In December 2023, RTL Group announced the envisaged sale of RTL Nederland to DPG Media, and therefore presents its full-year results for 2023 without RTL Nederland (IFRS 5, discontinued operations). As RTL Nederland was included in the Group’s guidance for 2023, selected pro-forma figures including RTL Nederland are provided below:
Pro-forma figures (including RTL Nederland)1
Reported figures (continuing operations, without RTL Nederland)2
Luxembourg, 14 March 2024 – RTL Group announces its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2023.
Thomas Rabe, Chief Executive Officer of RTL Group, says:
”In 2023, we demonstrated the resilience of our businesses in a particularly challenging environment. As announced, we invested through the cycle. We grew our streaming services, extended our market leadership positions, in particular in Germany, and released globally acclaimed content. The second half of 2023 was one of the most profitable half-years in the history of RTL Group despite weak advertising markets and significant investments, enabling us to pay an attractive dividend. Our shareholders will also benefit in 2025 from the value crystallised by the expected sale of RTL Nederland for €1.1 billion.
Our strategic framework remains unchanged. It will continue to guide us in 2024: to strengthen our core businesses, to grow our streaming and content businesses, and to build alliances and partnerships.”
In December 2023, RTL Group announced that it has reached an agreement on the sale of RTL Nederland to DPG Media, a leading multimedia company active in the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. Subject to regulatory approvals and the consultation process with the respective works councils, the all-cash transaction is expected to close around mid-2024. The total consideration on a debt- and cash-free basis and with a normalised net working capital, to be paid at closing, amounts to €1.1 billion.
In 2023, RTL Deutschland’s combined audience share in the main commercial target group of viewers aged 14 to 59 increased to 27.4 per cent (2022: 26.8 per cent), extending the lead over its main commercial competitor ProSiebenSat1 to 5.8 percentage points – the biggest lead in the last 10 years (2022: lead of 4.5 percentage points). RTL and Vox were the number-one and number-two commercial channels in Germany in the commercial target group of viewers aged 14 to 59.
The combined audience share of Groupe M6’s free-to-air channels in the commercial target group (women under 50 responsible for purchases) reached 21.9 per cent (2022: 22.3 per cent), thereby representing the second-most-watched commercial family of TV channels in France. In the target group of viewers aged 25 to 49, the combined audience share of Groupe M6 was slightly up to 20.5 per cent (2022: 20.3 per cent).
As the exclusive TV partner of NFL in Germany, RTL Deutschland kicked off its coverage in September, scoring higher audience shares in the target groups of viewers aged 14 to 59 and 14 to 49 compared to the average audience shares of the previous season. The NFL has been particularly successful with young viewers: with an average audience share of 23.0 per cent (kick-off 22:00) in the target group of young men (aged 14 to 29) in 2023, RTL is reaching viewers who are particularly important for advertising sales on linear TV.
RTL Group continued to invest significantly in content across all genres. This included investments in rights for live sports events to strengthen its linear TV channels and gain new subscribers for its streaming services:
By the end of 2023, RTL Group had registered 5.569 million paying subscribers for its streaming services RTL+ in Germany and Hungary and 6play in France, up 30.5 per cent year on year (31 December 2022: 4.267 million).
Fremantle, RTL Group’s global content business, targets full-year revenue of €3 billion by 2025/2026. To reach this goal, RTL Group is investing in Fremantle across all three content pillars – entertainment, drama and film, and documentaries:
Fremantle had major creative successes in 2023 and won 145 awards (2022: 115). The film Poor Things from Fremantle company Element Pictures was awarded four Academy Awards (Oscars) out of eleven nominations, alongside winning two Golden Globes and The Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Wildside film C’è ancora domani (There’s Still Tomorrow) won three awards at the Rome Film Festival and was Italy’s most successful film of the year. In 2024, Fremantle will deliver several films such as Queer, starring Daniel Craig, and Without Blood, directed by Angelina Jolie and starring Salma Hayek.
To compete with the global tech platforms, RTL Group is fostering alliances and partnerships in the European media industry. These focus on national and international advertising sales and joint investments in advertising and streaming technology solutions via Smartclip and Bedrock.
In August 2023, RTL Deutschland’s advertising sales house, Ad Alliance, signed an agreement to take over the advertising sales of the digital portfolio of Bauer Advance from 1 January 2024. In March 2024, the agreement was extended to also take over the advertising sales of Bauer Advance’s print portfolio from 1 January 2025. The partnership includes all brands of the Bauer Media Group.
