Wherever attractive opportunities arise, the Group aims to consolidate across its existing European broadcasting footprint – including mergers and acquisitions. The strategic rationale is about scale, pooling resources and creativity to compete with global tech platforms in the respective national markets. Instead of consolidating in larger steps, as initially planned, RTL Group executes a series of smaller steps as an alternative path to scale. This includes, for example, strengthening the Group’s national and international ad sales businesses, fostering distribution partnerships, investments in streaming technology and data, or smaller consolidation steps. In Belgium, Croatia and most recently in the Netherlands, RTL Group decided to sell its TV and streaming businesses to regional media companies so that they can act as consolidators in these markets.

Building and extending families of TV channels addresses increasing audience fragmentation and competition in a digital, multi-channel world, with the overall goal of maintaining or growing RTL Group’s audience shares and net TV advertising market shares in the various countries. In recent years, RTL Group’s families of channels have been extended by digital channels, including Nitro, RTL Up, Vox Up and 6ter.

To further strengthen its broadcasting business, RTL Group aims to increase non-advertising revenue. This includes growing revenue from platform operators – cable network operators, satellite companies and internet TV providers – for services such as high-definition TV channels, streaming services and digital pay-TV channels (distribution revenue) as well as intensifying distribution and pay-streaming partnerships.

Investing in premium content and exploring all ways to develop and own new hit formats are key to strengthening RTL Group’s core business. In 2024, RTL Group spent around €4 billion on content, combining the programming spend of its broadcasters and the productions of its global content business, Fremantle. Investment in local, exclusive content – including the rights for live sports events – strengthens RTL Group’s linear TV channels, streaming services, and news and magazine formats.

The following deals strengthen the Group’s linear channels – helping to attract primarily male audiences – and play an important part in gaining new paying subscribers for the Group’s streaming services:

Germany

• Highlight rights for the German football league (Bundesliga) for streaming service RTL+ for four seasons starting from 2025/26
• Free-TV rights for the weekly top match of the second league (2. Bundesliga) for the four seasons 2025/26 to 2028/29
• Uefa Europa League and Europa Conference League for the seasons 2024/25 to 2026/27
• Half of all football matches of the German national team in the Uefa Nations League until 2028
• European Qualifiers for both the Fifa World Cup 2026 and Uefa Euro 2028
• National Football League (NFL) matches including the Super Bowl until 2028
• More than 15 Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fights per year from 2025 to 2027
• Content partnership with Sky Deutschland: seven Formula 1 races broadcast live on RTL in Germany, alongside one game from the English Premier League per match week on RTL+, and three conference broadcasts of the Bundesliga on RTL. The partnership also includes selected highlights rights and Sky fiction productions. Sky Deutschland will receive rights to two Uefa Europa League or Uefa Europa Conference League games per match week
• Licensing agreement with Paramount Global Content Distribution: attractive programme package for RTL+ and RTL Deutschland’s free-to-air TV channels, including German premieres and highlights from Paramount’s library
• Strategic partnership with Constantin Film: cross-platform licensing of exclusive free-to-air TV content and exclusive streaming rights for all theatrical productions in Germany
• Strategic partnership with the production companies Wiedemann & Berg Film and Leonine Studios: multi-year framework agreement for exclusive free-to-air TV and streaming rights to German film productions
• Exclusive five-year deal with German entertainer and TV producer Stefan Raab for linear television programmes and formats on RTL+

France

• Most of the matches of the Fifa World Cup in 2026 and 2030 – a total of 54 matches for each tournament
• Free-to-air TV rights of the Uefa Champions League finals in 2025, 2026 and 2027
• 22 National Football League (NFL) matches for the 2023 to 2027 seasons

Others

• Hungary: Uefa Champions League starting in the 2024/25 season for three years
• Hungary: retained linear and digital rights to the Uefa Europa League and the Uefa European Conference League for three years for the seasons 2024/25 to 2026/27
• Luxembourg: Uefa European Qualifiers until 2028
• Luxembourg: Formula 1 races until 2026

RTL Group’s management continuously reviews the Group’s portfolio. In previous years, RTL Group sold several non-core assets in Europe – including the football club Girondins de Bordeaux and the website MonAlbumPhoto in France, the home entertainment and theatrical distribution company Universum Film in Germany, the digital video network BroadbandTV (BBTV) based in Vancouver, and the ad-tech company SpotX, the mobile entertainment company Ludia and the software and data company for media measurement, VideoAmp, all in the US. In 2024, RTL Group carried out several sales of shares in Magnite – the US ad-tech company – completing divestment of its financial interest.

