and workdays as ‘weekdays’ and to weekend- and holidays as 
‘weekend days’. Important to note is that the questions on awareness of, and memory for, 
HFSS food advertising were not asked to respondents younger than 9 years old. Their 
questionnaire only contained questions about their online activity and one question about 
advertisement exposure (see Figure 1.9).  

12   Standard deviation is 3.862929. 

13 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

2.2  Online activity 

Frequency of online activity  

Almost all (99.8%) respondents in the Netherlands indicated that they use the Internet at least 
a few times a month.13 Being online is defined as using a computer, tablet or smartphone or 
similar and doing activities like playing games, visiting websites, watching videos, listening to 
music, chatting with friend and more. These answers include activities for school and work as 
well as for personal use. 

Table 1.2 presents a breakdown of the frequency of online activity by age group. Across the 
three oldest age groups, the largest proportion of participants reported being online more than 
three times a day. The largest proportion of the youngest age group (4-8) reported being online 
two or three times a day. Across all age groups, almost all participants reported engaging in 
online activity every day one or multiple times (71% for 4-8 year olds, 91% for 9-12 year olds, 
100% for 13-17 year olds). The majority of 4-8 year olds (75%) and 9-12 year olds (81%) is 
online once a day and the majority of other age groups are online more than three times a day 
(90% and 72% for the 13-17 and 18+ age groups respectively). 

Table 1.2 Frequency of online activity in percentages, by age group, 2019 

More than 3 times a day 

2 or 3 times a day 

Once a day 

A few times a week 

A few times a month 

Less than once a month or never 

4-8 

12% 

34% 

25% 

22% 

7% 

0% 

9-12 

13-17  18+ 

Total 

49% 

32% 

11% 

8% 

0% 

1% 

90% 

7% 

3% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

72% 

18% 

8% 

2% 

0% 

0% 

53% 

24% 

12% 

9% 

2% 

0% 

Total 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns. 
Note: total number of respondents are 232, 272, 251 and 254, for the 4-8, 9-12, 13-17, and 18+ age 
groups respectively. 
Pearson chi2(15) = 462.3666  Pr = 0.000. 

Number of hours spent online 

Average school- and workdays 

Table 1.3 shows the number of hours age groups spend online on an average weekday, by age 
group. 46% of the 4-8 year olds spend more than an hour online every day, whereas 78% of 9-
12 year olds spend more than an hour online. Of the children’s age groups, the proportion of 
respondents spending more than an hour online every day is largest for the 13-17 year olds 
with 96%. For adults, 74% of all respondents spend more than an hour online every day. 

Table 1.3 Number of hours spent online on an average school/workday in 
percentages, by age group, 2019 

Less than 1 hour 

1-2 hours 

3-4 hours 

5-6 hours 

More than 6 hours 

No answer 

Total 

4-8 

53% 

39% 

7% 

0% 

0% 

1% 

9-12 

13-17  18+ 

Total 

19% 

47% 

27% 

3% 

1% 

2% 

4% 

28% 

47% 

13% 

8% 

0% 

17% 

40% 

23% 

8% 

10% 

2% 

25% 

39% 

25% 

6% 

5% 

1% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns. 

13   The respondents who indicated that they use the internet less than once a month or never were 

excluded from the rest of the survey. 

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high in fat, salt or sugar 

Note: total number of respondents are 323, 272, 251 and 254, for the 4-8, 9-12, 13-17, and 18+ age 
groups respectively. 
Pearson chi2(15) = 356.9305  Pr = 0.000. 

The respondents were asked what percentage of the hours spent online is used for ‘private, fun’ 
related activities, and what percentages is spent online on school or work-related activities. As 
shown in Figure 1.1 for all age groups, the largest proportion of time is spent on private and fun 
things during the average weekday. 

Figure 1.1 Percentage of hours spent online on school/work and private/fun things on 
an average school/workday, by age group, 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: total number of respondents are 321, 266, 251 and 248, for the 4-8, 9-12, 13-17, and 18+ age 
groups respectively. 

Average weekend- and holidays 
Table 1.4 shows the number of hours spent online on an average weekend day, by age group. 
Apart from the 9-12 and 13-17 year olds, the largest share of respondents within the age 
groups are active online 1-2 hours daily. Half (53%) of the 9-12 year olds and four out of five 
(81%) of the 13-17 year olds are online 3 hours or more on an average weekend day. 41% of 
the latter spend 5 or more hours online.  

Furthermore, 68% of the youngest age group is online at least an hour on a typical weekend 
day, of which 66% of this age group is online 1 to 4 hours. 

Table 1.4 Number of hours spent online on an average weekend/holiday in 
percentages, by age group, 2019 

Less than 1 hour 

1-2 hours 

3-4 hours 

5-6 hours 

More than 6 hours 

No answer 

Total 

4-8 

31% 

47% 

19% 

3% 

0% 

0% 

9-12 

13-17  18+ 

Total 

13% 

32% 

34% 

13% 

6% 

2% 

3% 

15% 

40% 

23% 

18% 

1% 

19% 

44% 

26% 

8% 

3% 

1% 

17% 

35% 

29% 

11% 

6% 

1% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns. 
Note: total number of respondents are 323, 272, 251 and 254, for the 4-8, 9-12, 13-17, and 18+ age 
groups respectively. 
Pearson chi2(15) = 283.9513  Pr = 0.000. 

Respondents were asked what percentage of their hours spent online is used for ‘private, fun’ 
related activities, and what percentage of online time on weekends is spent on school or work 

15 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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related activities. Figure 1.2 shows that all age groups spend most time on private and fun 
things, as they do during an average weekday. Compared to the other age groups, the 13-17 
year olds spend least time on private and fun things (82%), however, they also seem to spend 
most hours online (96% spends one hour or more online on a weekend day). 

Adults spend 89% of their online time on private and fun things. 80% of this age group is online 
at least an hour a day, whereas about one tenth is online 5 or more hours (11%). 

Figure 1.2 Percentage of hours spent online on school/work and private/fun things on 
an average weekend/holiday, by age group, 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: total number of respondents are 322, 267, 249 and 252, for the 4-8, 9-12, 13-17, and 18+ age 
groups respectively. 

For 4-8 year olds, we see that their hours spent online during weekdays and during weekend 
days show a similar pattern. The group that spends less than 1 hour online decreases during the 
weekend and the groups that spend 1-2 and 3-4 hours online increases. Of the 9-12 year olds, 
the greatest proportion spends 3-4 hours online during the weekend, which is more than on a 
weekday. The share of 9-12 year olds spending 5-6 hours online increases during weekend days 
(13% compared to 3% on weekdays). 13-17 year olds spend, compared to the other age 
groups, on average, most time online. 41% spends 5-6 hours or more than 6 hours online on an 
average weekend day.  

The pattern for adults is similar on weekdays and weekend days. There is a small increase in 
the share of adults that spend more than 5 hours online (10% on weekdays, compared to 17% 
on weekend days). 

Frequency per type of online activity 

Respondents were asked how frequently they engage in certain activities online and how much 
time they spend doing these activities. First, we show which activities are performed by the 
different age groups every day (i.e. more than 3 times a day, 2 or 3 times a day, once a day).  

Children aged 4-8 reported engaging in the following activities every day (top 3): 
•  Watch videos or listen to music on YouTube or similar platform(s) (57% of 

respondents); 

•  Stream music, videos, films, podcasts, cartoons (in on demand environment like Netflix, 

Spotify, Soundcloud, NOT YouTube) (36%); 
Play online games (33%). 

• 

Children aged 9-12 reported engaging in the following activities every day: 

•  Watch videos or listen to music on YouTube or similar platform(s) (77%); 
• 
•  Use WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger et cetera to talk with friends (55%). 

Play online games (60%); 

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Children aged 13-17 reported engaging in the following activities every day: 

•  Use WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger et cetera to talk with friends (93%); 
•  Watch videos or listen to music on YouTube or similar platform(s) & use the internet for 

school/work (89%); 

•  Use the internet for school/work (86%). 

Adults reported engaging in the following activities every day: 

•  Send or read e-mail (83%); 
•  Use WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger et cetera to talk with friends (76%); 
•  Read/watch the news on the internet (72%). 

These results show that the three children’s age groups daily engage in the activity ‘watch 
videos or listen to music on YouTube or similar platform(s)’. ‘Using WhatsApp, Skype, 
Messenger et cetera to talk with friends’ is popular among the 9-12 year old, the 13-17 year 
olds and adults. Adults ‘send or read e-mail’ most often. 

Respondents that indicated to engage in a certain online activity were subsequently (in the 
same questionnaire) asked how often they do this. Tables 2.5 – 2.8 present the frequencies of 
reported online activities by age group.  

Table 1.5 shows that shows that the largest proportion of 4-8 year olds is engaged less than 
once a month in most online activities. However, ‘watching videos or listening to music on 
YouTube or similar platform’ (57%) is most popular within this age group and are performed by 
the majority of respondents once a day or more. 

Table 1.5 The frequency of performing online activities: 4-8 year olds, 2019 

4-8 
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m

i
t

e
r
o
M
1% 

s
e
m

i
t
3
r
o
2
1% 

y
a
d
a

y
a
d
a

s
e
m

i
t

k
e
e
w
a

e
c
n
O

w
e
f
A
1%  1% 

s
e
m

i
t

h
t
n
o
m
a

w
e
f
A
1% 

n
a
h
t

a

e
s
c
s
n
e
o
L
92% 

h
t
n
o
m

r
e
w
s
n
a

o
N
2% 

l
a
t
o
T
100% 

10%  22%  26%  22%  11%  10% 

0% 

100% 

4% 

4% 

5% 

3% 

11%  16%  12%  50% 

2% 

100% 

14%  16%  19%  10%  36% 

1% 

100% 

13%  18%  17%  8% 

38% 

1% 

100% 

0% 

1% 

1% 

2% 

0%  1% 

3%  5% 

1% 

8% 

93% 

3% 

100% 

78% 

3% 

100% 

1% 

1% 

1%  4% 

2% 

88% 

3% 

100% 

0% 

0% 

0%  1% 

1% 

94% 

4% 

100% 

Visit and/or post on a social 
media profile (Facebook, 
Instagram, et cetera) 
Watch videos or listen to music on 
YouTube or similar platform(s) 

Use the internet for school/work 

Play online games 

Stream music, videos, films, 
podcasts, cartoons (in on demand 
environment like Netflix, Spotify, 
Soundcloud, NOT YouTube) 

Send or read e-mail 

Use WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger 
et cetera to talk with friends 
Read/watch the news on the 
internet 

Shop online 

Listen to online radio 
Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all (dark) orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the rows. 
Note: total number of respondents is 323. 

2% 

3%  4% 

5% 

1% 

83% 

2% 

100% 

17 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Table 1.6 shows a more differentiated pattern for the 9-12 year olds in terms of online activities 
compared to 4-8 year olds. ‘Using WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger et cetera to talk with friends’ is 
done most frequently, the largest share of respondents performs this activity more than three 
times a day. Then, ‘watching videos or listening to music on YouTube or similar platforms’ is the 
second most popular and performed by 58% two or more times a day. ‘Playing online games’ is 
performed once a day by 60%. ‘Using the internet for school and work’, is done a few times a 
week by the largest share of 9-12 year olds. The largest proportion of respondents in this age 
group perform the other activities less than once a month. 

Table 1.6 The frequency of performing online activities: 9-12 year olds, 2019 

9-12 
3
n
a
h
t

y
a
d
a

s
e
m

i
t

e
r
o
M
6% 

s
e
m

i
t
3
r
o
2
7% 

y
a
d
a

y
a
d
a

s
e
m

i
t

k
e
e
w
a
10%  11% 

w
e
f
A

e
c
n
O

s
e
m

i
t

h
t
n
o
m
a

w
e
f
A
9% 

n
a
h
t

a

e
s
c
s
n
e
o
L
53% 

h
t
n
o
m

r
e
w
s
n
a

l
a
t
o
o
N
T
3%  100% 

27% 

31% 

19%  15% 

5% 

3% 

0%  100% 

10% 

13% 

18%  24% 

17% 

17% 

2%  100% 

15% 

24% 

21%  17% 

11% 

12% 

1%  100% 

7% 

14% 

15%  17% 

13% 

32% 

3%  100% 

2% 

3% 

4%  13% 

10% 

64% 

4%  100% 

26% 

16% 

13%  11% 

4% 

26% 

3%  100% 

1% 

5% 

9%  17% 

14% 

50% 

3%  100% 

2% 

2% 

0% 

3% 

0%  3% 

11% 

79% 

4%  100% 

3%  7% 

10% 

71% 

4%  100% 

Visit and/or post on a social media 
profile (Facebook, Instagram, et 
cetera) 
Watch videos or listen to music on 
YouTube or similar platform(s) 

Use the internet for school/work 

Play online games 

Stream music, videos, films, 
podcasts, cartoons (in on demand 
environment like Netflix, Spotify, 
Soundcloud, NOT YouTube) 

Send or read e-mail 

Use WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger 
et cetera to talk with friends 
Read/watch the news on the 
internet 

Shop online 

Listen to online radio 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all (dark) orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the rows. 
Note: total number of respondents is 272. 

Table 1.7 on the online activities of 13-17 year olds provides a different picture compared to the 
younger age groups. Here we see that multiple online activities are performed by the largest 
proportion of respondents 2-3 times a day or more. The majority of 13-17 year olds visits and 
posts on social media profiles (62%), watches videos or listens to music on YouTube (74%), 
uses the internet for school/work (62%), and uses WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger et cetera to 
talk with friends (90%) more than two times a day. 

Table 1.7 The frequency of performing online activities: 13-17 year olds, 2019 

13-17 

y
a
d
a

s
e
m

i
t

3
n
a
h
t

y
a
d
a

s
e
m

i
t
3
r
o
2

s
e
m

e
r
o
M

w
y
a
e
d
f
A
a
43%  19%  12%  8% 

e
c
n
O

i
t

k
e
e
w
a

s
e
m

i
t

h
t
n
o
m
a

w
e
f
A
5% 

n
a
h
t

a

e
s
c
s
n
e
o
L
12% 

h
t
n
o
m

r
e
w
s
n
a

o
N
1% 

l
a
t
o
T
100% 

41%  33%  15%  6% 

4% 

2% 

0% 

100% 

29%  33%  24%  10% 

3% 

1% 

0% 

100% 

Visit and/or post on a social 
media profile (Facebook, 
Instagram, et cetera) 
Watch videos or listen to music on 
YouTube or similar platform(s) 

Use the internet for school/work 

Play online games 

17%  24%  18%  16% 

9% 

16% 

1% 

100% 

18 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Stream music, videos, films, 
podcasts, cartoons (in on demand 
environment like Netflix, Spotify, 
Soundcloud, NOT YouTube) 

Send or read e-mail 

Use WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger 
et cetera to talk with friends 
Read/watch the news on the 
internet 

Shop online 

Listen to online radio 

23%  24%  16%  16% 

8% 

10% 

2% 

100% 

7% 

14%  24%  26% 

16% 

13% 

0% 

100% 

75%  15%  4%  4% 

1% 

2% 

0% 

100% 

4% 

14%  22%  19% 

14% 

24% 

2% 

100% 

0% 

5% 

2% 

6% 

3%  10% 

33% 

51% 

2% 

100% 

6%  12% 

10% 

58% 

2% 

100% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all (dark) orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the rows. 
Note: total number of respondents is 251. 

Table 1.8 shows a pattern for adults that is similar to the results found for 4-8 year olds. The 
largest proportion of adults is engaged less than a few times a month in most online activities, 
since for these groups the largest share of respondents also indicates to perform most activities 
less than once a month. The majority of adults (62%) ‘sends or reads e-mails’ two or more 
times a day, and ‘reads and watches the news on the internet’ (72%) once a day or more. The 
activity done most frequently is using ‘WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger et cetera to talk with 
friends’, 67% of the respondents performs this activity two or more times a day.  

Table 1.8 The frequency of performing online activities: adults, 2019 

18+ 
3
n
a
h
t

y
a
d
a

y
a
d
a

s
e
m

i
t

s
e
m

e
r
o
M

w
y
a
e
d
f
A
a
20%  18%  13%  9% 

e
c
n
O

i
t

k
e
e
w
a

s
e
m

i
t
3
r
o
2

s
e
m

i
t

h
t
n
o
m
a

w
e
f
A
6% 

n
a
h
t

a

e
s
c
s
n
e
o
L
32% 

h
t
n
o
m

r
e
w
s
n
a

o
N
1% 

l
a
t
o
T
100% 

6% 

8% 

14%  21% 

24% 

25% 

1% 

100% 

23%  15%  12%  10% 

5% 

32% 

3% 

100% 

7% 

4% 

13%  10%  7% 

4% 

58% 

1% 

100% 

8% 

19%  16% 

9% 

44% 

1% 

100% 

31%  30%  21%  10% 

4% 

48%  18%  9%  12% 

4% 

3% 

9% 

0% 

100% 

0% 

100% 

19%  26%  28%  9% 

6% 

13% 

1% 

100% 

1% 

6% 

2% 

2% 

3%  16% 

40% 

39% 

0% 

100% 

8%  12% 

12% 

59% 

1% 

100% 

Visit and/or post on a social 
media profile (Facebook, 
Instagram, et cetera) 
Watch videos or listen to music on 
YouTube or similar platform(s) 

Use the internet for school/work 

Play online games 

Stream music, videos, films, 
podcasts, cartoons (in on demand 
environment like Netflix, Spotify, 
Soundcloud, NOT YouTube) 

Send or read e-mail 

Use WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger 
et cetera to talk with friends 
Read/watch the news on the 
internet 

Shop online 

Listen to online radio 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all (dark) orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the rows. 
Note: total number of respondents is 254. 

