History

All the while, the free door-to-door papers were growing in circulation and volume. Titles formerly produced on a contract basis for other publishing houses were taken over, so that everywhere Roularta had its own edition. In 1979 the E3 magazines received a total makeover, evolving from pure ad sheets into local newspapers.  A certain uniformity was introduced and the free papers were renamed De Streekkrant. With some fifty local editions this weekly newspaper is delivered door-to door in every city and village of Dutch-speaking Belgium. 

In the province of Limburg, the title De Weekkrant is used after the acquisition of this title from the Concentra group. Because of the success De Streekkant led to a second network of free tabloids being set up. By keeping their local titles, Roularta wanted to offer a new and complemetary platform alongside De Streekkant, this time focused on local advertisers. The network quiickly grew, fuelled by takeovers of such freesheets as Fonteintje, Wegwijzer, Wetthra, Tam Tam, Het Gouden Blad, Effect, etc.

The monthly Steps was launched in 1995 as a complement to the De Streekkrant door-to-door freesheet. Whereas De Streekkrant publishes promotional advertising aimed at direct sales, Steps carries image campaigns for upmarket retail outlets.

After an experiment in the Kempen, Roularta launched the free newspaper De Zondag throughout Flanders in 2000. Through a network of thousands of bakeries and other businesses open on Sundays, 600.000 newspapers are distributed every Sunday. De Zondag is the most popular newspaper in Flanders with more than 1.5 million readers.

In 2017, Roularta experiments with “Deze Week”, a new approach for a free weekly paper.  At the end of 2019, the decision was made to adapt the publication of the free advertising press to the changed situation, keeping in mind the local taxes and the impact from e-commerce for the local retailer. 

Roularta decided to continue with a series of traditional local titles with a total print run of more than one million copies: De Streekkrant (especially in West and East Flanders), TamTam (in the north of West Flanders), Deze Week (in Limburg), Wetthra, De Wegwijzer, Het Fonteintje, Het Gouden Blad, etc.