RTL Group published the following quarterly statement for the first nine months of 2024 (January to September 2024). The Group revenue was stable at €4.2 billion, as higher TV advertising and streaming revenue were offset by lower content revenue from Fremantle; Group revenue was down 1.5% organically, with continued dynamic growth of RTL Group’s streaming services: paying subscribers up 22.8% year on year to 6.5 million, streaming revenue up 41% in January to September 2024. RTL Deutschland continued to gain TV advertising market share and expanded its audience lead over the main commercial competitor, ProSiebenSat1, in the target group to 7.0 percentage points.
Full-year Adjusted EBITA outlook for 2024 confirmed: Adjusted EBITA of around €750 million, with a variance of plus/minus €50 million. Due to the persistent weakness of the German economy and TV advertising market, RTL Group now expects Adjusted EBITA to come in at the lower end of the range. The full-year revenue outlook for 2024 has been revised to around €6.3 billion (previous guidance: €6.6 billion) due to the German TV advertising market and lower growth of the content production market.
“We are accelerating RTL Group’s transformation in a challenging economic environment. Our streaming services continue to grow dynamically in all key dimensions: number of paying subscribers, viewing hours, subscription and advertising revenue. At the current pace, we are confident to reach the seven million paying subscribers mark by the end of the year and remain on track to reach our long-term streaming targets and thus profitability by 2026. The integration of the newly acquired Asacha Media Group and Beach House Pictures into the global Fremantle network is progressing well. With a strong content lineup in the fourth quarter, Fremantle will significantly increase its full-year Adjusted EBITA," Thomas Rabe, Chief Executive Officer of RTL Group, said. "Based on our strong operating performance and active cost management, RTL Group confirms its full-year profit outlook. Due to the persistent weakness of the German economy and TV advertising market, we now expect our full-year Adjusted EBITA to come in at the lower end of the outlook range of €750 million, plus/minus €50 million,” he added.
Revenue at RTL Group’s content business, Fremantle, decreased by 7.1 % to €1,425 million (January to September 2023: €1,534 million), as the growth of the content production market was lower than expected. Additionally, the 2023 comparison base is high due to the "Fellow Travellers" delivery in Q3/2023. This was partly offset by scope effects from the first-time full consolidation of Asacha Media Group since the end of March 2024. In Q4/2024, Fremantle will deliver significant productions such as "Battle Camp" for Netflix, dramas including "Costiera" and "The Listeners," and the documentary "Vietnam: the War that Changed America." Streaming revenue was up 40.6% to €277 million (January to September 2023: €197 million), driven by a significantly higher number of paying subscribers, increased subscription prices in Germany, and rapidly growing advertising revenue on RTL+ in Germany and M6+ in France. RTL Group’s distribution revenue was up 7.3% to €264 million (January to September 2023: €246 million), driven by a strong increase at RTL Deutschland.
In the first nine months of 2024, RTL Deutschland’s combined audience share in the main commercial target group of viewers aged 14 to 59 was 26.7% (January to September 2023: 27.4%, extending the lead over ProSiebenSat1 to 7.0 percentage points (January to September 2023: lead of 5.8 percentage points). The flagship RTL was Germany's only major commercial channel to gain audience share, registering 10.0% in the target group of viewers aged 14 to 59 (January to September 2023: 9.4%). Audience highlights in the third quarter of 2024 included the anniversary edition of Ich bin ein Star – Showdown der Dschungel-Legenden (I'm a Celebrity – Jungle Camp Legends) and renowned German entertainer and TV producer Stefan Raab's return to TV with Der Clark Final Fight – Stefan Raab vs. Regina Halmich.
In September 2024, RTL Deutschland announced an exclusive five-year deal with Stefan Raab. Following the boxing match against the former German professional boxer Regina Halmich on 14 September, RTL Deutschland announced a new weekly comedy/quiz/competition show Du gewinnst hier nicht die Million bei Stefan Raab (You Won't Win A Million Here with Stefan Raab), available exclusively on RTL+. New show formats from and with Stefan Raab for RTL and RTL+ are currently in development, such as a prime-time competition show with comedian Michael “Bully” Herbig scheduled for December 2024 and a cooperation with the public broadcaster ARD for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.