These disposals are consistent with RTL Group’s strategy to focus on growing its European digital businesses in the areas of streaming and advertising technology, alongside the Group’s global content business, Fremantle.

RTL Group is building national streaming champions in the European countries where it has leading families of TV channels. These streaming services capitalise on the Group’s competitive advantage in local programming to complement global services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+.

RTL Group operates the services RTL+ in Germany and Hungary and M6+ in France that have gradually introduced a hybrid business model consisting of various price packages. Lower-priced or free packages are predominantly or fully financed by advertising. Various premium price packages include, for example, parallel streams on various devices, the live signal of RTL TV channels in HD quality and premium content bundles. These content bundles offer programmes from the Group’s linear TV channels in the respective countries, plus premium content either exclusively produced or licensed from third parties.

Following the envisaged disposal of the Dutch streaming service Videoland and the investments in M6+ in France, RTL Group has updated the targets for its streaming services RTL+ in Germany and Hungary and M6+ (previously 6play): by 2026, the Group aims to reach around 9 million paying subscribers and around €750 million of streaming revenue. RTL Group plans to increase its annual content spend for its streaming services to around €500 million and to become profitable in streaming by 2026. By the end of December 2024, RTL Group had 6.764 million paying subscribers for its streaming services RTL+ in Germany and Hungary and M6+ in France – up 21.5 per cent year on year (end of December 2023: 5.569 million).

In Germany, the Group rebranded its rapidly growing streaming service as RTL+ in November 2021 and launched the RTL+ multimedia app at the beginning of August 2023. RTL+ is the first German all-in-one streaming bundle that combines video, music, audiobooks, podcasts and magazine content in one subscription and one app, which is a unique selling proposition in the German-speaking market.

In July 2024, RTL Group announced that the Group’s largest streaming service, RTL+ in Germany, plans to migrate to the Bedrock technology platform. This plan is in line with RTL Group’s strategy to deepen Group-wide cooperation in technology, advertising sales and content. The goal is to complete the migration of RTL+ in Germany to the Bedrock platform in early 2026, which will generate significant cost savings and increase its innovation strength. The migration will contribute to RTL Group’s goal of reaching profitability with its streaming businesses in 2026 and to further grow Bedrock.

In March 2024, Groupe M6 announced additional investments of €100 million annually in M6+ for content, technology and marketing, ramping up over three years. The service is primarily financed by advertising (AVOD), complemented by a premium subscription tier (SVOD). M6+ runs on the technology platform provided by Bedrock and was launched on 14 May 2024 with a record performance. Compared to the predecessor 6play in 2023, M6+ registered 30 per cent more monthly users and increased streaming hours by 35 per cent, based on the in-house heartbeat measurement¹. In 2024, M6+ registered 21.5 million average monthly active users (2023: 16.6 million average monthly active users for 6play). M6+ is available on all connected TV devices in France and recorded more than 1 million concurrent users during the Uefa Euro 2024 quarter finals – another record for M6+, which attracts the youngest audience among free and French streaming services.

RTL Hungary launched its streaming service RTL+ in November 2022. The service offers exclusive local content – a unique feature in the Hungarian streaming landscape – and is also based on Bedrock technology. In August 2024, RTL Hungary announced a strategic partnership with One (previously called 4iG Group). From 1 January 2025, Hungarian integrated service provider One, together with its telecommunications subsidiaries, exclusively distributes RTL Hungary's linear TV channels and the streaming service RTL+. In the coming years, One’s content production division will support RTL Hungary in broadcasting the Uefa Champions League, Uefa Europa League and the Uefa European Conference League matches.

_{¹ Source: In-house measurement ‘Heartbeat’, includes content exclusive to the platform – like-for-like basis. According to Médiamétrie, viewing hours were up 11 per cent to 575 million hours (January to September 2023: 518 million hours). Médiamétrie – TV rating across 4 Screens (channels) – not including viewing of 6play exclusive programmes}

RTL Group’s content business, Fremantle, is one of the world’s largest creators, producers and distributors of scripted and unscripted content. Fremantle runs an international network of teams across production and distribution in 27 countries. The company is responsible for more than 11,000 hours of programming each year, and distributes content worldwide.