By weekdays 

Time spend on social media networks and YouTube 

Table 1.9 shows the average time (in minutes) respondents spend engaging with different social 
media networks and YouTube on a typical weekday  

On average, respondents spend, on an average weekday, most time online on YouTube and 
Facebook. Children (aged 4-18) spend most time on YouTube whereas adults spend more time 

19 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

on Facebook. It should be noted however, that all social media networks and YouTube require 
their users to be at least 13 years of age. For Google and YouTube additional terms apply that 
can be found in the main report in Section 3.2.3. 

Table 1.9 Average time spent per social media network and YouTube on weekdays, in 
minutes, by age group, 2019 

4-8 

Week 

2.0 

0.2 

Facebook 

Twitter 

YouTube 

57.6 

Instagram 

Snapchat 

Pinterest 

Tumblr 

0.7 

0.6 

0.3 

0.2 

323  2.4 

323  0.5 

323  78.6 

323  13.1 

323  8.1 

323  1.6 

323  0.0 

9-12 

n 

Week 

n 

13-17 

Week 

18+ 

n 

Week 

n 

272 

14.7 

251 

39.2 

254 

272 

269 

272 

272 

272 

272 

3.0 

79.1 

52.2 

35.8 

4.1 

1.6 

251 

251 

251 

250 

251 

251 

3.1 

24.1 

8.8 

3.2 

3.9 

0.6 

254 

254 

254 

254 

254 

254 

254 

TikTok 

323  15.8 
Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all (dark) orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns. 

272 

251 

3.3 

3.6 

0.2 

Devices used for online activity 

Different devices are reported to be used for online activities on weekdays. Table 1.10 shows 
the devices respondents use (in minutes) for their online activities by age group. The 4-8 year 
olds spend most time on their tablet, where 9-12 year olds spend most time on their desktop 
computer and 13-17 year olds spend most time on their smartphone. Adults use a laptop and 
Smart TV most minutes for their online activities. 

Table 1.10 Average time per device used during online activity on weekdays, in 
minutes, by age group, 2019 

4-8 

9-12 

13-17 

18+ 

Week  n  Week  n 

Week  n  Week  n 

Desktop computer 

30.0 

14 

90.4 

Laptop 

Tablet 

Smartphone 
Game Console14 
Smart TV15 
Portable media player (iPod)16 
Smartwatch17  

45.5 

51.8 

34.9 

36.1 

44.7 

50.0 

. 

56 

67.2 

29 

79 

68.3 

43 

92.8 

127.2 

102  122.9 

173  78.2 

113  80.7 

58 

67.4 

60 

79 

70 

72 

18 

51 

3 

0 

74.4 

56.2 

54.3 

15.0 

60.0 

135  154.5 

145  85.2 

114 

53 

49 

2 

1 

67.3 

48.9 

30.0 

20.0 

40 

42 

1 

2 

78.3 

95.4 

40.0 

. 

3 

25 

3 

0 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all (dark) orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns. 

By weekend days 

Time spent on social media networks and YouTube 

Table 1.11 shows the average time (in minutes) age groups spend engaging with different social 
media networks and YouTube on a typical day during weekends and holidays.  

14   Xbox, Wii, PlayStation. 
15   TV on which you can go online e.g. Netflix and YouTube. 
16   Due to substantially low responses, this category has not been analysed further. 
17   Watch with apps for online activities. Due to substantially low responses, this category has not been 

analysed further. 

20 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Respondents in the age groups 4-8, 9-12 and 13-17 spend, on average, most minutes on 
YouTube. The second most used social media network for these three age groups is TikTok (4-8, 
9-12) and Instagram (13-17). Adults spend most time on Facebook, followed by YouTube. 

Table 1.11 Average time spent per social media network and YouTube on weekend 
days, in minutes, by age group, 2019 

4-8 

9-12 

13-17 

18+ 

Weekend  n 

Weekend  n 

Weekend  n 

Weekend  n 

272 

16.0 

251 

42.2 

Facebook 

1.6 

Twitter 

0.2 

YouTube 

81.3 

Instagram  0.7 

Snapchat 

Pinterest 

Tumblr 

TikTok 

0.7 

0.4 

0.2 

6.6 

323 

323 

323 

323 

323 

323 

323 

323 

3.4 

0.3 

272 

3.4 

111.0 

271 

116.9 

13.5 

10.3 

1.8 

0.0 

22.2 

272 

62.7 

272 

45.7 

272 

272 

272 

5.0 

1.6 

5.8 

251 

251 

251 

250 

251 

251 

251 

2.7 

31.4 

9.7 

3.2 

4.4 

1.0 

0.1 

254 

254 

254 

254 

254 

254 

254 

254 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all (dark) orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns. 

Devices used for online activity 

Table 1.12 shows the average time (in minutes) respondents spend using specific devices for 
their online activities on weekend days. Age groups 4-8, 9-12 and 13-17 use, on average, their 
game console, desktop computer and smartphone most for their online activities on weekend 
days. Next to these devices, the Smart TV, and game console are listed as second most used 
devices during weekends.  

Adults indicate spending most time on a Smart TV for their online activities, followed by the 
smartphone, which differs from the weekdays (laptop and Smart TV are most frequently used). 
The pattern for children differs also slightly. Children aged 13-17 and 9-12 spend more time on 
a game console in the weekends. For 4-8 year olds, the device that is used the most switches 
from the tablet on weekdays to the game console in the weekends. 

Table 1.12 Average time per device used during online activity on weekend days, in 
minutes, by age group, 2019 

4-8 

9-12 

13-17 

18+ 

Weekend  n  Weekend  n  Weekend  n 

Weekend  n 

Desktop computer  50.0 

15 

110.0 

171  101.7 

111  97.2 

26 

78 

100.5 

92.5 

41 

72.5 

99 

53 

65.4 

79.6 

61 

74 

67 

131  190.9 

140  117.5 

113 

Laptop 

Tablet 

Smartphone 

Game Console18 
Smart TV19 

Portable media 
player (iPod)20 
Smartwatch21  

37.5 

72.1 

49.1 

74.2 

73.6 

60.0 

54 

64.2 

71 

19 

51 

3 

92.7 

104.5 

90.7 

55.0 

52 

45 

2 

143.3 

96.8 

30.0 

42 

43 

1 

140.0 

123.4 

50.0 

3 

25 

3 

0 

. 

0 

60.0 

1 

20.0 

2 

. 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all (dark) orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns. 

Shared devices 

18   Xbox, Wii, PlayStation. 
19   TV on which you can go online e.g. Netflix and YouTube. 
20   Due to substantially low responses, this category has not been analysed further. 
21   Watch with apps for online activities. Due to substantially low responses, this category has not been 

analysed further. 

21 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

The respondents were asked whether they share the devices that they use for online activities 
with others. Figure 1.3 shows that children aged 4-8 share a desktop computer most often 
(77%) with their parents or other adults, followed by the 9-12 year olds (64%) and 13-17 year 
olds (33%). As age increases, desktop computers are increasingly being used solely by the 
respondents.  

Figure 1.3 Shared usage of desktop computers in percentages, by age group, 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: total number of respondents are 13, 33, 52 and 92 for 4-8, 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups 
respectively. 
As this is a multiple answer question, the total number adds up to more than 100%. 

Figure 1.4 shows that children aged 4-8 share a laptop most often (70%) with their parents or 
other adults, followed by the 9-12 year olds (47%) and 13-17 year olds (10%). The majority of 
13-17 year olds and adults use a laptop solely (90% and 76%). As with desktop computers, 
older respondents tend to use their laptops solely by themselves. 

Figure 1.4 Shared usage of laptops in percentages, by age group, 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: total number of respondents are 57, 106, 134 and 127 for 4-8, 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups 
respectively. 
As this is a multiple answer question, the total number adds up to more than 100%. 

Figure 1.5 shows that the percentages of people using a tablet on their own increases when age 
increases. Only the 4-8 year olds indicate sharing a tablet more often than using one solely. The 
two eldest children age groups (59% and 72% for the age groups 9-12 and 13-17 respectively), 
indicate to personally using a tablet more often than sharing the tablets. 

22 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Figure 1.5 Shared usage of tablets in percentages, by age group, 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: total number of respondents are 225, 149, 99 and 109 for 4-8, 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups 
respectively. 
As this is a multiple answer question, the total number adds up to more than 100%. 

Figure 1.6 shows that in the three oldest age groups the large share indicates using the 
smartphone alone (9-12 87%; 13-17 99%; 18+ 97%). The majority of 4-8 year olds (55%) 
indicate to share a smartphone with their parents or other adults.  

Figure 1.6 Shared usage of smartphones in percentages, by age group, 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: total number of respondents are 85, 180, 231 and 204 for 4-8, 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups 
respectively. 
As this is a multiple answer question, the total number adds up to more than 100%. 

Figure 1.7 shows that the game console is one of the devices that is often shared with others. 
However, the majority of 13-17 year olds (59%) and adults (83%) indicate to not share their 
game console with others. 

23 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Figure 1.7 Shared usage of game consoles computers in percentages, by age group, 
2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: total number of respondents are 32, 75, 71 and 6 for 4-8, 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups respectively. 
As this is a multiple answer question, the total number adds up to more than 100%. 

Figure 1.8 shows that the Smart TV is most often shared with parents and other adults, as well 
as with brothers and sisters. However, there are children (2%, 9% and 32% for the age groups 
4-8, 9-12 and 13-17 year olds respectively) that indicate not sharing their Smart TV with 
others. 

Figure 1.8 Shared usage of Smart TV in percentages, by age group, 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: total number of respondents are 76, 72, 63 and 45 for 4-8, 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups 
respectively. 
As this is a multiple answer question, the total number adds up to more than 100%. 

No analysis was done for portable media players and smartwatches since the response for these 
devices was very low (10 respondents or less). 

Ad blockers 

Of the respondents, 8% (84 respondents) report using ad blockers on their devices. 3% (28 
respondents) of respondents make use of the nanny tag (software to filter and control internet 
activity of children). Almost three out of four (69%, 753 respondents) of all respondents do not 
use any type of ad blocker or nanny tag on their devices. 21% of the respondents (235 
respondents) is not sure or does not know.  

24 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

2.3  Awareness of HFSS food advertising 

The survey part on awareness of HFSS foods advertising included questions on types of 
advertising in general and specific for HFSS foods, drinks and quick-service restaurants. The 
respondents were asked about advertisements they have seen online. With advertisements, we 
mean advertisements from a brand, for example, Nintendo, Disney, Barbie, and Lego. 

The 4-8 year olds were only asked one question on awareness of HFSS food advertising: about 
the question about advertisement recall (see Figure 1.9). 

Liking or following food brands on social media 

On social media (for example Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram) people can ‘like’ or ‘follow’ other 
people and brands. All respondents were asked whether they follow or like food or drink brands 
or quick-serve restaurant chains on social media. Less than one out of ten (6%) of all 
respondents indicated that they like or follow one food or drink brand or quick-serve restaurant 
chain at the moment, and about 5% said they follow or like multiple food or drinks brands or 
quick-serve restaurant chains. 78% does not follow or like any food or drink brands or quick-
serve restaurant chains.  

Table 1.13 shows the breakdown in age groups in terms of following or liking food and drink 
brands on social media. Only 6% of the 9-12 year olds respondents follow one or more food or 
drinks brands on social media, whereas this is one out of five (18%) of the 13-17 year olds.  

Table 1.13 Like or follow food brands on social media, in percentages, by age group, 
2019 

Like or follow one food brand, drink brand or quick-serve 

4% 

6% 

6% 

6% 

restaurant chain at the moment 

Like or follow multiple food brands, drink brands of quick-

2% 

12% 

2% 

5% 

serve restaurant chains at the moment 

I don’t currently like/follow any food brand, drink brand, 

83% 

71% 

79% 

78% 

9-12 

13-17  18+ 

Total 

quick-serve restaurant chain 

Don’t know 

Total 

11% 

10% 

12% 

11% 

100%  100%  100%  100% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data.  
Note: all orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns. 
Note: total number of respondents are 272, 251, 254 for 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups respectively. 

Food apps 

Many food brands, drinks brands and quick-serve restaurant chains have an app to download on 
mobile devices. Some of these apps include games, some show how to use/cook their products, 
some have the option to order products and some show locations of restaurants or stores where 
their products can be purchased. 12% of respondents (91 respondents) reported to use an app 
or multiple apps of a food brand, drink band or restaurant chain on their devices.  

Table 1.14 shows how many food and drink and quick-service restaurant brand apps 
respondents reported having downloaded on their devices, by age group. Most respondents 
(89% of 9-12 year olds, 70% of 13-17 year olds and 83% of adults) do not have an app from a 
food brand, drink brand or quick-service restaurant brand downloaded on their devices.  

25 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Table 1.14 Usage of food apps, in percentages, by age group, 2019 

One app of a food brand/drink brand/quick-

3% 

17% 

4% 

serve restaurant chain 

9-12 

13-17 

18+ 

Total 

8% 

Apps of multiple food brands/drink 

1% 

5% 

5% 

4% 

brands/quick-serve restaurant chains 

No apps from a food brand/drink brand/quick-

89% 

70% 

83% 

81% 

serve restaurant chain 

Don’t know 

Total 

7% 

8% 

7% 

8% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data.  
Note: all orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns. 
Note: total number of respondents are 144, 123, 123 for 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups respectively. 

Advertisement recall 

Figure 1.9 provides the type of advertisements that respondents recalled during the last month. 
Overall, the type of products reported to be recalled most often was ‘clothes’ (39%). The second 
most often recalled product type was ‘food’ (33%), followed by ‘games’ and ‘toys’ (both 32%). 
The least recalled product to be advertised was ‘online gambling’ (9%). When comparing 
different age groups, we see that, compared to other advertisement types, ‘food’ 
advertisements are recalled by 24% of the 4-8 year olds, 34% of the 9-12 year olds, 47% of 
the 13-17 year olds and 30% of the adults. ‘Drink’ advertisements are recalled less than food 
advertisements, namely by 14% of 4-8 year olds, by 23% of 9-12 year olds, by 35% of 13-17 
year olds, and by 23% of adults. 

Figure 1.9 Type of advertisements recalled to have been seen during the last month, 
by age group, 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: total number of respondents are 323, 272, 251 and 254 for 4-8, 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups 
respectively. 
As this is a multiple answer question, the total number adds up to more than 100%. 

26 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Time since perceived exposure to advertisements 

Respondents were asked how long ago they had seen the different types of advertisements 
online. Table 1.15, Table 1.16, and Table 1.17 report the time since perceived exposure to 
advertisements for the different age groups. In the 9-12 age group the most remembered 
advertisement in the last week are advertisements on games (70%).22 Advertisements of 
‘games’ and ‘food’ (78%) were most seen in the 13-17 age group in the last week.23 
Advertisements for ‘clothes’ (74%) were most seen by adults in the last week.24  

Table 1.15 Time since perceived exposure to advertisements for 9-12 year olds, 2019 

Type of product or service advertised  Last 

Last two weeks  More than 

n 

week 

two weeks 

Games 

Cartoons/films or TV-shows 

Other online services 

Toys 

Food 

Drinks 

Clothes 

Alcohol 

Online gambling 

Other 

70% 

17% 

51% 

35% 

55% 

35% 

51% 

33% 

59% 

25% 

57% 

25% 

59% 

29% 

59% 

27% 

50% 

22% 

76% 

10% 

ago 

12% 

14% 

11% 

16% 

16% 

17% 

12% 

14% 

28% 

14% 

115 

100 

55 

109 

92 

63 

98 

22 

18 

50 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all (dark) orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns. 
Note: n = the total number of respondents per type of advertisement 

Table 1.16 Time since perceived exposure to advertisements for 13-17 year olds, 2019 

Type of product or service advertised  Last 

Last two weeks  More than 

n 

week 

two weeks 

Games 

Cartoons/films or TV-shows 

Other online services 

Toys 

Food 

Drinks 

Clothes 

Alcohol 

Online gambling 

Other 

78% 

16% 

66% 

26% 

60% 

29% 

64% 

22% 

78% 

18% 

73% 

19% 

76% 

22% 

76% 

22% 

72% 

17% 

80% 

14% 

ago 

6% 

9% 

10% 

14% 

3% 

8% 

2% 

2% 

10% 

5% 

106 

94 

96 

72 

119 

89 

147 

50 

29 

56 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all (dark) orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns. 
Note: n = the total number of respondents per type of advertisement 

22   The most remembered advertisements in the last week are in the category ‘other’ for 9-12 year olds 

(76%). This is not taken into account in the analysis of the data since this cannot be compared to the 
other categories. 

23   The most remembered advertisements for 13-17 year olds in the last week are in the category 

‘other’(80%). This is not taken into account in the analysis of the data since this cannot be compared to 
the other categories. 

24   The most remembered advertisements for adults in the last week are in the category ‘other’(82%). This 

is not taken into account in the analysis of the data since this cannot be compared to the other 
categories. 

