For decades, the rhythm of a football fan’s week in the northern Netherlands was dictated by the printing presses of the Dagblad van het Noorden (DVHN). The Monday morning edition, carrying the extensive match reports and player ratings from the weekend’s FC Groningen game, was an absolute staple on breakfast tables and in factory breakrooms across the province. Page 30 of the May 2013 matchday programme features a full-page advertisement capturing a critical moment in the history of this regional media giant.
The ad boldly announces a new initiative launched just a month prior, on April 3rd: “ELKE DAG EEN SPORTBIJLAGE” (A sports supplement every day). In 2013, traditional print journalism was facing an existential threat from the rapid rise of smartphones, Twitter, and instant digital news. To combat declining subscriptions, DVHN doubled down on its most loyal demographic—sports fans. By offering a dedicated, pull-out sports section every single day of the week, the newspaper attempted to make the physical paper an indispensable daily habit once again. The promotional offer of “3 weeks for €5” was an aggressive push to get the physical paper back through the letterboxes of the Euroborg faithful.
The symbiotic relationship between the club and the newspaper cannot be overstated. The journalists of DVHN were the primary narrators of the club’s history, and advertising their new sports supplement directly inside the club’s own matchday programme was the perfect closed-loop marketing strategy.
A Look into the Future
By 2026, the media landscape has completely transformed. The desperate fight to save daily print circulation was ultimately lost to the digital age. Today, Dagblad van het Noorden operates primarily as a digital-first platform, where in-depth FC Groningen coverage, podcasts, and video interviews are locked behind a premium digital paywall. The physical daily sports supplement advertised in 2013 is now a nostalgic relic of a bygone era, a reminder of the days when fans had to wait until the morning paper arrived to read the manager’s post-match quotes.