RTL Group saw its revenue for the first half of the year increase 2.3 percent to a record level of \u20ac3.05 billion ($3.6 billion), led by gains from digital, FremantleMedia and RTL Nederland.<\/p>\n
This marks the fourth consecutive year of first-half revenue increases, despite significant negative exchange-rate effects and major sporting events such as the Winter Olympics and the FIFA Football World Cup 2018.<\/p>\n
RTL Group’s digital business saw a 9-percent gain in revenues to \u20ac424 million ($495 million). FremantleMedia added \u20ac33 million ($38.5 million) in revenue in the half-year period. RTL Nederland saw revenue gains of \u20ac13 million ($15 million).<\/p>\n
Reported EBITDA was up by 1.9 percent to \u20ac638 million ($744 million), mainly thanks to RTL Nederland. Net profit attributable to RTL Group shareholders was nearly flat at \u20ac318 million ($371 million).<\/p>\n
It was a strong second-quarter performance that helped to drive the positive half-year results. In Q2 2018, RTL Group\u2019s revenue was up by 3.6 percent to \u20ac1.6 billion ($1.9 billion), mainly led by FremantleMedia. The successful return of American Idol<\/em> on ABC more than compensated for negative exchange-rate effects.<\/p>\n Bert Habets, CEO of RTL Group, said:\u00a0\u201cThe good results for the first half of 2018 highlight once again the key strengths of RTL Group: with our broad international footprint across broadcast, content, digital and an ever-more diversified revenue mix, we continue to grow organically, even in challenging market environments. Our high levels of profit margins and cash generation allow us to combine attractive dividends with significant organic growth initiatives.<\/p>\n \u201cIn our rapidly changing Total Video industry, growth mainly comes from non-linear or streaming services. We will further increase investments in our video-on-demand services, with a clear focus on local, exclusive content, and gradually adopt a hybrid model\u2014combining a free, advertising-financed service with a premium pay product. First examples of our building strong local streaming champions are the upcoming massive expansion of TV Now in Germany and Videoland in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery investment in local, exclusive content strengthens both our linear TV channels and our nonlinear on-demand services. This local, exclusive content focus is the power engine for our Total Video offers. Especially with FremantleMedia\u2019s push into scripted drama, we are fuelling our content pipeline. Currently, FremantleMedia is seeking funding for at least 35 scripted series ideas that we want to realize. As a consequence, international drama productions will already generate more than 20 percent of FremantleMedia\u2019s total revenue in 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" RTL Group saw its revenue for the first half of the year increase 2.3 percent to a record level of \u20ac3.05 billion ($3.6 billion), led by gains from digital, FremantleMedia and RTL Nederland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":350,"featured_media":8656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[506,153],"class_list":["post-8655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-fremantlemedia","tag-rtl-group"],"yoast_head":"\n