27 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Table 1.17 Time since perceived exposure to advertisements for 18+ year olds, 2019 

Type of product or service advertised  Last 

Last two weeks  More than 

n  

week 

two weeks 

Games 

Cartoons/films or TV-shows 

Other online services 

Toys 

Food 

Drinks 

Clothes 

Alcohol 

Online gambling 

Other 

65% 

29% 

69% 

20% 

58% 

34% 

56% 

33% 

61% 

32% 

67% 

28% 

74% 

20% 

60% 

33% 

67% 

30% 

82% 

15% 

ago 

6% 

11% 

8% 

11% 

8% 

5% 

5% 

7% 

3% 

3% 

49 

45 

53 

36 

76 

58 

128 

43 

33 

33 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all (dark) orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns. 
Note: n = the total number of respondents per type of advertisement 

Awareness of HFSS advertising 

In total, 37% of all respondents (in the age categories 9-12, 13-17 and 18+) indicated to have 
seen food advertisements in the last week, last two weeks, or more than two weeks ago.  

Table 1.18 shows the type of food and drink advertisements that the respondents recalled to 
have seen online during the last two weeks, in percentages per age group. The food categories 
that were recalled by the largest group within an age group is coloured dark orange, the food 
category that is recalled by the second largest group is indicated in lighter orange. 

The largest share of 9-12 year olds reported to have seen advertisements for ‘sweet snacks’ 
(11%) frequently, followed by ‘potato crisps, popcorn, salted nuts, pretzels or other savoury 
salted snacks’ (10%). The 13-17 year olds and adults reported to have seen advertisements for 
‘fast food or takeaway ready meals’ (18%) frequently, followed by ‘potato crisps, popcorn, 
salted nuts, pretzels or other savoury salted snacks’ (13%). The adults indicated to remember 
advertisements on ‘fast food or takeaway ready meals’ most frequently (8%).  

Table 1.18 Type of food/drink products seen advertised on the internet in the last two 
weeks, per age group, 2019 

9-12 

13-17 

18+ 

HFSS category 

Sweet snacks 

Sweet sandwich toppings 

Cakes, biscuits and pastries  

y
l
t
n
e
u
q
e
r
F

y
l
l
a
n
o

i
s
a
c
c
O

y
l
t
n
e
u
q
e
r
F

11% 

27%  11% 

6% 

4% 

19%  4% 

20%  8% 

Potato crisps, popcorn, salted nuts, pretzels 

10% 

26%  13% 

or other savoury salted snacks 

Fruit or vegetable juices and smoothies 

Energy and sport drinks 

Soft drinks and flavoured milk drinks 

Ice cream or frozen yoghurt 

Breakfast cereals and cereal bars with 

flavours or sugar 

4% 

5% 

9% 

1% 

4% 

15%  5% 

21%  9% 

21%  12% 

18%  6% 

21%  8% 

y
l
l
a
n
o

i
s
a
c
c
O

36% 

17% 

18% 

27% 

26% 

33% 

33% 

16% 

25% 

y
l
t
n
e
u
q
e
r
F

5% 

2% 

3% 

4% 

3% 

4% 

5% 

2% 

3% 

y
l
l
a
n
o

i
s
a
c
c
O

14% 

12% 

10% 

13% 

13% 

19% 

17% 

7% 

12% 

28 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

9-12 

13-17 

18+ 

y
l
t
n
e
u
q
e
r
F

3% 

5% 

8% 

6% 

5% 

1% 

6% 

2% 

4% 

4% 

2% 

y
l
l
a
n
o

i
s
a
c
c
O

y
l
t
n
e
u
q
e
r
F

14%  2% 

18%  3% 

24%  18% 

14%  4% 

15%  5% 

11%  2% 

16%  5% 

10%  4% 

15%  4% 

19%  10% 

10%  2% 

y
l
l
a
n
o

i
s
a
c
c
O

13% 

17% 

37% 

16% 

15% 

12% 

14% 

13% 

22% 

23% 

14% 

y
l
t
n
e
u
q
e
r
F

2% 

2% 

8% 

4% 

1% 

2% 

5% 

1% 

4% 

5% 

2% 

y
l
l
a
n
o

i
s
a
c
c
O

7% 

12% 

22% 

10% 

11% 

4% 

9% 

7% 

15% 

14% 

10% 

Flavoured and sweet milk-based desserts 

Cheese 

Fast food or takeaway ready meals 

Bread and crackers 

Processed meat, poultry, fish and similar 

Healthier option category 

Plain seeds and nuts (unsalted) 

Whole fruit or vegetables, fresh or frozen 

Unsweetened milk and yoghurt drinks 
Tea and coffee 25 

Mineral water 

Plain oats, spelt, quinoa, buckwheat or 

other plain breakfast grains or seeds 

Plain yoghurt, kefir or buttermilk 

3% 

8% 

2% 

10% 

3% 

6% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: all (dark) orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns. 
Note: total number of respondents are 272, 251 and 254 for 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups respectively. 

2.4  Memory of HFSS food advertising 

Through open advertisement recall questions the respondents were asked to describe an 
advertisement that they had recently seen online for one of the answered food categories (Table 
1.18). The recall question included advertisement recall (description, placement and format of 
the advertisement), product recall, and brand recall.  

The recall question on HFSS advertising was asked twice; 161 respondents in the age groups 9-
12, 13-17 and 18+ answered the first recall question and indicated what HFSS advertisements 
they recalled having seen recently. 50 respondents were able to recall a second advertisement. 
The total amount of advertisements recalled is thus 211. First, respondents were asked to 
describe from which brand they had seen an advertisement. Table 1.19 presents the top 5 
brands with the highest recall among respondents per age group, sorted by the highest total 
recall.26 Children aged 9 to 17 years most frequently recalled McDonald’s as the best 
remembered brand advertised, while adults most frequently recalled Domino’s. These brands 
are both quick service restaurants. 

Table 1.19 Brand recall of advertisements that were remembered best (top 5), per 
age group, 2019 

Brand recall 

n first recall 

n second recall 

total 

9-12 years 

1.  McDonald’s  

2.  Lays 

6 

4 

2 

2 

recalls 

8 

6 

25   Whereas in the spotlist data products are coded in three categories, namely HFSS food, healthier food 

options and unclassifiable, the survey data is only coded in to two groups (HFSS food and healthier food 
options). For this reason, tea and coffee advertisements are classified as healthier food options, as 
these products are non-HFSS. ‘Tea and coffee’ is the only unclassifiable product category included in the 
survey. 

26   When total recall was equal for one or more categories, the category with the highest first recall was 

mentioned first. 

29 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Brand recall 

n first recall 

n second recall 

total 

9-12 years 

3.  Mentions specific store (chain) 

4.  Red Bull & Coca-Cola 

5.  Kellogg’s & Snickers 

13-17 years 

1.  McDonald’s  

2.  Red Bull  

3.  Domino’s 

4.  Lays & Coca-Cola 

5.  Mentions specific product 

> 18 years 

1.  Domino’s 

2.  McDonald’s 

3.  Lipton & Red Bull 

4.  Fanta, KFC & Lays 

5.  Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s & Nutella 

3 

3 

2 

7 

7 

4 

4 

4 

5 

1 

2 

1 

1 

2 

0 

0 

3 

1 

3 

2 

1 

1 

2 

0 

1 

0 

recalls 

5 

3 

2 

10 

8 

7 

6 

5 

6 

3 

2 

2 

1 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: the total number of recalled advertisements for which brand was recalled is 211. 161 respondents 
recalled an advertisement during the first advertisement recall, 50 of them also recalled a second 
advertisement.  

Second, respondents were asked where they saw the advertisement. Table 1.20 presents the 
top 5 online services where respondents recalled to have seen the advertisement they 
remembered best. The number one most recalled online service is YouTube for the children 
aged 9 to 17 years, while it is Facebook for adults. For all age groups TV was the second most 
recalled platform in terms of advertisements remembered. 

It should be noted, that all social media networks and YouTube require their users to be at least 
13 years of age. For Google and YouTube additional terms apply that can be found in the main 
report in Section 3.2.3. 

30 

 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Table 1.20 Online services recall of advertisements that were remembered best (top 
5), per age group, 2019 

Platforms  

n first recall 

n second recall 

Total 

recalls 

9-12 years 

1.  YouTube 
2.  TV27 

3.  Instagram & during a game 

4.  Banner/pop-up 

5.  Google 

13-17 years 

1.  YouTube 

2.  TV 

3.  Instagram & Facebook 
4.  Online28 

5.  Specific site mentioned 

> 18 years 

1.  Facebook 

2.  TV 

3.  YouTube 
4.  Online29 

5.  Instagram 

21 

4 

4 

2 

2 

17 

10 

8 

5 

2 

8 

8 

4 

4 

4 

10 

1 

0 

1 

0 

2 

5 

1 

1 

0 

3 

1 

3 

1 

0 

31 

5 

4 

3 

2 

19 

15 

9 

6 

2 

11 

9 

7 

5 

4 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: the total number of recalled advertisements for which online services were recalled is 198. 155 
respondents recalled an advertisement during the first advertisement recall, 43 of them also recalled a 
second advertisement.  

Type of product in advertisement 

Table 1.21 presents the top 5 HFSS categories with the highest recall among respondents per 
age group. This breakdown shows that ‘quick service meals and takeaway’ is most recalled by 
the 13-17 year olds and adults, where it takes the second place for 9-12 year olds. The latter 
recalled ‘sweet snacks’ most often.  

Table 1.21 Advertisement recall by HFSS subcategory (top 5), per age group, 2019 

HFSS subcategory 

9-12 years 

1.  Sweet snacks 

2.  Quick service meals and takeaway 

3.  Potato crisps, popcorn, salted nuts, pretzels or other 

savoury salted snacks 

4.  Breakfast cereals and cereal bars with flavours or sugar 

5.  Energy and sport drinks 

13-17 years 

1.  Quick service meals and takeaway 

n 

28 

24 

20 

13 

11 

35 

% of total 

recalls 

8% 

7% 

6% 

4% 

3% 

10% 

27   Surprising is the finding that the TV is part of the top 5 of best remembered online services, since the 
question  was specifically  asked  about  online  advertisements  only.  This  may  indicate  that  this  was  not 
clear enough to the respondents for this specific question, or that advertisements on the Smart TV are 
associated with watching television instead of using online services through the Smart TV. 

28   Not mentioned specifically. 
29   Not mentioned specifically.  

31 

 
 
                                                 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

HFSS subcategory 

2.  Energy and sport drinks 

3.  Potato crisps, popcorn, salted nuts, pretzels or other 

savoury salted snacks 

4.  Sweet snacks 

5.  Soft drinks 

> 18 years 

1.  Quick service meals and takeaway 

2.  Energy and sport drinks 

3.  Soft drinks 

4.  Breakfast cereals and cereal bars with flavours or sugar 

5.  Sweet sandwich toppings 

n 

23 

17 

15 

12 

28 

10 

7 

7 

6 

% of total 

recalls 

7% 

5% 

4% 

3% 

8% 

3% 

2% 

2% 

2% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: the total number of recalled advertisements for which the HFSS category was recalled is 343. 283 
respondents recalled an advertisement during the first advertisement recall, 60 of them also recalled a 
second advertisement.  

Type of advertisement 

The respondents that described the kind of advertisement they recall have also indicated what 
type of advertisement they had seen. Table 1.22 presents the digital form of advertisement 
presentation recalled by respondents per age group. HFSS food advertisements were most 
frequently recalled as being a video clip by the 9-12 year olds, as a social media advertisement 
by the 13-17 year olds and adults. The app is the second most recalled presentation form for 
the 9-12 year olds, while it was a video clip for the 13-17 year olds and a web page for adults. 

Table 1.22 Type of advertisement recall, by age group, 2019 

Type of advertisement 

9-12 years  

1.  Video clip/video  

2.  Social media 

3.  Web page   

4.  App  

5.  Online game  

6.  Other  

7.  Don't know 

13-17 years 

1.  Video clip/video 

2.  Social media 

3.  Web page   

4.  App  

5.  Online game  

6.  Other  

7.  Don't know 

 > 18 years 

1.  Video clip/video 

2.  Social media 

3.  Web page   

4.  App  

5.  Other  

n 

40 

17 

23 

26 

17 

8 

57 

41 

46 

18 

20 

9 

13 

53 

15 

36 

23 

15 

8 

% of total 

recalls 

21% 

9% 

12% 

14% 

9% 

4% 

30% 

21% 

23% 

9% 

10% 

5% 

7% 

27% 

12% 

29% 

18% 

12% 

6% 

32 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Type of advertisement 

6.  Online game  

7.  Don’t know 

n 

4 

24 

% of total 

recalls 

3% 

19% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: the total number of recalled advertisements for which the type was recalled is 513. 439 respondents 
recalled an advertisement during the first advertisement recall, 74 of them also recalled a second 
advertisement.  

2.5  Awareness of HFSS food advertising depending on online activity 

Recall of food and drink advertisements depending on the frequency of online 
activity 

Table 1.23 shows the share of 4-8 year olds that use Internet and recalled having seen food 
and/or drink advertisements in the last month. One out of four (25% of 323) respondents 
recalled having seen food and/or drink advertisements in the last month. Of children aged 4-8 
who report being on the Internet every day (once a day or more), 29% recalled having seen 
food and/or drink advertisements on the Internet in the last month. 17% of 4-8 year olds who 
are on the internet a few times a week have seen advertisements on the internet in the last 
month, where 10% of the children that is on the internet a few times a month recalled seeing 
advertisements on the internet in the last month. The results indicate a positive relationship 
between online activity and perceived exposure. 

Table 1.23 Recall of food and drink advertisements depending on the frequency of 
online activity, 4-8 year olds, 2019 

Frequency of online activity 

Seeing advertisements on the internet in 

n 

the last month 

Every day 

A few times a week 

A few times a month 

Total 

29% 

17% 

10% 

25% 

230 

72 

21 

323 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: n = number of 4-8 year olds who report being on the internet every day, a few times a week, etc. 

Recall of HFSS food advertisements depending on the frequency of online 
activity 

Table 1.24 shows the share of people that spent time online with a certain frequency (once a 
day etc.) and actively recall seeing HFSS food advertisements on the internet in the last month. 
67% of children aged 9-12 that are online more than three times a day (132) recall seeing 
HFSS advertisements in the last month. Where 69% (of 227) and 49% (of 183) of the 13-17 
year olds and 18+ year olds respectively, whom use internet more than three times a day saw 
HFSS food advertisements in the last month. 

Table 1.24 Recall of HFSS food advertisements depending on the frequency of online 
activity, 9-12, 13-17 and 18+ year olds, 2019 

Age group 

Seeing advertisements on the internet in the last 

month 

9-12 

Frequency of online activity  % 

More than three times a day 

Two or three times a day 

Once a day 

A few times a week 

A few times a month 

Total 

67% 

52% 

45% 

36% 

0% 

57% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 

n 

132 

87 

29 

22 

0 

13-17 

% 

69% 

71% 

71% 

0% 

0% 

n 

227 

17 

7 

0 

0 

18+ 

% 

49% 

39% 

5% 

20% 

0% 

n 

183 

46 

20 

5 

0 

272 

69% 

251 

43% 

254 

33 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Note: n = number of respondents who report being on the internet every day, a few times a week, etc. 
Note: total number of respondents are 272, 251 and 254 for 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups respectively. 

Recall of food and drink advertisements depending on the online activity for 
4-8 year olds 

Table 1.25 shows the percentage of children aged 4-8 that indicated to do a certain activity 
online, and indicated seeing food and/or drink advertisements on the internet last month. 
Overall, 26% or more of the children performing the different type of activities recall seeing a 
food and/or drink advertisement on the Internet in the last month. This does not mean that for 
example, 35% of the people that visit social media have seen all the advertisement on social 
media, but rather that 35% of people who perform this activity have seen advertisements in the 
last month.  

Table 1.25 Recall of food and drink advertisements depending on the online activity, 
4-8 year olds, 2019 

Type of online activity 

Seeing advertisements on 

n 

Visit and/or post on a social media profile 

(Facebook, Instagram, et cetera). 

the internet in the last 

month 

35% 

Watch videos or listen to music on YouTube or 

26% 

similar platform(s). 

Use the internet for school/work. 

Play online games. 

Stream music, videos, films, podcasts, 

cartoons (in on demand environment like 

Netflix, Spotify, Soundcloud, NOT YouTube). 

Send or read e-mail. 

30% 

28% 

29% 

33% 

Use WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger et cetera to 

31% 

talk with friends. 

Read/watch the news on the internet. 

Shop online. 

Listen to online radio. 

45% 

75% 

35% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: n = number of 4-8 year olds who report doing the specific activity. 
Note: total number of respondents is 323. 

17 

291 

152 

202 

197 

12 

61 

29 

8 

46 

Recall of HFSS food advertisements depending on the online activity for 9-12, 
13-17 and 18+ year olds 

Table 1.26 shows the percentage of people that perform online activities at least once a month 
and recalled HFSS food advertisements on the internet. The percentages found within each age 
groups do not show great variation over the whole range of activities. Again, this does not mean 
that for example, 61% of the 118 9-12 year olds have seen all the advertisement on social 
media, but rather that people who perform this activity have seen advertisements in the last 
month. 

34 

 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Table 1.26 Recall of HFSS advertisements depending on the online activity, 9-12, 13-
17 and 18+ year olds, 2019 

Age group 

Seeing advertisements on the internet 

in the last two weeks 

9-12 

13-17 

18+ 

Type of online activity 

% 

n 

% 

n 

% 

n 

Visit and/or post on a social media profile 

61% 

118 

70% 

217 

48% 

170 

(Facebook, Instagram, et cetera). 

Watch videos or listen to music on YouTube or 

58% 

264 

70% 

247 

48% 

187 

similar platform(s). 

Use the internet for school/work. 

