Amid the downturn in linear TV advertising across Europe, RTL Group has stabilised its revenues, according to the media conglomerate’s full-year earnings, generating €3,122 million in ad sales during 2024. While RTL’s ad revenues have dropped from their 2021 peak, they were flat compared with the previous year, with digital growth offsetting declines in the TV market.
The company’s push for digital and streaming revenues mirrors strategies at other European broadcasters, but where the UK’s ITV and Sweden’s Viaplay saw their revenues fall in 2024, RTL maintained steady group revenues of €6.3 billion. The group’s diversified portfolio makes it better placed to weather market declines than some of its fellow broadcasters, with its radio and print outlets helping to bolster the company’s sales.
But like ITV, RTL’s production business was hit by the Hollywood strikes of 2023, leading to an 8 percent YoY fall in revenues at content unit Fremantle. However, RTL said the decline was partially offset by the acquisition of Asacha Media Group, which owns stakes in eight production companies in France, Italy and the UK, helping to stabilise Fremantle’s revenues on a YoY basis.
Securing the streaming market
Meanwhile streaming operations continue to gather steam for the European media firm, which runs RTL+ in Germany and Hungary, as well as the recently launched M6+ in France. Paid subscribers across the three markets rose 21 percent YoY, according to RTL, to reach 6.8 million. And streaming revenue increased 42 percent YoY, 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.” The company said this growth trajectory puts RTL’s streaming business on track to reach profitability in 2026.
And while the outlook for RTL’s business was deemed “hard to predict”, due to geopolitical and macroeconomic volatility, the company is broadly positive on the year ahead. TV ad revenues were flat across the full year, with growth in the first half of 2024 balancing out a 6.4 percent decline in Q4. On the basis of ongoing stability in the TV advertising business, RTL forecasts its full-year 2025 revenues to increase to around €6.45 billion, thanks to its diversified revenue streams and growth in the streaming division.
The group also expects its investments in live sports to “strengthen its linear TV channels and gain new subscribers for its streaming services.” M6 will show the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and 2030, while RTL Deutschland has invested in Bundesliga rights, including showing highlights on the RTL+ streaming service. The broadcaster is also investing in exclusive RTL+ content, having signed a five-year deal with presenter and producer Stefan Raab, following his departure from rival German broadcaster ProSieben.
But the two broadcasters are also working together in the advertising space, and RTL reasserted its commitment to cooperation between European media companies. RTL and ProSieben’s ad tech partnership, which bundles the services of Smartclip and Virtual Minds, enables advertisers to book campaigns across the broadcasters’ inventory, including their respective streaming services, RTL+ and Joyn. The company added that the partners are progressing towards the creation of a unified platform for booking campaigns across linear and digital, which could further boost streaming revenues.
“RTL Group once again demonstrated resilience in 2024,” said RTL CEO Thomas Rabe. “Despite challenging market conditions in the second half of the year, our results were in line with the guidance we provided at the beginning of 2024. More importantly, we reached turning points in our streaming services and content production business. As a result, we expect to significantly increase our operating profits in the coming years. Our streaming services continued to grow dynamically and significantly reduced their start-up losses in 2024. We are firmly on track to reach profitability by 2026.”
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