The combined audience share of Groupe M6’s free-to-air channels in the commercial target group of viewers aged 25 to 49 was 19.5% (January to September 2023: 20.5%). The main channel, M6, achieved an average audience share of 12.1% (January to September 2023: 13.0%). The most successful formats on M6 in the third quarter of 2024 were the third season of Les Traîtres (The Traitors), alongside L’amour est dans le pré (Farmer Wants A Wife) and Pékin Express.
By the end of September 2024, RTL Group’s streaming services RTL+ in Germany and Hungary and M6+10 in France had 6.466 million paying subscribers – an increase of 22.8 per cent year on year (end of September 2023: 5.265 million). Paying subscribers for RTL+ in Germany increased by 24.4 per cent year on year to 5.802 million (end of September 2023: 4.665 million). The partnership with Deutsche Telekom to bundle RTL+ Premium in Magenta TV and exclusive content such as Du gewinnst hier nicht die Million bei Stefan Raab contributed significantly to the growth. The first episode of the weekly show achieved the highest subscription growth for an original format on RTL+ to date – 73 per cent of these subscriptions came from new customers.
Viewing hours11 for RTL+ in Germany increased by 60.3 per cent from January to September 2024, making RTL+ the leading German entertainment offering in the streaming market. In Q3/2024, viewing hours were up 93.6 per cent year on year. The streaming service M6+, which launched on 15 May 2024, attracted 20.4 million monthly users12, up 27 per cent year on year (January to September 2023 for 6play: 1 million). The viewing hours increased by 41 per cent compared to January to September 2023, based on the in-house heartbeat measurement13. Successful formats on M6+ include Les Traîtres Nouvelle Génération (The Traitors New Generation), The Good Fight and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
In August 2024, RTL Hungary and 4iG Group entered into a strategic partnership. From 1 January 2025, Hungarian integrated service provider 4iG Group, together with its telecommunications subsidiaries, will distribute all linear TV channels of RTL Hungary and exclusively distribute the streaming service RTL+. Additionally, 4iG Group's content production division supports RTL Hungary in broadcasting the Uefa Champions League matches. Within its entertainment business, Fremantle launched the new original format Master of the Game for TF1 in France, the second season of Freeze for TVI in Portugal, while America’s Got Talent returned to NBC in the US for its 19th season. Family Feud launched in its 40th territory, Italy, on La7. Within drama & film, Fremantle launched the comedy series Daddy Issues for BBC Three and BBC player in the UK, while Nightsleeper from Fremantle’s Euston Films also premiered on the BBC, with the drama series now sold in 147 territories worldwide. Fremantle announced a first-look deal with Stefano Sollima’s AlterEgo and a first-look development deal with BAFTA-winning Roughcut Television. Within its documentaries business, Fremantle launched the series The Zelensky Story for France Télévisions and the docu-drama Mozart: Rise of a Genius for the BBC.
On 28 October 2024, RTL Deutschland launched the new digital offer Stern+, marking the transition of Stern as a magazine to a digital service relying on paid content and advertising sales. Alongside content from the publishing brands Stern, Geo and Capital, Stern+ also includes significantly more multimedia content as well as investigative stories, interviews, guides and entertainment. RTL Deutschland is investing €30 million over three years to develop Stern+, with the aim of attracting 100,000 paying subscribers by 2026 (starting point: 25,000 paying subscribers for the previous digital offers of Stern, Geo and Capital).
In October 2024, RTL Group’s international sales house, RTL AdAlliance, announced that the multi-channel sales house IP Österreich – now a 100-per-cent subsidiary of RTL Group – will fully become part of RTL AdAlliance and merge its portfolio from July 2025 onwards. Advertising clients in Austria will benefit from the advertising inventory of well-known European media brands and the premium content of RTL AdAlliance.
In September 2024, RTL Nederland announced an exclusive advertising sales partnership between Ad Alliance in the Netherlands and The Walt Disney Company Benelux. The partnership covers advertising sales for the new advertising-based subscription for the streaming service Disney+, in addition to Disney’s linear and digital advertising sales in the Netherlands. Disney+ is the fourth streaming service added to Ad Alliance’s partner network, following partnerships with HBO Max and SkyShowtime earlier in 2024, and Videoland, the streaming service from RTL Nederland, since 2020.
In September 2024, RTL Deutschland announced the extension and expansion of its distribution partnership with the German telecommunication and cable network operator Vodafone. The agreement ensures that Vodafone customers can continue to access the wide range of content and brands from RTL Deutschland, while marking an important step in expanding the reach of the streaming service RTL+. Together with Vodafone, new TV services and products will be developed.