59% 

222 

70% 

247 

52% 

165 

Play online games. 

58% 

237 

71% 

208 

52% 

104 

Stream music, videos, films, podcasts, cartoons 

59% 

179 

72% 

220 

55% 

140 

(in on demand environment like Netflix, Spotify, 

Soundcloud, NOT YouTube). 

Send or read e-mail. 

70% 

87 

72% 

218 

44% 

246 

Use WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger et cetera to 

61% 

192 

70% 

247 

44% 

231 

talk with friends. 

Read/watch the news on the internet. 

69% 

127 

76% 

186 

45% 

220 

Shop online. 

Listen to online radio. 

78% 

72% 

46 

67 

76% 

119 

53% 

156 

77% 

101 

49% 

101 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: n = number of respondents who report doing the specific activity. 30 
Note: total number of respondents are 272, 251 and 254 for 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups respectively. 

Recall of seen food and drink advertisements depending on the device for 4-8 
year olds 

Table 1.27 shows the share of 4-8 year olds that have seen food and/or drink advertisements in 
the last month and the type of device used to go online.  

Please note that people use a combination of devices, meaning this table only indicates that 
33% of the children that used a desktop computer, recalled seeing advertisements on the 
internet in the last month. It does not mean that they saw the advertisements only on a 
desktop computer. 

Table 1.27 Recall of seen food and drink advertisements depending on the device, 4-8 
year olds, 2019 

Type of device 

Seeing advertisements on the 

n 

internet in the last month 

Desktop computer 

Laptop  

Tablet  

Smartphone  

Game Console (Xbox, Wii, PlayStation) 

33% 

29% 

25% 

30% 

31% 

Smart TV (TV on which you can go online 

33% 

e.g. Netflix and YouTube) 

Portable media player (iPod) 

67% 

Smartwatch (watch with apps for online 

0% 

activities) 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: total number of respondents 323. 

24 

83 

259 

124 

35 

84 

3 

0 

30   This does not imply that this advertisement was seen on social media.  

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Note: n = number of 4-8 year olds who report using a computer/laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc. to go 
online (multiple answers possible). 

Recall of HFSS advertisements depending on the device for 9-12, 13-17 and 
18+ year olds 

Table 1.28 shows the share of respondents that recalled seeing HFSS advertisements in the last 
two weeks by the type of device(s) that they use. 68% of the 9-12 year olds that indicated 
using a desktop computer, recall seeing advertisements on the internet in the last two weeks. 
This does not imply that these advertisements are seen on the desktop computer only. People 
make use of more than one device. 

Table 1.28 Recall of HFSS advertisements depending on the device, 9-12, 13-17 and 
18+ year olds, 2019 

Age group 

Seeing advertisements on the internet in the 

last two weeks 

Type of device 

Desktop computer 

Laptop  

Tablet  

Smartphone  

Game Console (Xbox, Wii, PlayStation) 

9-12 

% 

68% 

50% 

61% 

58% 

58% 

Smart TV (TV on which you can go online 

58% 

e.g. Netflix and YouTube) 

13-17 

% 

69% 

72% 

73% 

69% 

69% 

75% 

n 

61 

151 

106 

237 

75 

64 

n 

37 

121 

163 

193 

76 

73 

Portable media player (iPod) 

0% 

Smartwatch (watch with apps for online 

100% 

2 

1 

50% 

100% 

2 

4 

activities) 

18+ 

% 

42% 

47% 

43% 

47% 

67% 

55% 

80% 

67% 

n 

106 

152 

135 

213 

9 

55 

5 

4 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: n = number of respondents who report using a particular device (multiple answers possible). 
Note: total number of respondents are 272, 251 and 254 for 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups respectively. 

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high in fat, salt or sugar 

2.6  Memory of HFSS food advertising depending on online activity 

Memory for HFSS advertising depending on the frequency of online activity  

Table 1.29 shows the share of respondents that actively recalls seeing at least one HFSS 
advertisement, by the frequency of their online activity. 43% of the 248 9-12 year olds that are 
active online at least once a day actively recall at least one HFSS advertisement. This is 45% of 
the 251 13-17 year old respondents and 28% of the 249 adults.  

Table 1.29 Memory for HFSS advertising depending on the frequency of online activity, 
9-12, 13-17 and 18+ year olds, 2019 

Age group 

Active recall of at least one advertisement 

Frequency of online activity 

Every day 

A few times a week 

A few times a month 

Total 

9-12 

% 

43% 

18% 

0% 

13-17 

n 

% 

n 

248 

45% 

251 

22 

0 

0% 

0% 

0 

0 

18+ 

% 

28% 

20% 

0% 

n 

249 

5 

0 

41% 

270 

45% 

251 

28% 

254 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: n = number of respondents who report being on the internet every day, a few times a week, etc. 
Note: total number of respondents are 270, 251 and 254 for 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups respectively. 

Memory of HFSS advertisement(s) depending on the type of online activity 

Table 1.30 shows the percentage of respondents (per age group) that actively recall seeing at 
least one HFSS food advertisement and engage in a certain type of online activity. For example, 
44% of the 217 respondents in the age group 13-17 use social media and recall at least one 
HFSS advertisement. This does not mean that 44% of the respondents have seen all the 
advertisement on social media, but rather that people who perform this activity have seen 
advertisements in the last month. 

Table 1.30 Memory of HFSS advertisements depending on the type of online activity, 
9-12, 13-17 and 18+ year olds, 2019 

Age group 

Active recall of at least one advertisement 

Type of online activity 

% 

n 

% 

n 

9-12 

13-17 

18+ 

% 

n 

Visit and/or post on a social media profile 

45% 

118 

44% 

217 

31% 

170 

(Facebook, Instagram, et cetera) 

Watch videos or listen to music on 

41% 

264 

45% 

247 

32% 

187 

YouTube or similar platform(s) 

Use the internet for school/work 

Play online games 

Stream music, videos, films, podcasts, 

cartoons (in on demand environment like 

Netflix, Spotify, Soundcloud, NOT 

YouTube) 

Send or read e-mail 

Use WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger et 

cetera to talk with friends 

Read/watch the news on the internet 

Shop online 

Listen to online radio 

44% 

41% 

46% 

222 

237 

179 

45% 

46% 

47% 

247 

208 

220 

35% 

31% 

35% 

165 

104 

140 

60% 

44% 

87 

192 

47% 

45% 

218 

247 

29% 

29% 

246 

231 

50% 

57% 

57% 

127 

46 

67 

52% 

45% 

57% 

186 

119 

67 

30% 

34% 

25% 

220 

156 

101 

Ecorys analysis, data source Kantar Public data. 
Note: n = number of respondents who report doing the specific activity. 
Note: total number of respondents are 272, 251 and 254 for 9-12, 13-17, 18+ age groups respectively. 

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high in fat, salt or sugar 

3.  ONLINE MONITORING 

3.1  Standard digital monitoring of food and drink advertisement 

In September 2019 in the Netherlands, data on advertisements were monitored using standard 
digital monitoring developed by Advertising Intelligence Ltd (a Nielsen company).  

Food and drink advertisements 

In total, 74 advertisements that were served to the standard avatar fall under sector categories 
‘food’, ‘soft drinks’ and ‘fast food retail’.31 These 74 advertisements account for 1.4% of all 
advertisements served to the standard avatar in September 2019 (Table 3.1).  

Table 3.1 Share of the number of advertisements served to the standard avatar, per 
sector category, September 2019 

Broad cast sector 

Fast food retail 

Soft drinks 

Food 
Other32 

Share per broadcast sector 

0.1% 

0.2% 

1.1% 

98.6% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 

All advertisements in these three categories were subsequently further categorised using our 
coding framework in order to determine whether or not they covered HFSS foods and drinks (for 
more information on the coding framework, please see Section 2.2.5 of the main report, 
separate document). 

HFSS advertisements 

In September 2019, 1.3% of all advertisements served to the standard avatar were for HFSS 
foods and drinks.  

Within this group of HFSS advertisements, the most common category served to a standard 
avatar was the category ‘sweet snacks’ (Table 3.2): 38% of all HFSS advertisements were for 
this category. Other common categories were ‘quick service restaurant meals’, ‘cakes, sweet 
biscuits and pastries’ and ‘savoury snacks’.  

Table 3.2 Top five HFSS categories by the number of advertisements served to the 
standard avatar, September 2019 

HFSS category 

Share in total number of HFSS 

advertisements 

Sweet snacks 

Quick service restaurant meals 

Cakes, sweet biscuits and pastries 

Savoury snacks 

38% 

16% 

15% 

12% 

Energy drinks and sport drinks 

4% 
Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements = 74. 

Table 3.3 provides a breakdown of the top 5 brands with the highest share of HFSS 
advertisements. Out of all HFSS advertisements served to the standard avatar in the 
Netherlands, 12% were served by Nestlé. Brands owned by Nestle are for example KitKat, 
Maggi, Wagner, Nescafé and Nesquik.  

31   These sector categories are classification applied to advertisements by Advertising Intelligence Ltd.  
32   The 3 categories with the highest share are automotive (20.8%), financial (10.9%) and 

telecommunications (9.5%). 

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high in fat, salt or sugar 

Table 3.3 Top five brands serving HFSS advertisements to the standard avatar, 
September 2019 

Brand 

KitKat 

Mentos 

Kwalitaria 

Hero 

Share in total number of HFSS 

advertisements 

12% 

9% 

9% 

7% 

Chio 

6% 
Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements = 74. 

3.2  Avatar studies 

In September 2019, data on advertisements available in The Netherlands were monitored using 
avatar studies developed by Advertising Intelligence Ltd (a Nielsen company). Within this 
section we will present the share of HFSS advertisements for the total food and drink 
advertisements (global breakdown), the share of the number of food and drink advertisements 
served to four avatars (breakdown per user profile) and a breakdown per HFSS category and 
breakdown per HFSS brand.  

The four avatars are defined as follows: 

Profile 

Description 

Child avatar 

Adult avatar 

Neutral avatar 

Retargeting 
avatar 

A persona aged below 2 years old simulated from browsing histories 

A persona aged above 18 years old simulated from browsing histories 

A persona without any browsing history (a control group)  

A persona that does not mimic a specific age profile, it visited some brand’s official 
food and drink brand’s websites that were considered as HFSS foods and that trigger 
advertisements of this brand on other websites, serving targeted ads. 

Global breakdown 

In total, 3,070 food and drink advertisements were served to all four avatars together. 1,881 of 
these advertisements fall under categories within the coding framework (Section 2.2.5 of the 
main report, separate document); 1,189 advertisements (advertising food retail 
(supermarkets), meal delivery and baby food) fall outside of the scope of this study and are not 
considered further in the analysis.33  

Figure 3.1 shows the classification of 1,728 food advertisements served to the four 
demographically programmed avatars during September 2019. As quick service restaurants 
(QSR) are considered retail, 153 advertisements for QSR were excluded from breaking down the 
total food and drink products into HFSS, healthier and unclassified food options. More than half 
of the advertisements were classified as advertisements for HFSS foods and drinks (58%, 
n=1,006). Advertisements featuring healthier food options represented a smaller share in the 
total number of food and drink advertisements served to these avatars: 4% or 62 
advertisements. 

33   The analyses in this chapter refer to the times food and drink advertisements appeared to the 4 

avatars, not to the collected advertisements.  

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high in fat, salt or sugar 

Figure 3.1 The share of HFFS/unclassified/healthier options advertisements served to 
four demographically programmed avatars, September 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of served food and drink advertisements (excl. QSR) = 1,728 

Breakdown by user profile 

Approximately the same number of advertisements were served to each user profiles (Figure 
3.2).  

Figure 3.2 Share of the total number of advertisements served per user profile, 
September 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of served food and drink advertisements (incl. QSR) = 1881. 

The child avatar was served 260 HFSS advertisements (excl. QSR) as specified in Figure 3.3, 
which represents 57% of all food and drink advertisements seen by the child avatar. The adult 
avatar was served a higher percentage of HFSS advertisements 59% (n=258) compared to the 
child avatar. When looking at healthier food options, we see that a child avatar received the 
highest share of these advertisements (4%, n=20) for all four avatars: adult avatar (3%, 
n=15), neutral avatar (3%, n=14) and retarget avatar (3%, n=13). The differences are, 
however, small. 

The neutral avatar, which had no browser cookies to indicate an age profile, was served a 
higher percentage (61%, n=259) of HFSS advertisements than the other avatars. The retarget 
avatar, which had cookies from brands in its browsing history visited previously, received a 
similar share of HFSS advertisements (57%, n=229) as the child avatar.  

Figure 3.3 The share of the number of food and drink advertisements served per user 
profile, September 2019 

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high in fat, salt or sugar 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of food and drink advertisements (excl. QSR) per user profile = 460 child avatar, 440 adult 
avatar, 424 neutral avatar, 404 retargeting avatar. 

Breakdown by HFSS category 

The 1,159 HFSS advertisements that were served to all four avatars cover 12 out of the 19 
HFSS categories in our coding framework categories (Section 2.2.5 of the main report, separate 
document). Table 3.4 shows the most prominent HFSS category of advertisements served was 
‘sweet snacks’: 18% of all served HFSS advertisements fall into this category. Other commonly 
appearing HFSS categories were ‘energy drinks and sport drinks’ (18%), ‘savoury snacks’ 
(18%), ‘quick service restaurant meals’ (13%) and ‘edible ice’ (11%). The rest of the categories 
all together constituted 21% of HFSS advertisements.  

Table 3.4 The number of HFSS advertisements by HFSS category, September 2019 

HFSS category 

Sweet snacks 

Energy drinks and sport drinks 

Savoury snacks (popcorn and maize corn, potato 

chips/crisps. Savoury biscuits and pretzels, other snacks 

made from rice, maize, dough or potato 

Quick service restaurant meals 

Edible ice 

Soft drinks 

Other breakfast cereals 

Cream and cream based products 

Sweetened and flavoured milk and yoghurt drinks 

N 

210 

209 

209 

153 

130 

94 

81 

42 

16 

Sausage, ham, bacon, chicken nuggets, smoked and pickled 

7 

fish, tinned fish in brine or oils 

Cakes, sweet biscuits and pastries 

Other savoury snacks 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements = 1,159. 

7 

1 

% 

18% 

18% 

18% 

13% 

11% 

8% 

7% 

4% 

1% 

1% 

1% 

0% 

The top 5 HFSS categories differed slightly across the user profiles (see Table 3.5). The HFSS 
categories ‘sweet snacks’ and ‘energy drinks’ were served most to the child avatar (17.7%, 
n=53 for both). The most prominent HFSS category of advertisements served to the adult 
avatar was also ‘energy drinks and sport drinks’ (20.1%, n=59). For the retarget avatar, it was 
also ‘sweet snacks’ with 19.7% (n=50). While ‘savoury snacks’ was served most often to the 
neutral avatar (19.6%, n=61).  

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Table 3.5 The share of HFSS advertisements by HFSS category, per user profile, 
September 2019 

HFSS category 

Sweet snacks 

Energy drinks and sport drinks 

Child 

Adult 

Neutral 

Retarget 

17.7% 

19.4% 

17.7% 

20.1% 

16.1% 

15.8% 

19.6% 

19.7% 

18.9% 

18.9% 

Savoury snacks (popcorn and maize corn, 

16.7% 

17.0% 

potato chips/crisps. Savoury biscuits and 

pretzels, other snacks made from rice, 

maize, dough or potato 

Quick service restaurant meals 

13.3% 

12.2% 

16.7% 

9.8% 

Edible ice 

Soft drinks 

Other breakfast cereals 

Cream and cream based products 

Sweetened and flavoured milk and yoghurt 

2.7% 

drinks 

11.3% 

12.2% 

9.3% 

7.7% 

2.7% 

10.9% 

5.4% 

2.0% 

0.3% 

9.6% 

7.4% 

6.8% 

4.5% 

1.6% 

11.8% 

4.3% 

8.3% 

5.5% 

0.8% 

Sausage, ham, bacon, chicken nuggets, 

0.7% 

0.3% 

1.0% 

0.4% 

smoked and pickled fish, tinned fish in brine 

or oils 

Cakes, sweet biscuits and pastries 

Other savoury snacks 

0.3% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

1.0% 

0.0% 

1.2% 

0.4% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements per user profile = 300 child avatar, 294 adult avatar, 311 neutral 
avatar, 254 retargeting avatar. 
Note: All dark orange marked values in this Table mark the highest values in the columns, all light orange 
marked values in this Table mark the second highest values in the columns.  

Figure 3.4 shows the share of HFSS advertisements per HFSS category, broken down by site 
audience (i.e. general or children) and type of online service (i.e. website or YouTube). This 
indicates that the advertisements for ‘sweet snacks’ are most served on YouTube channels 
appealing to children audiences. The category ‘energy drinks and sport drinks’ is served most on 
YouTube channels appealing to a general audience and advertisements of ‘quick service 
restaurant meals’ are most served on websites appealing to general audiences. Overall, 
advertisements are not often served on websites appealing to children, only 0.2% of all 
advertisements within the category ‘quick service restaurant meals’ was served on websites 
appealing to children.  

Figure 3.4 Share of HFSS advertisements per HFSS category, by site audience and type 
of online service 

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high in fat, salt or sugar 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements = 1159. 

Breakdown by user profile 
Each avatar visited websites with a general or child audience. The sites that target children 
audiences were the most popular sites with appeal to a child that contain advertising. Figure 3.5 
shows the share of HFSS advertisements by site audience, per avatar. The majority of 
advertisements – 66% - were served to the neutral avatar on general audience sites. This is 
slightly lower to the share of HFSS advertisements served to the other avatars. In addition, the 
adult avatar was served the highest share of HFSS advertisements on general audience sites.  

