CIM State of the Union 2025
In the prestigious setting of La Monnaie/De Munt (Brussels), the second edition of the State of the Union took place on September 23, once again organized by CIM and the Belgian Advertising Council.
The Impact of Media and Advertising
The main theme focused on the impact that we, as an ecosystem, have, the challenges of maintaining that impact, and especially the opportunities to further increase it.
“The impact of advertising is often interpreted far too narrowly, which does the sector a disservice.” Among the many messages and insights of the second edition of the CIM and Advertising Council’s State of the Union, this statement by Geert Noels, Founder, Group CEO, and Chief Economist of Econopolis, was the biggest eye-opener.
Econopolis, through its subsidiary Ortelius, conducted research on both the direct and indirect impact of our sector. Geert Noels and his team annually evaluate the direct impact at €4,1 billion, a substantial amount thanks to the creativity and drive for innovation of the actors involved.
This figure includes the revenues of media companies, as well as those of production houses, communication, PR, and media agencies, market research agencies, and other actors active in the sector.
Total Impact Reaches €15,1 Billion
“Advertising provides the much-needed funds to sustain our rich and diverse local content and information production,” notes Geert Noels. “But the indirect impact is even greater. Media dissemination ensures informed consumers, and advertising fosters higher competition, which drives everyone forward. This in turn leads to a larger economy, which also benefits our national visibility and reputation. This helps us reach new export markets, encourages foreign companies to invest more in our country, and attracts tourists and talent.”
Geert Noels also highlights the priceless added value that information provides for the preservation of our democracy. On a societal level, media further contribute to community building, often uniting groups of people with similar interests and worldviews.
According to the researchers, the combined direct and indirect impact of advertising totals €15,1 billion annually, or 2,8% of Belgium’s GDP. This figure perfectly matched the prestigious setting of the second State of the Union, held in a grand hall in De Munt in the heart of Brussels…
Figures 2024
The major impact, however, does not mean that the sector is not facing significant challenges. Not coincidentally, these were addressed one by one during the other sessions of the State of the Union and during the closing debate.
Geert Noels also set the tone himself. He sees a number of major changes in media consumption. “There is the shift from offline to digital, which continues to evolve. As a result, big tech captures a large share of advertising revenues. And we also see innovations that blur the traditional boundaries between sectors. Take, for example, KBC, which is much more than a bank. It also sells tickets for De Lijn or for a cinema film.”
"The best way for governments to support advertising and media is to allow self-regulation instead of adding more restrictive rules."
Marc Frederix
Chairman of the Belgian Advertising Council
Fiscal incentive for local?
In summary, it is mainly the big tech players in the ecosystem that are causing disruption. One of the sector’s key questions is therefore ensuring a level playing field between local players and international platforms. Marc Frederix, Chairman of the Belgian Advertising Council, refers in this regard to fiscal elements: “Following the ‘digital tax’ included in the federal coalition agreement to tax large technology companies on the advertising revenues they generate in our country, we as the Belgian Advertising Council are asking for a fiscal incentive to be introduced to encourage advertisers to allocate their budgets to local players. This incentive could, for example, take the form of a deduction from federal corporate taxes.”
Self-regulation first
In addition, the State of the Union also highlighted the need for complementarity between regulation and self-regulation. “This sector has a tradition of self-regulation, and that must remain the foundation,” said CIM Chairman Stefan Lameire. “We therefore advocate co-creation, in particular of the so-called ‘codes of conduct’ provided for in the European Media Freedom Act. The CIM has the expertise to connect the highly technical needs of audience measurement with clear rules that keep the market transparent and the results comparable and verifiable.”
Marc Frederix adds: “When drafting legislation, ensure that rules are developed together with experts. Only in this way can you ensure they are applicable.” “But let it be clear,” he confirms the position of the entire sector, “we ask not to impose additional restrictions on us and to primarily prioritise self-regulation. That is a guiding instrument for ethical, sustainable and responsible advertising and offers faster and more flexible protection than new laws. The particular complexity of regulation in Belgium slows down the advertising industry and especially local players. We therefore advocate harmonising regulations and stopping ‘gold plating’. The Flemish and French-speaking media decrees must be aligned with European regulation. A revision of the decrees is therefore necessary.”
“Proving the power of local creativity.”
