Thomas Rabe on Sky Deutschland, AI & Scaling Streaming

RTL Group’s Sky Deutschland takeover bid, announced in June and now making its way through Europe’s regulatory authorities, marks the biggest deal for the European media giant since its inception, CEO Thomas Rabe tells World Screen; the €150 million transaction will enhance RTL Group’s customer footprint, adding a pay-TV prong to its ad-supported free-to-air operations and SVOD and AVOD streaming platforms.

For Rabe, consolidation is crucial for local players as they take on the dominance of the tech giants, as are innovative alliances across linear and streaming and having a clear-eyed view of YouTube as both a competitor and a partner.

At Fremantle, meanwhile, the revenue target of €3 billion ($3.5 billion) remains intact, centered on driving gains from both organic growth and selective acquisitions. With the challenges of the international commissioning sector, disciplined investment and focusing on exportable, scalable IP are key to Rabe’s strategy for Fremantle.

Across broadcast, streaming and content production, RTL Group is exploring the benefits of AI. In addition to tapping into parent company Bertelsmann’s partnerships with the likes of OpenAI, RTL Group is deploying AI in a range of ways, including at Fremantle via Imaginae Studios, in tools for flagging unsafe materials and in marketing efforts.

Rabe is excited about the road ahead for RTL Group. Advertising challenges and regulatory hurdles notwithstanding, the blueprint is clear: scale streaming, diversify revenues, harness AI and social media and chart new partnerships while continuing to provide great content to audiences across Europe and around the world.

WS: What motivated the move to acquire Sky Deutschland, and what are your plans for integrating that platform into the overall RTL Group offer?
RABE: We strongly believe that in-country consolidation is essential to ensure long-term competitiveness. Scale within national markets unlocks significant synergies and enables greater investments in content, technology and innovation. The combination of RTL and Sky provides a strong foundation for future growth: two of the most powerful entertainment and sports brands in Europe teaming up to create a unique video proposition across free TV, pay TV and streaming.

The acquisition of Sky Deutschland is transformational for RTL Group, in particular for our streaming business. It will take us to around 11.5 million paying subscribers in the DACH region, making us the clear number three streaming provider. We will further diversify our revenue streams and enhance our appeal to creative talent, rights holders and business partners. Within three years after closing, we target annual synergies of around €250 million ($293 million).

We will integrate Sky Deutschland into RTL Deutschland in steps with a “best of both” approach. The goal is to retain the best talents, assets and processes from both companies, with an even stronger focus on streaming. Thanks to our existing content partnership with Sky, we know the company, the team and its culture well. We know that both companies are a match.

To summarize: RTL and Sky are highly complementary in terms of business models, revenue streams and the content offers across all genres—from entertainment to sports, fiction and news. In July, we filed the first documents with the European Commission, and we expect regulatory approvals and closing of the transaction in 2026, after which we will present more concrete plans.

WS: Streaming was a key highlight of your recent financials. Tell us about the gains you’re seeing across both subscription and advertising revenues.
RABE: Streaming is a strategic priority for RTL Group, and one of our strongest growth drivers. Paying subscribers continue to grow strongly, up 15 percent year on year to over 7.2 million at the end of June 2025. Subscriber growth, increased subscription prices in Germany and rapidly growing advertising revenue, especially from RTL+ and M6+, led to a 27 percent increase in streaming revenue. With a moderate increase in content spend, we more than halved our streaming startup losses compared to the first half of 2024. This puts us on track to reach profitability of our streaming business in 2026.

WS: The transformation of the RTL Group is ongoing; tell us about some of the key strategy shifts you’ve made over the last year amid the broader evolutions in the global media business.
RABE: The international media industry is in the middle of a fundamental transformation, with big opportunities for those prepared to shape the future. And we are.

If you look at our strategy more broadly, there are three priorities. First, in our core business, we’re focusing on what RTL does best: investing in premium content, strengthening our families of channels, pursuing synergistic acquisitions—think about our announcement to acquire Sky Deutschland—and managing both costs and our portfolio with discipline.

Second, our growth priorities include strengthening and scaling our streaming services RTL+ and M6+, advancing in advertising technology and digital advertising and further expanding Fremantle’s global content production footprint.