Figure 3.5 Share of HFSS advertisements served by site audience, per user profile, 
September 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements per user profile = 300 child avatar, 294 adult avatar, 311 neutral 
avatar, 254 retargeting avatar. 

Figure 3.6 shows the share of HFSS categories served to that specific avatar. The HFSS 
advertisements that appeared most on the general sites, for all avatars were in the category 
‘energy drinks and sport drinks. For all avatars, advertisements for ‘energy drinks and sport 
drinks’ were only served on general websites, not on children’s sites. For the child avatar, most 
advertisements on children websites were served for the category ‘savoury snacks’. For the 
retarget avatar and adult avatar, most advertisements on children websites were served for the 
category ‘sweet snacks’ and for the neutral avatar, most advertisements on children websites 
were served for the category ‘quick service restaurant meals’.  

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high in fat, salt or sugar 

Figure 3.6 The share of HFSS categories served per user profile, by site audience, 
September 2019 34 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements per user profile = 300 child avatar, 294 adult avatar, 311 neutral 
avatar, 254 retargeting avatar. 

Figure 3.7 shows the share of HFSS advertisements served on a website and on YouTube, per 
avatar. For all avatars, most of the advertisements were served on YouTube compared to the 
number of advertisements served on websites.  

34   Top 5 categories are based on Table 3.4. 

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 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Figure 3.7 The share of HFSS advertisements served by online service per user profile, 
September 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements per user profile = 300 child avatar, 294 adult avatar, 311 neutral 
avatar, 254 retargeting avatar. 

On the general audience sites, the distribution of the HFSS advertisements served between 
YouTube and websites was highest for the adult avatar and lowest for the neutral and retarget 
avatar (Figure 3.8). The child avatar was served 6% of HFSS advertisements on websites.  

However, when it comes to the HFSS advertisements served on the child audience sites, the 
child avatar was served only advertisements on YouTube (Figure 3.9). This is similar to the 
adult avatar. For the neutral avatar and retarget avatar only 1% of advertisements were served 
on websites.  

Figure 3.8 The share of HFSS advertisements served by online service per user profile 
on General sites, September 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements per user profile on general sites = 201 child avatar, 202 adult avatar, 
204 neutral avatar, 170 retargeting avatar.  

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high in fat, salt or sugar 

Figure 3.9 The share of HFSS advertisements served by online service, per user profile 
on Children’s sites, September 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements per user profile on children’s sites = 100 child avatar, 92 adult 
avatar, 107 neutral avatar, 84 retargeting avatar. 

On YouTube, most advertisements were served for all the top 5 HFSS categories included in 
Figure 3.10. The child avatar and adult avatar were served most ‘energy drinks and sport 
drinks’ advertisements while the neutral avatar was served most ‘savoury snacks’ 
advertisements and the retarget avatar was served most ‘sweet snacks’ advertisements. The 
HFSS food category ‘energy drinks and sport drinks’, ‘savoury snacks’ and ‘edible ice’ were only 
served on websites. On websites, each of the avatars was served most advertisements for quick 
service restaurant meals.  

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high in fat, salt or sugar 

Figure 3.10 The number of HFSS advertisements per category per user profile by site 
type, September 2019 35 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements per user profile = 300 child avatar, 294 adult avatar, 311 neutral 
avatar, 254 retargeting avatar. 

Breakdown by brand 

In total, avatars were served 1,159 HFSS advertisements by 35 brands. The largest number of 
HFSS advertisements were advertisements for the brand Coca-Cola36: it accounted for 12% of 
all HFSS advertisements (Table 3.6). The products of the brand Coca-Cola fall mostly under the 
food category ‘soft drinks’, the sixth HFSS category of which advertisements were served (Table 
3.4). The next four most advertised brands were Ben & Jerry37, Burger King 38, Chio39 and 
Mentos40, respectively.  

35   Top 5 categories are based on Table 3.4.  
36   HFSS category: ‘Soft drinks’. 
37   HFSS category: ‘Edible ice’. 
38   HFSS category: ‘Quick service restaurant meals’. 
39   HFSS category: ‘Savoury snacks’. 
40   HFSS category: ‘Sweet snacks’. 

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Table 3.6 Number of HFSS advertisements per brand for the 5 brands with the highest 
number of HFSS advertisements, September 2019 

Brand 

Number of 

Share in total number 

advertisement 

of HFSS 

advertisements 

Coca-Cola 

Ben & Jerry 

Burger King 

Chio 

Mentos 
Other41 

136 

130 

125 

114 

75 

579 

Total number of HFSS advertisements 

1159 
Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements = 1159. 

12% 

11% 

11% 

10% 

6% 

50% 

100% 

Figure 3.11 shows the share of HFSS advertisements by site audience and type of online 
service, per brand. These top five brands served advertisements in the top 5 HFSS categories. 
This indicates that all brands only served advertisements on YouTube. Coca-Cola only served 
advertisements on YouTube sites appealing to general audiences, while the other brands also 
served advertisements on YouTube sites appealing to children audiences.  

Figure 3.11 Share of HFSS advertisements served per top-5 food brand, by site 
audience and type of online service 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements = 1159. 

Breakdown by user profile 
Figure 3.12 shows per user profile the top-5 brands in terms of the number of HFSS 
advertisements served (Table 3.6), by site audience. For the child avatar, the brand ‘Coca Cola’ 
accounted for 12% of the HFSS advertisements served. In addition, Ben & Jerry’s, Burger King, 
Chio, and Mentos served advertisements to all avatars on both sites appealing to children 
audiences and general audiences, while Coca Cola served the advertisements to all avatars only 
on sites appealing to general audiences. The brand Burger King has a higher share of 
advertisements served on children’s audience sites for the adult, neutral and retarget avatar, 
and a higher share of advertisements served on general audience sites for the child avatar.  

41   Other categories were: Quaker, Red Bull, Lipton, Doritos, Blue Band, Lays, Hero, Nakd, Red Band, 

M&M’s, Kwalitaria, Kit Kat, Milka, Bubbel Frisss, Chocomel, Fuze, Mora, Eat Natural, Oreo, McDonald’s, 
KFC, Smint, Arla, Bolletje, Bifi, Vlammetjes, Lu, Tuc, Yakult and Ah.  

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high in fat, salt or sugar 

Figure 3.12 Share in total food and drink advertisements served per food brand per 
user profile, by site audience, September 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements per user profile = 300 child avatar, 294 adult avatar, 311 neutral 
avatar, 254 retargeting avatar. 

Figure 3.13 shows the top 5 brands serving most advertisements based on total number of 
advertisements falling under HFSS category per brand (Table 3.6), by type of online service. 
The HFSS advertisements by the top 5 brands were all served on YouTube. The 12% of the 
HFSS advertisements served to a child avatar by the brand ‘Coca Cola’ were all served on 
YouTube. This indicates that children were most exposed to HFSS advertisements on YouTube.  

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high in fat, salt or sugar 

Figure 3.13 Share in total food and drink advertisements served per food brand per 
user profile, by type of online activity, September 2019 

Ecorys analysis, data source Advertising Intelligence Ltd. 
Total number of HFSS advertisements per user profile = 300 child avatar, 294 adult avatar, 311 neutral 
avatar, 254 retargeting avatar. 

3.3  Passive metering 

In the Netherlands, 170 people had their online activity monitored on their mobile phones and 
tablets for four weeks in 2019, using the RealityMine software. Every time users picked up their 
device, they had to indicate whether they were younger or older than 18 years of age. 91 users 
were adults and 79 users were children. 

3.3.1.  Online activity  

Frequency of online activity 

During the four-week monitoring period, an average child and adult spent a total of respectively 
28.3 and 43.9 hours online. Table 3.7 presents the average number of hours adults (18+) and 
children (4-17 years old) in the Netherlands spent online during a week, on a weekday and on a 
weekend day. This table illustrates that during the monitoring period, adults spent – on average 
– 1.5 times more hours online compared to children. Both children and adults spent more time 
online on a weekend day than on a weekday.  

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high in fat, salt or sugar 

Table 3.7 Average number of hours spent online during the online monitoring period, 
per age group, 2019 

Hours spent online 

Children 

per week 

on a weekday 

on a weekend day 

7.1 

1.0 

1.3 

Note: Ecorys analysis, RealityMine and Kantar Operations data. 

Adults 

11.0 

1.6 

1.9 

The average hours spent online on a weekday and on a weekend day can be compared to the 
self-reported online activity from the survey (see Table 1.3 and Table 1.4). In line with the 
results in Table 3.7, being online between 1 and 2 hours was the answer option most chosen for 
both weekdays and weekend days. 40% of all respondents said they were online between 1 and 
2 hours on a weekend day and 37% indicated the same for a weekend day.  

Frequency per type of online activity 

Table 3.8 presents the average number of hours spent per online activity during a week. 
Children spent most time on streaming videos on YouTube and playing online games. Adults 
spent most time on games and social networks of the categorized activities.42  

Table 3.8 Average number of hours spent per online activity during the online 
monitoring period, per week, 2019 

Children 

Adults 

Hours spent on 

Streaming YouTube 

Streaming videos (excl. YouTube) 

Streaming music 

Games 

Social networks 

Email 

Messaging 

Radio 

News 

Shopping 

2.0 

0.2 

0.0 

1.9 

0.8 

0.0 

0.7 

0.0 

0.0 

0.0 

Education and informative websites 

0.1 

such as Wikipedia 
Other43 

1.4 

Note: Ecorys analysis, RealityMine and Kantar Operations data.  

0.8 

0.2 

0.1 

2.2 

1.8 

0.3 

1.1 

0.0 

0.1 

0.1 

0.1 

4.2 

In the survey, the most popular activities for adults were email, messaging and reading or 
watching the news. Over 70% of the adults reported engaging in these activities every day. 
However, this does not say anything about the number of hours spent on the activities. For 
example, while an e-mail can be sent in a few minutes, games are usually being played for a 
longer period of time.  

More in line with the activities that was spent most time on, children aged 4-12 reported in the 
survey engaging in watching videos on YouTube and playing online games on a daily basis most 
often. Also, 88% of the 13-17 year olds reported engaging in watching videos on YouTube every 
day. 

Figure 3.14 presents the share of hours spent per online activity, sorted from high to low for 
children. Children spent most of their time on YouTube, even four times as much as adults did. 
The next highest shares were for games. Of the categorised activities adults spent most of their 
time on gaming and social networks. 

42   Adults spent most time on ‘other’ activities, however, this category is not further analysed because it 

consists of a combination of activities instead of a single activity.  

43   The category ‘other’ activities includes activities like using the webbrowser, checking the weather, 

calendar, app store, camera, et cetera. 

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Figure 3.14 Share of hours spent per online activity during the online monitoring 
period, per age group, 2019 

Note: The category ‘other’ activities includes activities like checking the weather, calendar, app store, 
camera, et cetera. 
Note: Ecorys analysis, RealityMine and Kantar Operations data. 

Looking into more detail, we compare the average time spent on the specific activities per 
weekday and per weekend day by children in Figure 3.15 and by adults in Figure 3.16.  

Figure 3.15 Average hours spent on online activities on a weekday and on a weekend 
day during the online monitoring period, by children, 2019 

Note: The category ‘other’ activities includes activities like checking the weather, calendar, app store, 
camera, et cetera. 
Note: Ecorys analysis, RealityMine and Kantar Operations data. 

Figure 3.15 indicates that children spent most of their online time on YouTube on weekdays, 
and on games on weekend days. On an average weekend day, the time spent on YouTube, 
games, streaming videos and music, shopping and the news increased both in absolute as 
relative terms. 

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Figure 3.16 Average hours spent on online activities on a weekday and on a weekend 
day during the online monitoring period, by adults, 2019 

Note: The category ‘other’ activities includes activities like checking the weather, calendar, app store, 
camera, et cetera. 
Note: Ecorys analysis, RealityMine and Kantar Operations data. 

On weekends, adults spent more time on social networks, games, streaming YouTube, video’s 
and music, news and education than on week days. 

3.3.2.  Exposure to advertising 
During the monitoring period, a total of 8,829 advertisements were served to the participants in 
the passive metering. 4,623 (52%) of these advertisements were seen by children, and 4,206 
(48%) by adults.  

As we found in Figure 3.14 that children spent a relatively high share of their time on YouTube 
(28%), we investigated which share of the total advertisements is seen on YouTube compared 
to other apps and websites per age group (Figure 3.17). Almost all (93%, n=4,291) of the total 
advertisements seen by children, were served on YouTube.  

Figure 3.17 Share of the total advertisements seen on YouTube and other apps and 
websites, per age group 

Ecorys analysis, RealityMine and Kantar Operations data.  
Note: Total number of advertisements seen by children and adults during the four-week online monitoring 
period is 4,623 and 4,206 respectively.  

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Figure 3.18 presents the share of advertisements for ‘Food & Drinks’. 2.3% (n=107) of the 
advertisements seen by children during the monitoring period promoted food and drinks, that is 
more than the 2.0% (n=84) seen by adults. 

Figure 3.18 Share of food and drink advertisements for children and adults during the 
monitoring period 

Ecorys analysis, RealityMine and Kantar Operations data. 
Note: Total number of advertisements seen by children and adults during the four-week online monitoring 
period is 4,623 and 4,206 respectively. 

3.3.3.  Exposure to HFSS foods and drinks advertising 
During the monitoring period, children and adults saw 107 and 84 advertisements for food and 
drinks, respectively, including 7 and 23 advertisements respectively for quick service 
restaurants (QSR). As QSR is considered retail, it needs to excluded from breaking down the 
total food and drink products into HFSS, healthier and unclassified food options, based on the 
coding framework presented in Section 2.2.5 of the main report. (NB From Figure 3.20 onwards, 
when only data for HFSS foods is presented, numbers for quick service restaurants are included 
again.) 

Figure 3.19 presents the breakdown of the food and drink advertisements for children and 
adults. More than half (57%, n=57) of the food and drink advertisements that children saw, 
were for HFSS products, while 7% (n=7) of the advertisements were for healthier food options. 
75% (n=46) of the food and drink advertisements an adult saw, were for HFSS products.  

Figure 3.19 Breakdown of food and drink advertisements for children and adults 
during the monitoring period 

Ecorys analysis, RealityMine and Kantar Operations data. 
Note: Total number of food and drinks advertisements (excl. QSR) seen by children is 100 and by adults is 
61. 

Figure 3.20 presents the share of HFSS advertisements (incl. QSR) seen on YouTube, compared 
to other apps and websites. Children saw almost all (89%, n=57) of the HFSS advertisements 
they were exposed to on YouTube, while adults saw 46% (n=32) on YouTube. This can partly be 
explained by the fact that children spent four times as much of their time on streaming videos 
on YouTube than adults did.  

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Figure 3.20 Share of HFSS food advertisements seen on YouTube and other apps and 
websites for children and adults during the monitoring period 

Ecorys analysis, RealityMine and Kantar Operations data. 
Note: Total number of HFSS advertisements (incl. QSR) seen by children is 64 and by adults is 69. 

Table 3.9 presents the breakdown of the HFSS advertisements into different HFSS categories. 
Most of the HFSS advertisements children saw, promoted sweet snacks or sweetened and 
flavoured milk and yoghurt drinks. These categories were also often seen by adults, but they 
clearly saw most advertisements for quick service restaurant meals. It is worth noting that 
children saw advertisements for energy drinks and HFSS brand promotions, while adults did not. 
Children on the other hand, did not see any advertisements for pizza or sweetened and/or 
flavoured and/or fat enriched bread, bread products and crispbreads. 

Table 3.9 The share of HFSS advertisements by HFSS category for children and adults 
during the monitoring period 

HFSS category 

Sweet snacks 

Sweetened and flavoured milk and yoghurt drinks 

Quick Service Restaurants 

Savoury snacks 

Cakes, sweet biscuits and pastries, other sweet bakery 

wares, and dry mixes for making such 

HFSS brand promotions 

Juices 

Sweetened dairy products, and other dairy products (other 

than cheese), with additions 

Energy drinks and sport drinks 

Child 

33% 

13% 

11% 

11% 

8% 

8% 

5% 

3% 

3% 

Sausage, ham, bacon, chicken nuggets, smoked and pickled 

2% 

fish, tinned fish in brine or oils  

Soft drinks  

Other beverages containing sugar or sweetener  

Edible ice 

Pizza 

Sweetened and/or flavoured and/or  fat enriched read, 

bread products and crispbreads  

Processed fruit, vegetables, roots and tuber with added 

ingredients above WHO levels 

Other breakfast cereals 

2% 

2% 

2% 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Ecorys analysis, RealityMine and Kantar Operations data. 
Note: Total number of HFSS advertisements seen by children is 64 and by adults is 69. 

Adult 
25% 
9% 
33% 
3% 

10% 
- 
7% 

1% 
- 

1% 
1% 
- 
- 
4% 

1% 

1% 
1% 

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3.3.4.  Average exposure to food and drink advertisement for children and 

adults 

Table 3.10 presents the average number of advertisements seen per person during the 
monitoring period (calculated as the total number of advertisements divided by the total 
number of participants). In four weeks’ time, an average child saw a total of 59 advertisements. 
An average adult saw 46 advertisements, which is less than a child. Only a small part of these 
advertisements relate to HFSS food and drinks. 

Table 3.10 The average number of advertisements seen per person during the 
monitoring period 

HFSS food and drinks 

Total 

Child 

0.81 

59 

Ecorys analysis, RealityMine and Kantar Operations data.  

