RTL Group Reports First-Half Results

For the six months ended June 30, 2020, RTL Group’s revenues were down 16.4 percent to €2.7 billion amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while the company reported gains in market share and an increase in paying subs for its streaming services.

Profit for the period fell to €156 million.

“RTL Group reacted promptly to the worldwide spread of the coronavirus disease by focusing on four areas: the safety of our employees, the continuity of our businesses, liquidity, and cost and cash flow management,” said CEO Thomas Rabe. “As expected, our largest revenue stream—TV advertising—declined strongly in the second quarter of 2020, but we succeeded in offsetting 50 percent of the revenue decline. We did so without cutting into the substance of our businesses or reducing investments in our streaming services, which is reflected in gains in market shares and a significant growth in paying subscribers for our streaming services. This demonstrates the resilience of our businesses, and the strength of our management teams. Our broadcasters and Fremantle restarted productions across all genres to offer our viewers fresh and exclusive content.

“Despite the economic uncertainty, RTL Group’s three-priority strategy—core, growth, alliances & partnerships—remains unchanged. We maintain our mid-term targets for the streaming services TV Now in Germany and Videoland in the Netherlands to grow their total number of paying subscribers to between 5 and 7 million, to grow streaming revenue to at least €500 million and to break even by 2025. The growth in paying subscribers and streaming revenue in the first half of 2020 is in line with the ‘boost’ plans we presented in March.”

Streaming revenues in the first half from TV Now and Videoland rose by 23.1 percent to €80 million. At the end of June 2020, RTL Group registered 1.77 million paying subscribers for its streaming services. Ad revenues, meanwhile, dropped to €1.4 billion from €1.7 billion.

Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland revenues were down 16.9 percent to €904 million, while Groupe M6’s fell by 22.1 percent to €557 million. Fremantle revenues slipped by 14.6 percent to €707 million, with adjusted EBITDA down 56 percent to €23 million.