And third, alliances and partnerships. Whether in advertising sales, content development or distribution, we believe that collaboration—both within RTL Group and across the wider industry—is essential for long-term success. Earlier this year, we strengthened one of our most important strategic collaborations by renewing our streaming partnership with Deutsche Telekom until at least 2030, covering the hard bundling of RTL+ in MagentaTV, Deutsche Telekom’s IPTV offer. This long-term extension not only boosts our reach and subscriber growth but also supports our path to profitability by 2026.

WS: The ad market is taking a hit globally; how do you see the landscape in your key territories for the second half of 2025 and into 2026?
RABE: Linear TV viewing will remain under pressure—and with it, linear TV advertising. Germany has been more heavily affected than other European markets, with TV advertising revenues around 20 percent below 2019 levels.

Over the past years, RTL Deutschland has continuously gained TV advertising market share. Most importantly, we are driving fast growth in streaming across all three revenue streams—subscriptions, digital advertising and distribution revenue.

Advertising in streaming is gaining traction and acceptance among customers. This plays to our strengths because, in terms of daily usage, RTL+ has already reached a very strong position in the German streaming market. To further grow the monetization of advertising in streaming requires [increases] in watched hours.

Last year, we adjusted our tiering structure and introduced a fourth plan, the advertising-heavy “Basic” plan for €5.99 per month. This move was well received by our subscribers with no impact on churn, increased our ARPU by more than 25 percent and has already doubled our run-rate advertising revenue on RTL+.

WS: We know how dominant YouTube has become on the television set; what’s been RTL Group’s approach to that platform?
RABE: YouTube has indeed become a major platform in the living room, and we see that trend very clearly in our markets. It is also one of RTL Group’s largest competitors—alongside other global tech giants and international streaming services.

Our approach is to embrace global platforms like YouTube where they add value, while at the same time investing in our own services and local content, all of which are essential to RTL Group’s long-term growth. Rather than competing head-on, we use YouTube strategically to extend the reach and monetization of our content and for promotion. Fremantle, for example, has built a global presence on YouTube and is one of the biggest producers on YouTube worldwide, with billions of monthly views from formats such as Got Talent and Idol. These shows have become digital brands, allowing us to engage younger audiences, create new revenue streams and extend the life cycle of our IP beyond traditional TV.

At the same time, we are investing heavily in our own streaming services with a clear focus on exclusive local content and building direct customer relationships. With RTL+ in Germany, we are increasingly testing content on YouTube, learning how to best reach digital audiences.

As part of the new content windowing strategy, RTL Deutschland has launched dedicated YouTube channels around popular program brands with the goal of establishing a new revenue stream and monetizing as many views as possible. In 2025, eight channels went live, with the launch of Alarm für Cobra 11 being the most successful start of all newly created channels. Building on this momentum, six additional channels are planned for 2025, with further expansion continuing in 2026.

WS: You’ve maintained your growth target for Fremantle; what’s driving that business currently, and what strategy shifts has it needed to make?
RABE: Fremantle is a strategic growth pillar for RTL Group, and over the past years, the company has significantly grown its portfolio across all genres and regions, with acquisitions in the Nordics, the U.K., Italy, France, the U.S., Asia and Australia. Following the acquisitions of Asacha Media Group and Beach House Pictures in 2024, the focus for Fremantle shifted to post-merger integration and margin improvement.

At the same time, the international market for content production has slowed in recent years, with commissioning becoming more selective. This makes disciplined investment and a clear focus on high-quality, scalable IP more important than ever. To navigate this environment, Fremantle’s management has sharpened its strategy around five clear priorities and growth drivers. These include scaling the development of original IP, deploying AI across the production value chain and focusing on targeted, IP-driven acquisitions—particularly small and mid-sized production companies. We are also growing in high-potential genres and regions, while maintaining cost discipline with a clear profitability target: reaching an adjusted EBITA margin of 9 percent by 2026.

Our midterm goal remains to grow Fremantle’s full-year revenue to €3 billion ($3.5 billion), both through organic expansion and selective acquisitions. Investments in the U.S. market—including Eureka, Passenger and a stake in Fabel Entertainment—reflect this ambition. The U.S. remains Fremantle’s largest and most dynamic market, and we’re confident in the company’s ability to continue delivering strong creative and financial performance.

WS: What is your policy toward AI, and how is RTL Group benefiting from Bertelsmann’s partnership with OpenAI?
RABE: The media industry has been quick to adopt generative AI, from streaming to content production and marketing. AI technology has the power to transform our businesses by enhancing creativity and driving productivity. In particular, AI will fundamentally change the economics of video production, enabling massive cost savings and serving as a key driver of profitability for media companies in the years ahead, leading to more content produced, intensifying the battle for discoverability of programs and for the attention of audiences.