Adult 

0.76 

46 

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4.  VIEWING PATTERNS 

The viewing patterns of HFSS-related television advertising in the Netherlands were measured 
using the data collected for 1644 channels in 2017 by Dentsu Aegis. Collectively, the selected 
channels have a market share of 72.4%.45 The sample includes all children’s channels routinely 
available in the Netherlands. Channel NPO 3 is a children’s channel between 06.00 and 20.00, 
and a general channel between 20.00 and 06.00 (see Chapter 7 for the total list of channels). 

4.1  Global breakdown 

The share of the population that watches TV, a specific channel or program is usually expressed 
in hourly viewing rates. The total population (older than 4 years) in the Netherlands consists of 
16,023,274 people. Table 4.1 presents the population (universe) per age group. 

Table 4.1 Population per age group, 2017 

Population 

Share of total population 
(4+) 

4 – 12 
1,685,839 

10.5% 

13 – 17 
1,087,655 

6.8% 

18+ 
13,249,780 

82.7% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data.  

Table 4.2 shows the average absolute hourly viewings and the corresponding hourly viewing 
rate per age group in the Netherlands, in 2017. The average hourly viewing rate in the 
Netherlands is 7.4%, that is, in 2017 on average, each hour, 7.4% of the population were 
watching TV. 

Table 4.2 Average hourly viewing rates, per age group, 2017 

Absolute hourly viewings  

4 – 12 
51,219 

Hourly viewing rates (rat%)  3.0% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

13 – 17 
26,976 

2.5% 

18+ 
1,109,716 

Total (4+) 
897,940 

8.4% 

7.4% 

4.2  Breakdown by day part 

Table 4.3 presents the average hourly viewing rates per day part. This table indicates that in 
2017, viewing rates for all age groups clearly peak after 18.00. The viewing rates for children 
aged 4-12 drop after 21.00 to almost the same level as before 18.00, while the viewing rates of 
13-17 year olds and adults remain high for another three hours (21.00-23.59). 

Table 4.3 Average hourly viewing rates by day part, per age group, 2017 

Day part 

4 – 12 
rat000 

06.00 – 08.59  45 

09.00 – 11.59  45 

12.00 – 14.59  40 

15.00 – 17.59  64 

18.00 – 20.59  145 

21.00 – 23.59  62 

00.00 – 05.59  2 

rat% 

2.7% 

2.7% 

2.4% 

3.8% 

8.6% 

3.7% 

0.2% 

13 – 17 
rat000 

7 

9 

14 

21 

78 

77 

3 

rat% 

0.6% 

0.9% 

1.3% 

2.0% 

7.2% 

7.1% 

0.3% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 
Note: the orange fields indicate the highest rate per age group.  

18+ 
rat000 

348 

484 

463 

844 

3,078 

3,000 

329 

rat% 

2.6% 

3.7% 

3.5% 

6.4% 

23.2% 

22.6% 

2.5% 

44   See Chapter 7 for the list of channels included. 
45   The market share is the share of viewers that watches these channels (in %).  

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4.2.1.  Breakdown by hourly timeslot 
Breaking down the viewing rates per hourly timeslots (Figure 4.1), allows us to explore the 
viewing patterns and peak hours in more detail. 

Figure 4.1 Average hourly viewing rates in rat%, by hourly timeslot, per age group, 
2017 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data.  

This breakdown illustrates that the viewing rates of all age groups follow a rather similar 
pattern, with a peak in the evening between 19.00 and 20.00 for the 4-12 age group, in 
correspondence with their peak day part, and between 21.00 and 22.00 for 13-17 year olds and 
adults. During these peak hours, on average 8.9% (or 149,523) of the children aged 4-12, 
11.0% (or 119,498) of the children aged 13-17 and 29.5% (or 3,903,950) of the adults were 
viewing one of the TV channels in the sample.  

4.3  Breakdown by channel category 

In the viewing data, the following breakdowns by channel categories are considered: 

• 

• 

a breakdown on the basis of the channel’s target group: children (< 18) or general 
audience;  
a breakdown on the basis of the type of channel: public or commercial. 

Figure 4.2 presents the breakdown of average hourly viewing rates by target audience (i.e. 
children or general), per age group. This figure shows that among the youngest age group, 
almost half the viewing share is for the children’s channels (47%). The share of children’s 
channels in average hourly viewing rates decreases substantially with age: it is only 13% for 
children aged 13-17 and 2% for the adults. 

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Figure 4.2 Share of average hourly viewing rates by channel’s target audience in %, 
per age group, 2017 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

Figure 4.3 presents the breakdown of average hourly viewing rates by channel type (i.e. 
commercial or public), per age group. All age groups spent the majority of their viewing time 
(>66%) viewing commercial programming. Public channels have the lowest share in the 13-17 
age group (20%) and the highest share in the 18+ age group (34%).  

Figure 4.3 Share of average hourly viewing rates by channel’s type in %, per age 
group, 2017 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data.  

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4.4  Breakdown by channel 

Figure 4.4 presents the breakdown in average hourly viewing rates between the ten most 
popular channels, overall. The other six channels, including children’s channels are combined in 
‘Other’. NPO 1 is the channel with the highest average hourly ratings, covering on average per 
hour 25.7% (n= 343,063) of all viewers for the 16 channels. This means that, on average, 
25.7% of the people watching TV in a specific hour were watching NPO1. RTL 8 has the lowest 
average hourly ratings; this channel is watched on average by hour by 3.5% (n= 46,923) of all 
viewers of the 16 channels in that hour. 

Figure 4.4 Average hourly viewing rates in rat000 per channel, per age group, 2017 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 
Note: percentages indicate the share of viewing rates per channel. 

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Figure 4.5 presents the breakdown of average hourly viewing rates for children’s channels 
specifically. Overall, NPO 3 is the children’s channel with the highest average hourly ratings, 
covering on average 4% (or 57,176) of all viewers for the 16 channels. However, Nickelodeon is 
the channel with the highest viewing rates for children (4-17); the majority of the viewing rating 
for NPO3 are for adults This can be explained by the fact that NPO 3 is a general channel during 
the evening. Disney Channel has the lowest overall viewing ratings, covering on average 0.3% 
(or 3,819) of the viewers of these 16 channels. 

Figure 4.5 Average hourly viewing rates in rat000 per children’s channel, per age 
group, 2017 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 
Note: percentages indicate the share of viewing rates per channel. 
Total number of children’s channels within the sample is 4. 

Table 4.4 provides an overview of the share of average viewership by age group for each 
channel in the sample, thereby providing insights per age group into which channels are 
watched most. For the 4-12 age group, the highest average hourly viewing rates are for 
Nickelodeon, followed up by NPO 3 and RTL 4. The top 3 channels with the highest 13-17 year 
olds average viewership is RTL 4, NPO 1 and Veronica. For the adults, it is NPO 1, RTL 4 and 
SBS 6. 

Table 4.4 Share of average hourly viewing rates per channel in the sample in %, per 
age group, 2017 

Channel 

4-12 years 

13-17 years 

18+ 

Comedy Central 

Discovery Channel 

Disney Channel 

Disney XD 

NPO 1 

NPO 2 

NPO 3 

Net 5 

Nickelodeon 

RTL 4 

RTL 5 

RTL 7 

RTL 8 

1% 

1% 

3% 

5% 

7% 

1% 

20% 

3% 

22% 

14% 

4% 

4% 

6% 

8% 

3% 

3% 

2% 

12% 

2% 

7% 

4% 

5% 

19% 

8% 

5% 

2% 

2% 

2% 

0% 

0% 

27% 

6% 

4% 

5% 

1% 

19% 

4% 

6% 

3% 

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Channel 

SBS 6 

TLC 

Veronica 

Total 

4-12 years 

13-17 years 

6% 

0% 

4% 

100% 

8% 

3% 

10% 

100% 

18+ 

11% 

2% 

8% 

100% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 
Note: the orange fields indicate the highest rate per age group. 

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5.  IMPACTS OF HFSS-RELATED TELEVISION ADVERTISING 

The impacts of HFSS-related television advertising in the Netherlands were measured using the 
data collected for 32 channels in 2017 by Dentsu Aegis.46 We present the absolute number of 
spots, i.e. how many advertisements for food products or quick service restaurants were 
broadcast, and the amount of impacts these spots created, i.e. how many times the 
advertisements were actually seen. Impacts are presented as GRP000: the absolute number of 
times spots were seen, and as GRP%: the GRP000 in a specific target group, divided by the 
universe (the population, see Table 4.1) of that target group. 

We collected data on television advertising for all food and non-alcoholic beverages as well as 
for quick service restaurants serving HFSS foods. Throughout this country report, whenever we 
say (HFSS) ‘foods’, we refer to foods and non-alcoholic beverages. All food spots included in the 
spotlist data for the Netherlands were categorised into food categories that were either ‘HFSS’, 
‘healthier food options’ (non-HFSS) or ‘not classifiable’ using a tailored coding framework based 
on the WHO nutrient profile model. The coding framework can be found in the main report in 
Section 2.2.5. The quick-service restaurant spots and impacts fall under the category HFSS 
foods, unless mentioned specifically. 

5.1  Global breakdown  

In 2017 in the Netherlands, the total number of spots for food and non-alcoholic drink products, 
excluding quick-service restaurants (both HFSS and healthier options) was 625,639, accounting 
for a total of 41,318,253,000 (absolute) impacts.  

By food category 
Figure 5.1 and Figure 5.2 present the total number of food spots and related impacts for the 
three classifications. These figures indicate that the majority of the food spots (64%) and 
impacts (62%) are for HFSS products or brands. These numbers are excluding the numbers for 
quick service restaurants which are presented separately below. 

Figure 5.1 Number (x1,000) and share (in %) of food spots, 2017 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

46   All channels that broadcast food advertising. See Chapter 7 for the channel overview. 

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Figure 5.2 Number (x1,000,000) and share (in %) of food impacts, 2017 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

Quick service restaurants 
For the purpose of this study, we have included only quick service restaurants known for serving 
HFSS foods. Quick service restaurants are defined by having a strong brand affiliation, low 
prices, standard offerings with limited changes and costumer self-service.47 In 2017 in the 
Netherlands, the total number of spots for these HFSS quick service restaurants was 55,753, 
accounting for a total number of 3,469,460,000 (absolute) impacts. 

Adding these to the spots for HFSS food products, makes a total of 457,541 HFSS spots, 
accounting for a combined 28,961,535,000 HFSS impacts. This shows that quick service 
restaurants account for 12% of the total HFSS spots and impacts. In the following analysis, 
quick service restaurants will be treated as one of the HFSS categories, meaning that the data is 
always included in the figures and tables, unless otherwise specified. 

HFSS categories 

Table 5.1 provides a breakdown of the number of spots and impacts per HFSS food category, 
for the top 5 categories. The top 5 for spots is the same as it is for impacts. Most spots in the 
Netherlands promote sweet snacks. These spots also have the highest impact, i.e. are seen by 
most people.  

Table 5.1 Number of spots and impacts per HFSS food category (top 5), 2017 

HFSS category 

Number of spots  HFSS category 

Number of impacts 

Sweet snacks 

Soft drinks 

Quick service 

restaurants 

137,491 

72,312 

55,753 

Sweet snacks 

Soft drinks 

Quick service 

restaurants 

8,610,986,000 

4,293,106,000 

3,469,460,000 

Sweetened dairy 

40,818 

Sweetened dairy 

2,828,133,000 

products 

products 

Savoury snacks made 

27,996 

Savoury snacks made 

1,964,719,000 

from rice, maize, 

dough or potato 

from rice, maize, dough 

or potato 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

47   Muller, C.C. & Woods, R.H. (1994). An expanded restaurant topology. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant 

Administration Quarterly, 35(3), 27-38. 

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By channel  
Figure 5.3 and Figure 5.4 present: 

• 

• 

the number of HFSS spots on a channel as a percentage of the total number of HFSS 
spots across all 32 channels; and 
the number of HFSS impacts on that channel as a percentage of the total number of 
HFSS impacts across all 32 channels.  

Figure 5.3 presents the 9 channels with the highest share of impacts and combines all other 23 
channels in the category ‘other’. This figure indicates that the top-three channels in terms of the 
share of HFSS impacts in 2017 are RTL 4, SBS 6 and NPO 1. The share of impacts is 
considerable lower for the subsequent channels.48 The share of spots on all 32 channels varies 
between 0.5% for Fox Sport 2 and 6.3% for TLC. 

Figure 5.3 Number of HFSS spots per channel as a % of the total number of HFSS 
spots + the number of HFSS impacts as a % of the total number of HFSS impacts, 
2017 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

Figure 5.4 presents the number of HFSS spots and impacts per children’s channel (<18) as a 
percentage of the total number of HFSS spots and impacts on all 32 channels. Since NPO3 has 
higher viewing rates and is only a children’s channel during daytime, it is perhaps unsurprising 
that its share of impacts is higher than for Nickelodeon. 

48   The spots on channels under ‘other’ all have a relatively low impact. 

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Figure 5.4 Number of HFSS spots per children’s channel as a % of the total number of 
HFSS spots + the number of HFSS impacts as a % of the total number of HFSS 
impacts, 2017 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 
Total number of children’s channels within the spotlist sample is 249. 

During the analysis of the data, it became apparent that spots and impacts for quick service 
restaurants make up a large share of the HFSS spots and impacts on specific channel 
categories. Therefore, Table 5.2 presents the top 5 channels with the highest share of spots and 
impacts for quick service restaurants. This data illustrates that the channel with the highest 
share of spots and impacts for quick service restaurants were found on a children’s channel. 
Possible explanations could be that the Advertising Code only restricts ‘food products’, not 
explicitly stating restaurant meals, and the possibility to promote the brand, without 
broadcasting any food products. The rest of the top 5 is made up entirely of sports channels. 

Table 5.2 Top 5 channels with the highest share of spots and impacts for quick service 
restaurants 

Channel 

Nickelodeon 

Eurosport 

FOX Sports 1 

FOX Sports 2 

Ziggo Sport 

Share of spots 

Channel 

Share of impacts 

44% 

38% 

26% 

24% 

23% 

Nickelodeon 

FOX Sports 1 

Eurosport 

FOX Sports 2 

Ziggo Sport 

45% 

44% 

35% 

27% 

24% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

5.2  Detailed breakdowns per age group  

In total 28,961,535,000 HFSS food impacts were made in 2017. Specifically, during the whole 
year, HFSS food spots were seen: 

•  819,397,000 times by the 4-12 age group; 
•  763,002,000 times by the 13-17 age group; 
•  27,379,136,000 times by adults. 

By food category 
Table 5.3 presents the top 5 HFSS categories with the highest impacts per age group. This 
breakdown shows similar patterns across age groups, except for ‘quick service restaurants’ 
taking the second place in the youngest age group. Spots for ‘sweet snacks’ such as chocolate 
and sugar based confectionary were seen the most across all age groups.  

49   Disney XD and Disney Channel were excluded from the spotlist data because there was no advertising 

for food, drinks and quick service restaurants. 

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Table 5.3 Number and share of impacts by HFSS subcategory (top 5), per age group, 
2017 

HFSS subcategory 

4-12 years 

1.  Sweet snacks 

2.  Quick service restaurants 

3.  Soft drinks 

4.  Sweetened dairy products 

5.  Savoury snacks made from rice, maize, dough or potato 

6.  Other 

13-17 years 

1.  Sweet snacks 

2.  Soft drinks 

3.  Quick service restaurants 

4.  Sweetened dairy products 

5.  Savoury snacks made from rice, maize, dough or potato 

6.  Other 

> 18 years 

1.  Sweet snacks 

2.  Soft drinks 

3.  Quick service restaurants 

4.  Sweetened dairy products 

GRP000 

% of total 

227,336 

147,872 

104,488 

62,213 

48,441 

27.7% 

18.0% 

12.8% 

7.6% 

5.9% 

229,047 

28.0% 

228,159 

123,668 

99,337 

60,699 

48,558 

29.9% 

16.2% 

13.0% 

8.0% 

6.4% 

202,581 

26.6% 

8,155,491 

29.8% 

4,064,950 

14.8% 

3,222,251 

11.8% 

2,705,221 

9.9% 

6.8% 

5.  Savoury snacks made from rice, maize, dough or potato 

1,867,720 

6.  Other 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

7,363,503 

26.9% 

By weekday 
Figure 5.5 presents the average impact, in GRP%, by weekday. Most impacts, for all age 
groups, were made on weekdays. For viewers older than 13 years, the least impacts were made 
during the weekend. This can be explained by changes in viewing rates or the type of channels 
being watched. 

Figure 5.5 Average HFSS food impacts by weekday in GRP%, per age group, 2017 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

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By day part (total impact per day part) 
Table 5.4 presents a breakdown of the HFSS food impacts per age group by day part in absolute 
values and in GRP%. This table indicates that the exposure of all age groups was highest during 
the day part 18.00-20.59. During this peak day part, HFSS food impacts in GRP% (i.e. as a 
percentage of the population) per age group are on average 70.7% of the 4-12 year olds, 
77.8% of the 13-17 year olds and 207.4% for the people aged 18+. This is in line with the peak 
day parts for viewing rates (Table 4.3). However, when looking at the 4-12 year olds, the 
viewing rates were similar during the day parts 15.00-17.59 and 21.00-23.59, while the impacts 
appear to be almost four times higher during the latter day part. This means that the same 
group of viewers sees relatively more HFSS spots between 21.00 and 23.59. 