Petra De Roos
CEO ACC
Creativity as a superpower
Petra De Roos, CEO of ACC, highlighted another aspect of the local dimension: creativity. “Local is preferred over international,” she says. “Research shows that local brands are more preferred, as is local content. Meanwhile, we have promising signals from a study still ongoing showing that local creative work performs better than international. We must therefore aim to preserve strong creative teams in Belgium. One argument is that Belgium is a very interesting ‘test country’ due to its different languages and cultures, while still being manageable in size.”
“Creativity remains our superpower,” she summarises. “Beyond media exposure, it is creative assets that create added value for brands. And the importance of unique creative work is increasing in the AI era. AI is generating so much additional output that standing out will become increasingly difficult.”
“Article 24 of the EMFA marks the first-ever European initiative to regulate audience measurement — a major step for our industry.”
Koenraad Deridder
General Manager CIM
The importance of innovation
In addition, two keywords emerged repeatedly during the presentations and debates as opportunities: collaboration and innovation. The latter is, for example, the guiding principle of CIM ONE, the new approach of the CIM that will measure media consumption across different platforms.
Koenraad Deridder, CEO of the CIM, provided an update. It shows that since the previous State of the Union, CIM ONE has undergone significant evolution. Thanks to the CrossMedia panel and the addition of a router in the TV panel, media consumption is now measured in a much more refined way, across more than 3,800 platforms. All this data is integrated into the CIM ONE framework and reported in a virtual population, creating a LMM (Large Media Model) that will, from early 2027, feed CIM members’ tools via API.
Another concrete example of innovation and collaboration comes from the CIM. From 2026 onwards, there will be a new approach to CIM Time Stamping, the system for coding TV programmes and advertising. This system has existed for a long time and is necessary to link viewing behaviour to the correct content.
“The new contract will be awarded to GfK and NeuroMedia, who together are opting for an AI-enhanced approach to make coding even more efficient,” Deridder said.
"There has never been a better time to build local brands."
Luc Suykens
CEO UBA
Innovation in collaboration
Luc Suykens, CEO of UBA, is also convinced of the importance of innovation from a different angle. “To ensure sustainable business growth and social prosperity, it is essential to maintain strong and healthy brands,” he says. “Innovation is the main driver of this growth, and advertising is the key mechanism that ensures that such innovation actually reaches the market.”
Marc Frederix bridges innovation and collaboration with an example: “We need to find ways to make B2B workflows in the advertising ecosystem as attractive as automation via big tech players. This is about innovation. What is needed to help local media in this ‘emancipation process’? But it is also about collaboration. We will need to find a system where the entire local ecosystem works together. Only then will it have sufficient impact.”
“Local content is advertising for ourselves.”
That collaboration is one of the major opportunities was also noted by Flemish Minister of Media Cieltje Van Achter in a video intervention. “Lower the barriers and make collaboration natural,” was her clear message. She also stated that a good balance between self-regulation and clear rules is important, as is investment in local content. “The latter is advertising for ourselves,” she concluded.
It therefore seems that quite a bit of common ground was found during the second State of the Union. Both ecosystem actors and government are aware of the challenges and are looking in the same direction for solutions. It is high time to further shape them.
State of the Union - Whitebook
All insights from the second State of the Union conference have been compiled into a white paper. Download the white paper of the 2025 edition of the State of the Union via the button below.
The CIM and the Belgian Advertising Council thank all participants and speakers for their contribution and collaboration: Yannick Carriou (Médiamétrie / AMC), Agnès Maqua (AdaStone Law), Marc Frederix (Belgian Advertising Council), Geert Noels (Econopolis), Yanaïka Denoyelle and Kristof Eggermont (Ortelius), Liesbeth Bernaerts (Kinesso), Toon Diependaele (National Lottery), Hugues Rey (Havas Media), Jan De Moor (Bauer Media Outdoor), Thierry Hugot (Rossel), Wim Jansen (DPG Media), Frederik Delaplace (VRT), Jean-Paul Philippot (RTBF), Nathalie LHoir (UMA), Petra De Roos (ACC), Luc Suykens (UBA) and Stefan Lameire (CIM).
Rewatch this event via the State Clips
A series of short video clips featuring CEOs, experts, and opinion leaders showing how media, advertising, and technology can thrive together in a rapidly changing market.
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