Bringing a Century of Dutch Media to Life

In Hilversum, there’s an entire trove of Dutch television and radio history hidden in the digital archives of the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision (Beeld & Geluid). Now, an ambitious partnership is underway to unlock this nearly century-old audiovisual heritage for everyone. Triple, a digital agency that is part of the Hypersolid network, has been selected to develop a new online portal opening up the archive.

"The Dutch government tasked Beeld & Geluid with developing a web portal to make its digital collection accessible to the public... They put out a European tender, and we were very excited to be selected. Who wouldn’t want to dive into almost a century of TV and radio history?" says Lennart van Wijk, Triple’s managing director of cloud solutions​. With over 25 years of experience in media and streaming, Triple saw the project as a perfect fit.​

Triple’s proposal stood out for its broad technical expertise and a get-it-done mentality of less talking and more doing. That can-do ethos will be essential in tackling the archive’s complexities. "We set ourselves the ambitious goal of making the portal even more engaging than YouTube. No pressure, right?" says Lennart.

The primary target demographic skews above 50 years old, so the platform must be extremely user-friendly, while still enticing enough to compete with commercial streaming services. Despite the hurdles, Lennart is confident this cross-disciplinary tactic will pay off. "By combining [Beeld & Geluid’s] expertise with our technology, we are creating something truly top-notch and making our audiovisual heritage more accessible to the public than ever before," he tells me.​

From the outset, user experience has been front and centre when it comes to designing a platform. Triple’s design team crafted an intuitive concept modelled on familiar streaming interfaces, so browsing the archive will feel natural. But where the portal really breaks new ground is in search and discovery, with advanced filtering to help users quickly find what they need. "We want people to quickly and intuitively find what matters to them, with personalisation enhancing their experience," Lennart tells me.

Behind the scenes, Triple is leveraging tools like Elasticsearch to index the vast content. This not only makes results lightning-fast, but also suggests connections between related programmes and themes. For example, a simple query might surface a forgotten news bulletin alongside a TV clip from the same day, painting a richer picture of that moment in time. "You might even come across the news from the day you were born, offering a real window into the past," says Lennart about the kind of serendipitous discovery the new platform could provide.

Building such a platform is a team effort. Triple leads development but works closely with Beeld & Geluid’s team, iterating on design and features to ensure the product truly fits the museum’s needs. One shared priority is accessibility, with the portal being built to meet WCAG standards so that all users can enjoy the archive. "After all, what’s the point of having a treasure trove of content if no one can find the key?" Lennart explains.

Before the full launch, the team plans to invite real users for beta testing, fine-tuning the experience so it’s as intuitive as possible. Triple is working beyond delivering a successful product, ensuring it truly works for the audience it is being built for.

The real heart of this initiative is bridging the gap between the past and the future, see, Beeld & Geluid isn’t just a museum of physical artefacts; it also holds a vast digital archive that has largely been out of public view. Bringing those archives online essentially gives the Netherlands a time machine. "Objects from past programmes can be enriched with original footage from that time, almost like giving history a rewind button," adds Lennart, describing how the digital archive will complement the physical museum​. "The archive won’t just sit alongside the physical collection; it will enhance it, connecting the past to the present."

For Triple, the significance of this project runs deep. "We believe that projects with social relevance are not just a great fit for our company but an integral part of who we are as a team," says​ Lennart. He even likens exploring old footage to "flipping through an old photo album, but with sound and motion."​ The portal will be free to use (and ad-free), supported by the museum’s own revenue​, and Triple is also engineering it for the long term with a scalable, secure infrastructure that can grow with demand​.

Robust measures are in place to protect content and users at every step – ensuring the portal will "serve the public for years to come.” Those interested can expect an initial version of the platform is slated to go live by spring 2026​, after extensive testing to ensure a smooth experience. Lennart is eager for that launch: "I can’t wait to see the archive come to life and finally rediscover those TV moments I only half-remember but have been stuck in my head for years," he finishes.