Total exposure to HFSS spots during an average day in 2017 amounted to 1.33 HFSS spots for 
a 4-12 year old, 1.92 HFSS spots for a 13-17 year old an 5.66 HFSS spots for an adult. 

Table 5.4 Average HFSS food impact by day part and total per day, per age group, 
2017 

Day part 

4 – 12 
GRP000 

13 – 17 

18+ 

GRP %  GRP000  GRP %  GRP000 

06.00 – 08.59  55 

09.00 – 11.59  46 

12.00 – 14.59  53 

15.00 – 17.59  176 

18.00 – 20.59  1,192 

21.00 – 23.59  688 

00.00 – 05.59  31 

3.3% 

2.8% 

3.2% 

10.5% 

70.7% 

40.9% 

1.9% 

40 

47 

92 

212 

846 

806 

44 

3.7% 

4.4% 

8.5% 

2,438 

2,877 

3,336 

19.6% 

8,625 

77.8% 

27,479 

74.1% 

26,959 

4.1% 

3,298 

TOTAL 

2,241 

133% 

2,087 

192% 

75,012 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 
Note: the orange fields indicate the day part with the highest impact per age group.  

GRP % 

18.4% 

21.7% 

25.2% 

65.1% 

207.4% 

203.5% 

24.9% 

566% 

By hourly timeslot 

Figure 5.6 presents the average HFSS food impacts, in GRP%, by hourly timeslot. It indicates 
that the impacts for all age groups follow a similar pattern, with a peak for children aged 4-12 
between 20.00 and 21.00, which is an hour later than their peak viewing hour. For the 13-17 
group and adults there is a peak between 21.00 and 22.00, similar to their peak viewing hour. 

During these peak hours, HFSS food spots were seen: 

•  512,279 times by the 4-12 age group between 20.00 and 21.00 (GRP% = 30%); 
•  441,622 times by the 13-17 age group between 21.00 and 22.00 (GRP% = 41%); 
•  12,518,635 times by the adult target group between 21.00 and 22.00 (GRP% = 94%). 

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Figure 5.6 Average HFSS food impacts in GRP% by hourly timeslot, per age group, 
2017 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data.  

Figure 5.7 presents the share of the impacts made during these peak hours, indicating that 
between 20.00 and 21.00 hours, 4-12 year olds, on average, see 23% of all HFSS spots they 
see in a day. The 13-17 year olds and adults see 21% and 17% between 21.00 and 22.00, 
respectively. 

Figure 5.7 Share of HFSS food impacts by peak and non-peak hours in %, per age 
group, 2017 

By channel category 
Figure 5.8 presents the share of impacts by channel’s target audience per age group. Most 
impacts are made on general channels, which means that all age groups see most HFSS spots 
on general channels. The share of impacts made on children’s channels decreases by the age of 
the viewer. When the data on quick service restaurants was added to the HFSS impacts, 
however, the share of impacts made on children’s channels increased from 11% to 14% for the 
4-12 year olds. The shares of the other age groups remained the same. 

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Figure 5.8 Share of HFSS food impacts by channel target audience in %, per age 
group, 2017 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

Figure 5.9 presents a different breakdown of channel categories, now by public and commercial 
channels. In all age groups, most impacts are created on commercial channels. This is not 
surprising, as there are only 3 public channels in the selection of 32 channels. 

Figure 5.9 Share of HFSS food impacts by channel category in %, per age group, 2017 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

5.3  Relative HFSS food impacts 

This section focuses on the assessment of the average relative HFSS food impacts, which are 
calculated, per age group, as the average absolute HFSS food impacts weighted by the average 
viewing rates. In other words, it answers the following question:  

How many HFSS advertisements did an age group see on average in 2017? 

It is important to note that this part of the analysis was conducted only for the channels 
included in the viewing data sample since the impacts were weighed for the viewing rates 
available (see Table 6.10 in this country report for a list of these channels).  

By day 
Table 5.5 presents the daily average absolute HFSS food impacts per age group in GRP000 and 
in GRP% (GRP000 divided by the universe). Here, impacts are highest for adults. Note that 
these impacts are lower than the absolute HFSS food impacts presented in the previous section. 
This is due to the fact that the impacts on channels for which no viewing data were available are 
excluded in this part of the analysis. 

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Table 5.5 Average absolute HFSS food and quick-service restaurant impacts per day, 
per age group, 2017 

HFSS food products 
4-12 
1,669 
99% 

13-17 
1,592 
146% 

18+ 
57,961 
437% 

GRP000 
GRP% 

Incl. quick service restaurants 
13-17 
4-12 
1,823 
2,045 
168% 
121% 

18+ 
65,340 
493% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 
Note: the estimates relate only to impacts on channels for which viewing data were available. 

In calculating the relative daily average advertising impacts, we weighted the impacts by: 

• 
• 

viewing ratings for all channels in the sample; and 
viewing ratings for the channels that broadcast advertising for foods.50 

The relative HFSS food impact is calculated by dividing the absolute HFSS food impacts in 
GRP000 by the viewings per age group in rat000. Please note that the rat000 is calculated as 
the reach (in persons) divided by the average time spent watching (as a share of an hour). 
People that watched television only saw the spots that aired during the timeframe that they 
were watching.  

Table 5.6 presents the daily average relative HFSS food and quick-service restaurant impacts 
per age group for all channels in the viewing data sample and for the selection of channels that 
broadcast advertising for HFSS foods. The data represent the average number of HFSS spots 
seen per hour. In other words, a 4-12 year old saw 1.77 HFSS food spots in 2017, during one 
full hour of watching television (all channels). 

Table 5.6 Daily average relative HFSS food and quick-service restaurant impacts per 
hour, by age group, 2017 

HFSS food products 
13 - 17 
4 - 12 
2.56 
1.45 
1.54 
2.67 
Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 
Note: the orange fields indicate the highest score.  
Note: the estimates relate only to impacts on channels for which viewing data were available. 

Incl. quick service restaurants 
4 - 12 
1.77 
1.89 

13 - 17 
2.94 
3.06 

18+ 
2.32 
2.33 

18+ 
2.62 
2.63 

If we compare the difference between the average daily HFSS food impacts for children and 
those for adults, we see that this difference becomes smaller after the weighting for average 
viewing rates. These results indicate that the differences in the level of exposure between 
children and adults presented before, may be explained by differences in viewing patterns, both 
in terms of the time spent watching television, as well as the channels that were watched. The 
most striking finding, however, is that the relative impacts are highest for the 13-17 year olds. 
It should be considered that restrictions in HFSS advertising only apply to children below the 
age of 13, however, we cannot conclude that this is the cause of the higher average relative 
impacts. 

The same can be said for the average relative impact per age group for the channels that 
broadcast advertising for HFSS foods and quick-service restaurants in the second row. Here we 
see that the impacts for the different age groups is slightly higher than when all channels are 
taken into account. The impact is again highest for 13-17 year olds. The higher impact per age 
group can be explained by the fact that, compared to the calculation based on all channels, 
some channels were found to not broadcast HFSS products. This makes the total number that 
the impacts are weighted for smaller.  

By day part 
Table 5.7 presents the average HFSS food impacts per day part (in absolute numbers). These 
are calculated as a sum of average impacts per every hour in a day part. Interestingly, the peak 
day parts for 13-17 year olds and adults, differ depending on whether or not impacts for quick 
service restaurants are included. This indicates that more spots for quick service restaurants are 
seen between 18.00 and 20.59 than between 21.00 and 23.59. The peak daypart for 4-12 year 
olds remains the same, but the number of impacts has increased with 27%. 

50   See Table 3.4 in this country report for a list of these channels. 

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Table 5.7 Average absolute HFSS food and quick-service restaurant impacts in 
GRP000 per day part, per age group, 2017 

Day part 

HFSS food products 

Including quick service 
restaurants 

4 - 12 

06.00 – 08.59  45 
09.00 – 11.59  30 

13 - 17 
31 
29 

18+ 
1,931 
1,982 

  4 - 12 
  53 
  34 

13 - 17 
37 
32 

18+ 
2,231 
2,116 

12.00 – 14.59  28 
15.00 – 17.59  106 
18.00 – 20.59  880 
21.00 – 23.59  556 
00.00 – 05.59  20 
Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 
Note: the orange fields indicate the day part with the highest impact per age group. 
Note: the estimates relate only to impacts on channels for which viewing data were available. 

  31 
  134 
  1,125 
  644 
  23 

1,929 
5,313 
21,692 
22,623 
2,488 

66 
149 
757 
745 
35 

60 
125 
646 
664 
32 

2,052 
6,318 
25,040 
24,882 
2,699 

Table 5.8 presents the relative average HFSS food impacts per age group per day part for all 
channels in the viewing data. The average HFSS food impacts per age group are weighted by 
the viewing rates per day part. When comparing Table 5.7 and Table 5.8, it becomes apparent 
that the day part with the highest HFSS food impacts moves from 18.00-20.59 to 21.00-23.59 
as a result of this weighting. This may be explained by differences in viewing patterns, both in 
terms of the time spent watching television, as well as the channels that were watched. 

On top of that, the absolute HFSS food impacts are highest for the 18+ age group, while the 
relative HFSS food impacts for this age group lay much closer to the other age groups. The 
average relative HFSS food impacts between 21.00 and 23.59 are highest for children aged 4-
12. While less children watch television during these hours, they see more HFSS spots per hour 
of watching television. Possible explanations could be that they watch together with a parent 
and a channel as NPO 3 is only targeted at children until 20.00. 

Table 5.8 Average relative HFSS food and quick-service restaurant impacts per hour, 
by day part and per age group, for all channels 2017 

Day part 

HFSS food products 

Including quick service 
restaurants 

4 - 12 

13 - 17 
1.86 

18+ 
2.09 

  4 - 12 
  0.44 

13 - 17 
2.21 

1.26 

1.52 

1.81 

06.00 – 08.59  0.38 
09.00 – 11.59  0.26 
12.00 – 14.59  0.26 
15.00 – 17.59  0.59 
18.00 – 20.59  2.03 
21.00 – 23.59  3.02 
00.00 – 05.59  1.72 
Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 
Note: the orange fields indicate the day part with the highest impact per age group. 
Note: the estimates relate only to impacts on channels for which viewing data were available. 

  2.60 
  3.50 
  1.90 

2.36 
2.57 
1.87 

3.21 
3.31 
2.18 

2.74 
2.95 
2.01 

  0.29 

  0.29 

  0.75 

1.38 

1.63 

1.64 

2.19 

2.36 

1.99 

18+ 
2.41 

1.93 

1.73 

2.61 

2.72 
2.82 
2.03 

Table 5.9 presents the relative average HFSS food impacts per day part for the selection of 
channels that broadcast advertising for HFSS foods. The average HFSS food impacts per age 
group are weighted by the viewing rates per day part. Again, the absolute HFSS food impacts 
are highest for the 4-12 age group. For the channel selection, the impacts are found to be 
slightly higher than the weighting for all channels.  

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Table 5.9 Average relative HFSS food and quick-service restaurant impacts per hour, 
by day part and per age group, for the channel selection, 2017 

Day part 

HFSS food products 

Including quick service 
restaurants 

4 - 12 

13 - 17 
2.18 

18+ 
2.12 

  4 - 12 
  0.50 

13 - 17 
2.59 

1.77 

1.53 

1.85 

06.00 – 08.59  0.43 
09.00 – 11.59  0.30 
12.00 – 14.59  0.30 
15.00 – 17.59  0.67 
18.00 – 20.59  2.07 
21.00 – 23.59  3.04 
00.00 – 05.59  1.72 
Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 
Note: the orange fields indicate the day part with the highest impact per age group. 
Note: the estimates relate only to impacts on channels for which viewing data were available. 

  2.64 
  3.52 
  1.90 

2.36 
2.57 
1.87 

3.26 
3.32 
2.18 

2.78 
2.96 
2.01 

  0.34 

  0.84 

  0.33 

1.91 

1.67 

2.22 

1.66 

2.71 

2.29 

18+ 
2.45 

1.98 

1.77 

2.64 

2.72 
2.82 
2.03 

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6.  INDUSTRY EXPENDITURES 

As current methods that have been applied to calculate the total industry expenditures spend on 
HFSS food marketing all have their deficits leading to a large underestimation and primary data 
collection would require a lot of resources, we have developed a method with the aim to 
observe major changes of industry expenditures on HFSS food marketing over the years with 
regard to type of medium.  

There are two ways in which industry expenditures on marketing are reported: at net level and 
a gross level. The advantage of expenditure data, that is available, at gross level is that it 
allows for breakdowns by sector, advertisers, media channels, etc., whereas the available net 
level data does not provide this detail. This makes gross expenditure data the preferred data 
source for this study. 

Around the world, different parties are active to monitor the gross media expenditures per 
country. There is however not one party that covers all countries. Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), 
one of our subcontractors, has a global network and via the global offices, we can access the 
local monitor of media expenditures. The data that they can obtain is from Nielsen who 
monitored the advertisements by advertiser and product, and combined these to expenditure 
based on the rates of providers/operators. Although this is an advanced technic, it should be 
kept in mind that only a part of the total volume is observed and not all channels are included. 
Furthermore, the data collection only focuses on conventional ‘paid advertising’ and not ‘owned’ 
or ‘earned’ or spend on non-conventional paid advertising such as paid influencers. 

As described in the main report in Chapter 2.7, it is difficult to draw conclusions based on the 
gross numbers as the discounts per medium heavily differ. Hence, to get insights into 
advertising spending, we need to correct the gross expenditures for these differences in 
discount rates across markets. To that end, the gross expenditures per country were corrected 
with deflators to come to estimates of net expenditures, to make comparison between media 
channels possible. On an aggregated level, this gives a reliable insight. 

Based on the coding framework that was developed during the course of this project, we 
identified the biggest HFSS product categories (as previously described in our coding 
framework) and gross expenditure data – and deflators – were subsequently collected for these 
categories: 

Edible ice 

•  Sweetened beverages 
•  Breakfast cereals 
• 
•  Quick service restaurants (QSR) 
•  Ready meals 
•  Savoury snacks 
•  Sweet bakery wares  
•  Sweet snacks 

Data were collected for two different years, 2015 and 2018, as the method of collecting the data 
was done in a similar way in these years. This will provide insight in changes in advertising 
spending over the years. We have collected data for above the line media, i.e. TV, radio, 
newspapers, magazines, out-of-home (OOH), cinema and online to some extent.  

New forms of digital communication, such as influencer marketing, advergaming and social 
media channels by food and drink companies, are not included but are estimated to be 3 times 
the size of the conventional online advertising industry itself. It does not say anything about 
actual reach. It was stated that digital, paid advertising achieves greater reach for less 
investment.  

Under reporting in Nielsen data 

For most media channels, there is cooperation between the various market parties to arrive at a 
good measurement of spending with detailed segmentation by media channel and industry 
segment, this does not apply to online.  

In section 6.1 we present the net industry expenditure for the selected food segments, by 
media type. The Nielsen data on which our report is based is considered to be comprehensive 
and robust for all industry sectors other than online. Nielsen significantly under reports online 
advertising, our industry experts have advised us to consider the Nielsen data for online 

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advertising to be “very limited and inaccurate”. Furthermore, they advise that the expenditure 
of national advertisers/campaigns is (strongly) underestimated, local campaigns are strongly 
overestimated – most HFSS advertising would be national campaigns for international food 
conglomerates. 

The Nielsen methodology for online advertising has changed over the 2015-2018 period. Our 
industry experts advise that comparing Nielsen data over time (longer than 1-2 years) is 
difficult due to this development. We have, therefor, looked for other sources to allow us to 
estimate the true value of online advertising in the industry sectors we are studying in the 
Netherlands. The results of this estimation are presented in section 6.3.  

Spend as a poor proxy for reach 

Furthermore, we should consider simply paid advertising expenditure as a poor measure of 
reach for online advertising when compared to other advertising format for three reasons. 
Firstly, it only covers conventional displayed formats whereas digital is dominated by 
unconventional non-display formats such as advertisers own social media channels, in-game 
experiences and influencer marketing through social channels. These ‘brand activations’ are 
estimated to be 3 times the size of the online advertising market as a whole51.  

Secondly, increasingly online advertising is purchased on a cost per interaction rather than a 
cost per view. So, any measure of reach based on spend would exclude those who saw the 
advert but only watched for a short duration (for video) or did not interact. i.e. click (for non-
video display).  

Thirdly, online advertising, particularly brand generated content and influencer content is shared 
from person to person increasing reach beyond advertising spend. 

6.1  Media expenditures in 2015 and 2018 

Table 6.1 and Table 6.2 present the net industry expenditure on selected food segments per 
media channel in 2015 and 2018, respectively. In both years, the highest share of money 
(69.7% and 71.1%, respectively) was spent on TV advertising, followed up by out-of-home 
advertising. Especially the share of expenditures on advertising in magazines and newspapers 
has decreased between 2015 and 2018 (minus 57% and minus 87% respectively). Overall, net 
industry expenditures on advertising of the selected HFSS food categories has increased 
between 2015 and 2018.  

Online spending appears to have experienced the highest growth in this period, moving from 
the smallest media channel (in terms of expenditures) to the third highest. 

Table 6.1 Net Industry expenditures per media channel on selected HFSS foods in 
2015 (sorted from high to low) 

Media channel 

Industry expenditure 

TV 

OOH 

Magazines 

Radio 

Newspapers 

Cinema 

Online 

Total 

€ 123,619,725.44 

€ 27,697,587.67 

€ 13,967,705.93 

€ 7,617,038.74 

€ 2,619,907.31 

€ 1,719,799.09 

€ 139,199.97 

€ 177,380,964.15 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

Share  

69.7% 

15.6% 

7.9% 

4.3% 

1.5% 

1.0% 

0.1% 

100% 

51   https://www.warc.com/content/paywall/article/event-

reports/influencers_anchor_600billion_brandactivation_practice/121629. 