In December 2023, Sky Deutschland and RTL Deutschland announced a strategic two-year content partnership to offer German viewers access to even more live sport. This includes sublicensing seven Formula 1 races, one game from the English Premier League per match week on RTL+, and three conference broadcasts of the 2nd Bundesliga for RTL Deutschland. The partnership also includes selected highlights rights and Sky fiction productions.
As part of the envisaged sale of RTL Nederland, RTL Group and DPG Media will enter into a strategic partnership, spanning from technology to advertising sales and content. At the time of closing of the transaction, the service agreements for RTL Nederland in the areas of streaming technology (via Bedrock), broadcasting operations (via RTL Group’s technical services provider BCE) and international advertising sales (via RTL AdAlliance) will be renewed for at least three years. RTL Nederland will also continue to use the solutions provided by RTL Group’s advertising technology business, Smartclip.
In February 2024, RTL Deutschland and ProSiebenSat1 announced an advertising technology partnership, which will bundle the services of their advertising technology businesses, Smartclip and Virtual Minds. This will enable advertisers to book advertising campaigns across all inventories – linear and non-linear, including the streaming services RTL+ and Joyn.
The geopolitical and macroeconomic environment remains volatile, and the impact on RTL Group’s businesses continues to be hard to predict. On the basis of a slight recovery of the German TV advertising market and broadly stable advertising markets in the Group’s other territories,
Profitability is expected by 202613.
Fremantle targets full-year revenue of €3 billion by 2025/2026.
To achieve this goal, RTL Group is investing significantly in Fremantle – both organically and via acquisitions – across entertainment, drama and film, and documentaries.
After integrating its acquired labels/production companies into the Fremantle network and reducing overhead, Fremantle’s Adjusted EBITA margin is expected to increase to 9 per cent by 2026.
All documents on the full-year results 2023 are available to download at: RTL Group full-year results 2023
1 The pro-forma figures for the financial year 2023 include RTL Nederland. RTL Group’s outlook for the full-year 2023, as communicated on 8 November 2023, is based on these pro-forma accounts
2 Due to the reached agreement to sell RTL Nederland, as communicated on 15 December 2023, the operating segment RTL Nederland is classified as held for sale and presented as discontinued operations in RTL Group’s consolidated accounts for the year 2023 (Application of IFRS 5 ‘Non-current assets held for sale and discontinued operations’ to the operating segment RTL Nederland). The figures of the consolidated income statement and the consolidated cash flow statement for the year 2022 are restated in accordance with IFRS 5 to report the discontinued operations separately from continuing operations. If not indicated otherwise, all figures presented/reported in this document refer to continuing operations
3 Adjusted for portfolio changes and at constant exchange rates. Further details can be found in Key performance indicators on page 23 of RTL Group’s Full-year results 2023 report
4 Streaming revenue includes SVOD, TVOD, in-stream and distribution revenue from RTL+ in Germany, 6play in France and RTL+ in Hungary (including RTL+/RTL+ Active/RTL+ Light)
5 Revenue generated across all distribution platforms (cable, satellite, internet TV) including re-transmission fees
6 See Key performance indicators on pages 23 to 25 of RTL Group’s Full-year results 2023 report
7 Operating cash conversion rate reflects the level of operating profits converted into cash. Further details can be found in Key performance indicators on page 26 of RTL Group’s Full-year results 2023 report
8 Net cash/(debt) excludes current and non-current lease liabilities. Including these, net debt as of 31 December 2023 was €-592 million (31 December 2022: net debt of €-205 million). See Key performance indicators on page 27 of RTL Group’s Full-year results 2023 report
9 Frankfurt Stock Exchange
10 Source: Consumer Panel Services GfK: SVOD-Tracker
11 RTL+ in Germany, 6play in France and RTL+ in Hungary
12 RTL+ in Germany, M6+ (previous 6play) in France and RTL+ in Hungary
13 Total of Adjusted EBITA from RTL+ in Germany and Hungary, M6+ in France and Bedrock as consolidated on RTL Group level. The Adjusted EBITA of RTL+ in Germany and Hungary and M6+ includes synergies with TV channels at business unit level. For the definition of Adjusted EBITA please see Key performance indicators on pages 23 to 24 of RTL Group’s Full-year results 2023 report