RedTech Magazine July/August 2026 drives growth through connections
Kim Beyns has spent most of his career in radio broadcasting, in multiple roles. He joined NGroup over a decade ago as marketing director after heading the creative radio department at the RTL Group. He became NGroup’s COO in 2019 and succeeded Marc Vossen as CEO in June 2022.
RedTech: Tell us about your professional journey in radio and how it shaped your approach to leading NGroup today, specifically how your background in commercial and marketing roles influenced your vision, mission and strategy when you transitioned to the role of CEO.
Kim Beyns: I’ve always been passionate about radio. This medium has kept me hooked across so many different roles: Host, columnist, programmer, producer, sales, program director, marketing director and chief strategy officer. I quickly realized I didn’t have the artistic genius to spend my life locked in a studio behind a microphone, but I knew how it worked and how to make it profitable. To lead a radio group today, you have to understand the plumbing. Having done every job from hosting to sales is my advantage.
RedTech: Belgium is a relatively small but highly competitive radio market. What structural advantages — and constraints — does that create for a group like NGroup?
Beyns: In French-speaking Belgium, we are competing against two big multimedia groups that own TV channels, which we don’t. And, honestly, I believe that’s our biggest strength. We don’t carry the weight of legacy television. Being “just” audio forces us to focus and keep a challenger mindset. That means we must be more creative, more flexible and faster than the bigger players.
RedTech: All media competes for limited attention today. What can radio do to grab and hold listener attention?
Beyns: There are only 24 hours in a day and everyone is fighting for a piece of the pie. But if someone had told me years ago that radio would still hold its ground today in terms of listening time, I wouldn’t have bet on it.
For music stations like ours, the rules have changed, and we must play with the new ones — just playing music isn’t enough anymore. The time of cheap, highly profitable jukebox radio is over. Our job is to build a community, not a playlist.
I believe in our digital transition,
Kim Beyns, NGroup CEO
but I refuse to kill the FM dial for the sake of digital dogma
RedTech: You previously told RedTech that FM radio has a very short runway, likely five to six years. The shift to DAB+ and streaming over IP dramatically increases listener choice. What is your strategy to grow revenue and profitability when the market continues to fragment?
Beyns: I believe in our digital transition, but I refuse to kill the FM dial for the sake of digital dogma. We can’t afford to leave FM listeners stranded. Plus, the precise targeting of local FM advertising still generates significant revenue that we’d be foolish to drop overnight. The FM switch-off will take time. I guess it will happen around 2033–2035.
NGroup believes that DAB+ is part of the future of radio. We invested early in DAB+-only stations like Nostalgie+ and NRJ+. Our strategy is to offer targeted programs because variety drives DAB+ adoption. If our diverse offering keeps a driver from switching off the radio to open Spotify, we win. Look at the Netherlands, where a rich DAB+ market has completely revitalized the love for radio.
RedTech: NGroup is part of a team pioneering a unified media measurement project. When will this project be fully rolled out in Belgium? What inspired the initiative, and how will it change the media environment for content managers at NGroup and for media buyers in Belgium?
Beyns: Actually, this wasn’t our idea. Advertisers had been asking for radio measurement to modernize for years. NGroup joined the CIM [Centre d’Information sur les Médias] strategic committee to actively shape this shift and find a compromise that protects our medium while meeting the ad market’s demands. This hybrid measurement, mixing declarative data with passive tracking, will launch in 2027. For us, it means getting weekly insights instead of waiting four months. It’s going to be data-rich, but we’ll need to handle it carefully.
RedTech: You use Chérie as a radio lab to learn about your audience’s behavior initially as a DAB+ station and now as a pure streaming-only channel. What has been the most surprising learning, and how has that influenced your strategic choices?
Beyns: Chérie is a fascinating lab, and it proved one thing: The broadcast-plus-streaming hybrid model is the only real way forward. Trying to exist purely as a digital station, where the user must download an app and actively click play, is an uphill battle unless you have a massive marketing budget to burn.
RedTech: Younger audiences are often cited as radio’s weakest point. What has NGroup learned about engaging Gen Z that contradicts industry assumptions?
Beyns: The industry assumption is that Gen Z hates radio. But that’s wrong; they hate being told when to listen. We stopped trying to force them into a linear grid. If you clip a live radio moment into a viral social media video, they will consume it like crazy and, at the same time, embrace your brand. Radio isn’t dead for Gen Z. The static and traditional schedule are.
RedTech: What role does technology now play in competitive differentiation for radio groups? Which technologies are you investing in, and how will those change NGroup’s business?
Beyns: The biggest shift in our industry is that we used to only worry about transmitters. The receivers weren’t our problem. Now, we have in-house developers working on app design and user experience. User experience is now core to our business. My philosophy is simple: Our brands must be everywhere — on the web, in app stores, on smart TVs and in connected cars. If you’re not visible in one click, you’re invisible.
RedTech: AI is increasingly embedded in broadcast workflows. Where do you see real operational value today, and where is the hype still outpacing reality?
Beyns: AI is shaking things up, but I see it as an opportunity rather than a threat. We need to stop investing where AI can easily replace us. AI will absolutely replace boring, robotic radio hosts. Instead, we must double down on what AI can’t touch: Real human connection, emotion and humor. Because let’s be honest: AI just isn’t funny. Radio’s human element is where AI will always struggle to compete.
RedTech: The car remains a critical battleground for radio. What is NGroup doing to secure its future on the dashboard, and how do you see radio’s position evolving as dashboards become more software-driven and platform-controlled?
Beyns: We were co-founders of MaRadio, an association that promotes digital radio and speaks on behalf of the sector. Through this, we are fighting hard to keep a dedicated, physical “radio button” on car dashboards.
We aren’t just lobbying for a button; we are fighting to stay visible in the one place radio has dominated for a century. Radio has to stay just one click away for the driver.
RedTech: Looking ahead to 2030, what decisions does NGroup need to take now to ensure a thriving future for the business?
Beyns: By 2030, we must accept that we might not even call ourselves a “radio” group anymore. We are an audio-brand-group. The platform-first logic will shift to a brand-first logic. And if people love our brands, Nostalgie or NRJ, they will follow us anywhere. The medium changes but the brand remains.
This story originally appeared in the July/August 2026 edition of RedTech Magazine. You can read or download that edition for free here.
You can access all past RedTech publications, also for free, here.