The challenge for us is to capture these efficiencies faster and more effectively than others, which requires us to rethink traditional workflows. At the same time, the areas of greatest value creation and margin will become even more decisive: IP creation, licensing and distribution.

This is why we are investing in AI, training our workforce and entering into partnerships with AI companies such as OpenAI and Perplexity. But first and foremost, we will remain the partner of choice for creative talent. We know human creativity is, and always will be, the foundation of our success, and, combined with AI, will continue to thrive at RTL Group.

WS: How is RTL Group leveraging AI in practice, and what are some tangible examples?
RABE: One example is Imaginae Studios, a new unit within Fremantle focused on native AI production. The goal is to explore innovation in creative processes while capturing operational learnings that we can roll out more broadly. We’re also actively scaling AI use cases across the entire production value chain, from early development to post­production, to boost creativity, improve speed and enhance efficiency.

AI is becoming an integral part of how our broadcasters operate, too. At RTL Deutschland, for example, we are making content safer and more efficient with an AI-powered youth-protection tool, which flags risks like violence or strong language and reduces screening time by up to 80 percent while keeping human oversight. Beyond safety, AI is also transforming our marketing efforts across RTL Deutschland, Groupe M6 and Fremantle, where it already generates trailers, openers and bumpers, delivering meaningful savings and creative impact.

WS: We’ve seen some innovative partnerships emerge recently, like TF1 and Netflix, and France Télévisions with Prime Video. What’s been RTL Group’s approach to partnerships with key digital players?
RABE: We are seeing a clear trend: broadcasters and global streamers are increasingly exploring new forms of collaboration. Deals like TF1’s partnership with Netflix or ITVX teaming up with Disney+ are part of a broader shift in the industry—and they underscore the continued strength and relevance of tele­vision. These partnerships are mutually beneficial. For local broadcasters, they unlock new monetization opportunities beyond traditional windows. For global platforms, they offer better access to high-quality local content and well-established creative ecosystems.

We have been investing in strategic partnerships across multiple fields for a long time, and these partnerships have proven highly successful. Wherever attractive new opportunities arise, we will pursue them. For us, the key criteria are clear: partnerships must deliver long-term value, strengthen our audience reach and support the strategic goals of our streaming and content businesses. And I am confident that we will be able to announce further collaborations in the coming weeks and months.

WS: You closed the sale of RTL Nederland this year after receiving regulatory approval. How do you see the media regulatory landscape in Europe at present? What changes do you think are needed to help European companies withstand competition from the global tech giants?
RABE: We believe market consolidation is essential for European media companies to compete with the tech platforms. That means allowing strategic partnerships and, where appropriate, mergers to create national media champions with the scale, investment capacity and long-term sustainability needed in today’s market.

Current regulations are years behind actual developments. That is why we are calling for a more forward-looking approach to consolidation. The current rules in Europe date back to the analog age when there was no YouTube, Facebook or Netflix. Competition law currently does not take into account the strength of and direct competition with global tech giants.

We continue to believe that the proposed merger of Groupe TF1 and Groupe M6 would have been the right response to this growing competitive pressure from international streaming and tech platforms. While the merger was ultimately not approved, we remain open to revisiting it.

WS: Are you pursuing other acquisition opportunities, either at the parent group level or at Fremantle?
RABE: At the group level, our immediate focus is on the regulatory approval process for the announced acquisition of Sky Deutschland, the largest transaction of RTL Group since its inception in 2000. On a pro forma basis, full-year 2024 revenue will rise to more than €8 billion ($9.4 billion),  a major milestone for the group. Currently, we are engaging closely with the European Commission. Beyond that, we continue to look at smaller opportunities, for example, at Fremantle and in talent management and influencer marketing.

WS: What are your goals for the business in the next 12 to 18 months?
RABE: Our priority is clear: executing our strategy. On streaming, this means reaching our subscriber and profitability targets. A major milestone will be completing the migration of RTL+ to our Bedrock streaming tech platform. Fremantle’s focus is to continue growing its creative pipeline, particularly in drama and entertainment formats, while systemically integrating AI into production workflows and further improving margins. And once we have received regulatory approvals for the acquisition of Sky Deutschland, our goal will be to integrate the business and realize the targeted synergies. Exciting times are ahead for RTL Group.