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Table 6.2 Net Industry expenditures per media channel on selected HFSS foods in 
2018 (sorted from high to low) 

Media channel 

Industry expenditure 

TV 

OOH 

Online 

Radio 

Magazines 

Cinema 

Newspapers 

Total 

€ 153,044,594.51 

€ 32,958,691.31 

€ 10,084,427.38 

€ 8,693,581.21 

€ 7,319,764.60 

€ 2,685,308.41 

€ 533,749.84 

€ 215,320,117.26 

Share 

71.1% 

15.3% 

4.7% 

4.0% 

3.4% 

1.2% 

0.2% 

100% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

These results for the online spending raise some serious questions. Based on the available data, 
it appears as if the share of expenditures on online advertising in 2015 was only 0.1% and it 
increased to 4.7% in 2018 (increase of 460%). Considering that the Netherlands has a mature 
advertising market, an increase of 460% between 2015 and 2018 on online media is unlikely to 
be caused by autonomous growth alone. In addition to autonomous growth of online 
expenditure, improved registration and mapping of online spending may explain this sharp 
increase. Not only the increase seems unlikely, also the numbers for online expenditure appear 
to be unrealistically low as online advertising is estimated to account for a majority of media ad 
spending.  

As mentioned in the introduction of this Chapter, the Nielsen data is considered to be 
comprehensive and robust for all industry sectors other than online. As the data for online 
expenditures in Table 6.1 and 6.2 is considered implausible, it is not included in the analysis for 
Section 6.2 (Expenditures per food category). Additional sources were sought to estimate the 
true value of online advertising in the industry sectors we are studying in the Netherlands, 
which will be presented in Section 6.3.  

6.2  Expenditures per food category 

In this section, online industry expenditures as presented above, were excluded from the data, 
given the severe underestimation. 

Table 6.3 and Table 6.4 present the industry expenditure per HFSS food category in 2015 and 
2018, respectively. In both years, the highest share of money was spent on advertising for 
beverages, 29% and 31% of the total expenditures respectively. Comparing these tables, it 
becomes apparent that expenditures on advertising of sweet snacks has increased between 
2015 and 2018. While in 2015 the second highest share of expenditures was on advertisements 
for quick service restaurants (20%), in 2018 the second place was for sweet snacks (25%). The 
share of the total industry expenditures spent on quick service restaurants however, remained 
stable throughout the years. Expenditures on advertising for savoury snacks, sweet bakery 
wares and breakfast cereals have decreased between 2015 and 2018, this may be explained by 
a migration of advertising spend in these industry sectors from traditional advertising channels 
to online, which is under reported in this analysis, and in-store retail media, which is not 
covered in this report. 

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Table 6.3 Industry expenditures per HFSS food category in 2015 (sorted from high to 
low) 

HFSS category 

Industry expenditure 

Share 

 € 177,241,764.18  

100% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

Table 6.4 Industry expenditures per HFSS food category in 2018 (sorted from high to 
low) 

Sweetened beverages 

 € 50,522,887.10  

QSR 

Sweet snacks 

 € 35,267,478.30  

 € 33,884,310.65  

Sweet bakery wares 

 € 20,458,990.22  

Savoury snacks 

 € 17,739,907.22  

Edible ice 

Ready meals 

Breakfast cereals 

Total 

 € 6,748,717.02  

 € 6,388,000.26  

 € 6,231,473.41  

HFSS category 

Industry expenditure 

Sweetened beverages 

 € 63,364,302.59  

Sweet snacks 

QSR 

Savoury snacks 

 € 52,166,378.85  

 € 39,134,892.71  

 € 14,432,560.93  

Sweet bakery wares 

 € 14,220,715.63  

Edible ice 

Ready meals 

Breakfast cereals 

Total 

 € 8,689,056.96  

 € 8,637,167.70  

 € 4,590,614.51  

29% 

20% 

19% 

12% 

10% 

4% 

4% 

4% 

Share 

31% 

25% 

19% 

7% 

7% 

4% 

4% 

2% 

 € 205,235,689.88  

100% 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 

Table 6.5 and Table 6.6 present the share of industry expenditures on HFSS food category per 
media channel in 2015 and 2018 respectively. Here, it becomes apparent that the type of HFSS 
food promoted, differs per media type.  

Comparing these tables, it can be noted that spending on newspaper advertisement has shifted 
from mostly spending on the promotion of quick service restaurants (54.3%), to mostly 
spending on advertisements for beverages (51.5%). This trend was the other way around for 
advertising on the radio. While in 2015, the share of expenditures was highest for 
advertisements for beverages, in 2018 it was highest for quick service restaurants.  

For TV advertising, the highest share of industry expenditure has shifted from advertising for 
beverages to advertising for sweet snacks. This is more in line with the results found in the 
‘exposure to HFSS foods advertising on linear audio-visual media services’ part, for the year 
2017, where most spots that aired on TV were for sweet snacks. 

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Table 6.5 Share of net industry expenditure on HFSS food category per media channel 
in 2015 

HFSS Category 

Cinema  Magazine  Newspaper  OOH 

Radio 

TV 

83.7% 

32.3% 

13.9% 

28.5% 

30.7% 

27.5% 

Sweetened 

beverages 

Breakfast cereals 

Edible ice  

QSR  

Ready meals 

Savoury snacks 

Sweet bakery wares  0.0% 

Sweet snacks 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

13.2% 

0.0% 

3.1% 

4.6% 

6.4% 

1.8% 

4.4% 

11.1% 

13.5% 

26.0% 

2.9% 

3.0% 

54.3% 

1.9% 

3.1% 

2.1% 

18.8% 

0.9% 

3.9% 

0.2% 

14.6% 

4.2% 

2.9% 

54.2% 

29.4% 

13.0% 

0.1% 

4.6% 

2.7% 

5.2% 

0.9% 

4.6% 

11.2% 

11.3% 

1.8% 

14.3% 

11.1% 

22.2% 

Total 

100% 
Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 
Note: orange shading presents the HFSS category with the highest share of industry expenditures per media 
channel. 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

Table 6.6 Share of net industry expenditure on HFSS food category per media channel 
in 2018 

HFSS category 

Cinema  Magazine  Newspaper  OOH 

Radio 

TV 

60.6% 

35.6% 

51.5% 

35.9% 

14.0% 

29.9% 

Sweetened 

beverages 

Breakfast cereals 

Edible ice  

QSR  

Ready meals 

19.4% 

12.7% 

Savoury snacks 

0.5% 

Sweet bakery wares 

Sweet snacks 

6.8% 

5.3% 

2.2% 

0.1% 

5.8% 

10.9% 

12.1% 

28.1% 

6.3% 

26.0% 

0.2% 

10.1% 

2.9% 

3.0% 

0.5% 

7.1% 

5.8% 

9.4% 

2.3% 

3.1% 

41.9% 

55.9% 

13.1% 

3.3% 

1.2% 

4.3% 

5.9% 

2.2% 

0.2% 

12.6% 

4.6% 

8.6% 

7.8% 

14.0% 

30.6% 

Total 

100% 
Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data. 
Note: orange shading presents the HFSS category with the highest share of industry expenditures per media 
channel. 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

To look at the expenditures per media channel in more detail, Table 6.7 and Table 6.8 present 
the share of net industry expenditure on media channel per HFSS food category in 2015 and 
2018 respectively. Here it becomes apparent what media channel is used more for the 
promotion of a specific product group. 

Overall, industry expenditure for all HFSS food categories is highest for TV advertising, in line 
with the data presented above. However, it can be noted that the shares of expenditure on TV is 
relatively low for ice and quick service restaurants. For these categories, shares for out-of-home 
advertising are relatively high. 

Out-of-home was the media type with the second highest industry expenditures overall. 
Noteworthy, shares of expenditure range from 0.4% for ready meals, to 42.6% for quick service 
restaurants in 2015, and from 2.6% for savoury snacks to 35.3% for quick service restaurants 
in 2018. 

The declining trend in shares for magazines and newspapers is also vivid in these tables. For 
example, expenditures on magazine advertising for ice has decreased with 87% and newspaper 
advertisements for beverages with 95%. 

81 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Table 6.7 Share of net industry expenditure on media channel per HFSS food category 
in 2015 

HFSS category 

Cinema  Magazine  Newspaper  OOH 

Radio  TV 

Total 

2.9% 

8.9% 

0.7% 

15.6%  4.6% 

67.2%  100% 

Sweetened 

beverages 

Breakfast cereals 

Edible ice  

QSR  

Ready meals 

Savoury snacks 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.6% 

0.0% 

0.3% 

10.2% 

13.2% 

0.7% 

9.7% 

8.7% 

9.2% 

1.2% 

1.2% 

4.0% 

0.8% 

0.5% 

0.3% 

1.4% 

4.1% 

0.3% 

84.2%  100% 

16.1%  16.5%  53.0%  100% 

42.6%  6.4% 

45.7%  100% 

0.4% 

1.1% 

88.1%  100% 

7.1% 

4.8% 

78.6%  100% 

3.6% 

0.7% 

86.3%  100% 

4.2% 

2.5% 

81.1%  100% 

Sweet bakery wares  0.0% 

Sweet snacks 

0.0% 

10.7% 

Table 6.8 Share of net industry expenditure on media channel per HFSS food category 
in 2018 

HFSS category  Cinema  Magazine  Newspaper  OOH 

Radio  TV 

Total 

2.6% 

4.1% 

0.4% 

18.7% 

1.9% 

72.3%  100% 

0.0% 

8.4% 

0.7% 

3.7% 

11.0%  76.3%  100% 

6.0% 

0.9% 

0.0% 

1.8% 

0.0% 

4.9% 

5.5% 

6.2% 

0.0% 

0.4% 

0.0% 

0.4% 

0.1% 

27.0% 

9.5% 

55.6%  100% 

35.3% 

12.4%  51.1%  100% 

12.5% 

2.2% 

80.5%  100% 

2.6% 

9.9% 

0.1% 

91.3%  100% 

0.0% 

83.8%  100% 

Sweetened 

beverages 

Breakfast 

cereals 

Edible ice  

QSR  

Ready meals 

Savoury snacks 

0.1% 

Sweet bakery 

0.0% 

wares 

Sweet snacks 

0.4% 

3.9% 

0.0% 

3.7% 

2.1% 

89.8%  100% 

6.3  Online advertising expenditures 

As the Nielsen data severely underestimates the online ad spending, we looked for other 
sources to help us in estimating the value of online advertising in these food segments in the 
Netherlands. To that end, we first collected information on the international market share for 
online advertising and subsequently we made comparisons with IAB data for the Netherlands 
and Dentsu Aegis Network data for the Netherlands. Based on the information collected from 
these other sources and comparisons, we make an estimation of the size of online advertising 
spending in the selected food sectors in the Netherlands.  

International market share for online advertising 

We have considered several international sources for information on the size of online ad 
spending:  
• 

In February 2019 eMarketer estimated that online advertising accounting for 45.9% of 
global advertising expenditure in 2018 with forecast to rise to 60.5% by 2023;52 

•  Statista estimates that online accounts for 43.4% of all advertising expenditure in 

• 

Western Europe;53 
The IAB adex Benchmark report covering 28 markets in Europe (not the EU28) 
estimates that in 2018 online advertising accounts for 55.1% of all media spend;54 

52   https://www.emarketer.com/content/global-digital-ad-spending-2019. 
53   https://www.statista.com/statistics/799801/ad-spend-in-western-europe-media/. 
54   https://iabeurope.eu/research-thought-leadership/iab-europe-report-adex-benchmark-2018/. 

82 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

• 

The Dentsu Aegis Network Global Ad Spend forecast online to account for 38.5% of 
global ad spend.55 

These four sources give an average international market share of 45.7% (+9.4% -7.2% 
variance) for online advertising. 

Comparison with IAB data for the Netherlands 

The IAB produce an annual report on online advertising in 28 countries in Europe.56 It is based 
on net expenditure and is collected from media owners and agencies in each market, overseen 
by an independent auditor, such as PWC or Deloitte and reviewed by the economists at the IAB 
to allow territory comparisons. It is considered by industry as the authoritative report on online 
advertising. However, it does not provide industry sector analysis. 

It does report that the Netherlands has an annual digital ad spend of €2,175m with a per capita 
spend of €49.6 the sixth highest per capita of the 28 territories in the report. The Netherland is 
a mature market for online advertising and therefore it is likely that online accounts for more 
than 45.7% average which includes many less mature markets. Furthermore the 2016 IAB 
reporting on the Netherlands audited by Deloitte show a 2017 forecast for online advertising of 
€1,811m and a market share of 50.1%.57  

Comparison with Dentsu Aegis Network for the Netherlands 

Dentsu Aegis publish a Global Ad Spend Report. This is collated by their territory experts based 
on available data. Their forecast as of February 2019 is that online accounts for 49.1% of all ad 
spend in the Netherlands.  

Comparison with eMarketer data for the Netherlands 

EMarketer estimate digital advertising to account for 47.8% of all advertising spent in 2018 
rising to 52.6% in 2019.58  

All in all, these multiple sources show that online advertising accounts for between 45.7% and 
52.6% of all media channel spend in the Netherlands in 2018. Unfortunately, none of these 
sources give us industry sector specific data however our industry experts advise that these 
sectors we are studying are dominated by global food brands who more, and increasingly, 
favour online advertising over traditional methods. 

Comparison with Nielsen data for the Netherlands 

In contrast, the Nielsen data for the HFSS food industry sectors shows that online accounts for 
only 4.7% of all their expenditure, €10m in 2018 (see Table 6.2).  

When compared to the global, European and Netherlands industry data listed above from 
reliable industry sources, we get a good sense of the level of under reporting by Nielsen: 4.7% 
compared 45.7%-50.1% from these other sources. 

If we apply the more conservative 45.7% market share for online to this industry sector data for 
the Netherlands provided by Nielsen, we can estimate that the correct figure for the online 
advertising for these industry sectors is likely closer to €172m in 2018. In Table 6.9 we present 
an update over Table 6.2 with this new estimate for online ad spend included. This shows that 
online is the leading media type in terms of industry expenditures on advertising in the selected 
food segments. The IAB Netherlands 2018 report shows an 2017-2018 growth rate of 7.0% for 
online advertising, followed by 2.3% for TV. With the online market share set to grow, it will be 
the principle methods by which HFSS industries advertise their products. 

55   https://assets-eu-01.kc-usercontent.com/062780ea-98ad-0142-7163-99559c8562cd/c4a9ce77-a586-

4770-9a86-612b52ca40f6/Adspend_2019_Summary%20FINAL.pdf. 

56   https://iabeurope.eu/research-thought-leadership/iab-europe-report-adex-benchmark-2018/. 
57   https://www.slideshare.net/IAB_Europe/iab-netherlands-report-ad-spend-report-2016. 
58   https://www.emarketer.com/content/global-digital-ad-spending-2019. 

83 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

Table 6.9 Net Industry expenditures per media channel in 2018, including online 
estimate (sorted from high to low) 

Media channel 

Industry expenditure 

Online 

TV 

OOH 

Radio 

Magazines 

Cinema 

Newspapers 

Total 

€ 172,730,587  

€ 153,044,594  

€ 32,958,691  

€ 8,693,581  

€ 7,319,764  

€ 2,685,308  

€ 533,749  

€ 377,966,274 

Share 

45.7% 

40.5% 

8.7% 

2.3% 

1.9% 

0.7% 

0.1% 

100% 

84 

 
 
 
7.  LIST OF CHANNELS 

The table below presents an overview of the channels included in the viewing and spotlist data. 

Table 6.10 List of channels in the Netherlands 

Channel 

Market share  Category 

Audience  Viewing 

Spotlist 

data 

data 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

24Kitchen 

BBC First Holland 

Comedy Central 

Discovery Channel 

Disney XD 

Disney Channel 

Eurosport 

FOX Sports 1 

FOX Sports 2 

FOX Sports 3 

Fox 

History 

ID 

MTV 

NPO 1 

NPO 2 

NPO 3 

National Geographic 

Net 5 

Nickelodeon 

0.5% 

1.1% 

1.4% 

1.4% 

0.3% 

0.2% 

0.8% 

0.9% 

0.2% 

0.1% 

0.8% 

0.4% 

1.2% 

0.5% 

21.4% 

5.7% 

4.3% 

1.1% 

3.2% 

1.0% 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  Children 

Commercial  Children 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Public 

Public 

Public 

General 

General 

Shared59 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  Children 

13.6% 

Commercial  General 

RTL 4 

RTL 5 

RTL 7 

RTL 8 

RTL Crime 

RTL Lounge 

RTL Z 

SBS 6 

SBS9 

Spike 

TLC 

Veronica 

Viceland 

Ziggo Sport 

2.1% 

3.9% 

2.3% 

0.3% 

0.1% 

0.9% 

7.3% 

0.9% 

0.7% 

1.5% 

2.8% 

0.0% 

0.9% 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

√ 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

√ 

Commercial  General 

Commercial  General 

Ecorys analysis, data source Dentsu Aegis data.  

59   Children’s channel between 06:00 and 19:30.  

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
 Study on the exposure of children to linear, non-linear and online marketing of foods 
high in fat, salt or sugar 

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doi: 10.2875/204906 
ISBN 978-92-76-38825-8