The year has started well for Thomas van Groningen and his program Nieuws van de Dag, because the right-wing TV news has never scored so well. “A one-year-old record has been broken.”
In retrospect, Thomas van Groningen will be very happy that Sam Hagens more or less chased him away from broadcaster WNL. While Sam’s TV career seems to have come to a standstill – we don’t hear from him anymore – Thomas is considered one of the best rising stars from Talpa. He is currently the face of the right-wing TV news News of the Day on SBS 6.
636 thousand
How are things going with News of the Day? Pretty good. Thomas set a record yesterday, on New Year’s Day. “There is a viewing figure record on the first day of 2026!”, TV authority Tina Nijkamp writes on her analysis channel.
The program recorded 636 thousand viewers at six o’clock in the evening. “The show has never scored so high before. The record so far was the very first broadcast ever, almost exactly a year ago. Then 533 thousand viewers.”
No show whatsoever
Tina isn’t surprised. “Together with RTL Boulevard, it was the ONLY talk program about the news of the day. There was not a single talk show on. Absolutely NOTHING at the NPO. Shouldn’t that be different next year?”
“There was a lot of news. But no Pauw & De Wit, no Eva and no EenVandaag. And therefore not among the commercials. No Oranjewinter, no RTL Tonight.”
Predicted
At News of the Day they already saw the great score coming. “Victor, is it actually true that we are the most watched talk show in the Netherlands today?” Thomas asked in the New Year’s broadcast.
TV critic Victor Vlam then: “Yes, certainly, Thomas, I can congratulate you. Indeed: you are the most watched talk show, but that is also mainly because it is the only talk show.”
Bizarre
Thomas is surprised that all current programs are free on New Year’s Day. “Why is everyone free?”
Victor: “Yes, that’s bizarre. You would think there would be something to see, but there is only a repeat of Eva.”