RTL Group confirms that Fremantle’s Adjusted EBITA margin is expected to increase to 9 per cent by 2026. Fremantle continues to target full-year revenue of €3 billion in the mid-term, including the acquisition of small and medium-sized production companies and partnerships with creative talent.

Fremantle pursues three strategic goals:

• Protect and grow the core: Maintaining its position as a leading producer and distributor of quality programming by nurturing established brands such as Idols, Got Talent and Family Feud, while investing in creating new formats and brands and expanding the client base with global streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
• Grow drama, film and documentaries: Fremantle has made a series of investments in talent and labels to grow its drama, film and documentary business, and be the best choice for talent. The company has strengthened its European footprint, expanded its scripted business and invested in several documentary production companies to become a leading producer of high-end documentaries.
• Create a portfolio business by exploiting new monetisation models such as branded entertainment, direct-to-consumer and FAST channels. Fremantle has launched 20 own FAST channels in 20 territories, such as Family Feud: Steve Harvey, Jamie Oliver, Baywatch and America’s Got Talent, which are currently available on 24 different platforms. Fremantle has an ambitious plan to leverage its global footprint and grow the business internationally.

Fremantle continues to invest in high-end productions to accelerate its growth in drama series, films and documentaries. Acquisitions include, for example, Miso Film in Scandinavia, This is Nice Group in the Nordics, Wildside and Lux Vide in Italy, Asacha Media Group and Kwaï in France, A Team Productions in Belgium, Silvio Productions in Israel, Dancing Ledge Productions, 72 Films and Wildstar Films in the UK, Passenger in the US, Eureka in the US and Australia, Element Pictures in the UK and Ireland and Beach House Pictures in Asia.

Fremantle also bought minority stakes in a number of new production companies to secure first access to their creative talent and output. Working with world-class storytellers is key to Fremantle’s scripted strategy.

Combining the strengths of RTL Group’s core business – high reach, brand safety and emotional storytelling – with data and targeting offers significant growth potential for the Group’s largest revenue stream: advertising. Addressable TV will grow the available inventory, attract new advertisers and can be sold at a premium compared to traditional linear TV advertising.

RTL Group’s largest unit, RTL Deutschland, is responsible for the Group’s ad-tech business, Smartclip. Based on Smartclip technology, RTL aims to create an open ad-tech platform tailored to the needs of European broadcasters and streaming services. Accordingly, RTL Deutschland will invest further in evolving and growing the Smartclip platform. This includes acquisitions such as French ad-tech company Realytics, which complemented the existing ad-tech stack. Realytics systematically analyses the impact of TV advertising on advertiser websites and ensures data availability for digital ad decision-making.

Bedrock, a French technology company co-founded by RTL Group and Groupe M6, builds the tech platform for Groupe M6’s streaming service M6+, Videoland in the Netherlands and RTL+ in Hungary, with RTL+ in Germany to be fully migrated in early 2026. This common platform allows RTL Group to bundle streaming technology investments.

In competing with the global tech platforms, new alliances and partnerships between European media companies become increasingly important.

In autumn 2019, RTL Group’s management started to promote new partnership opportunities – all based on the philosophy of bundling European broadcasters’ resources to establish open and neutral platforms. RTL Group offers these partnership opportunities in areas such as advertising sales, advertising technology, streaming technology, content creation and data.

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 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 ad-tech business, Smartclip.

In January 2025, Deutsche Telekom and RTL Deutschland announced an agreement to renew their streaming cooperation – which started at the end of 2020 – until 2030. Under the terms of the agreement, RTL+ Premium is automatically included in most price plans of Deutsche Telekom’s TV offer, MagentaTV, without additional fees for MagentaTV customers. Renewing the successful cooperation between Deutsche Telekom and RTL Deutschland for another five years contributes significantly to RTL Group’s strategic streaming goals.

The strategic partnership of Sky Deutschland and RTL Deutschland started in January 2024. It includes the sublicensing of seven Formula 1 races, one game from the English Premier League per match week on RTL+ and three conference broadcasts of the 2. Bundesliga for RTL Deutschland. The partnership also includes selected highlights rights and Sky fiction productions. In July 2024, the partnership was extended by including RTL+ and RTL Deutschland’s channels in HD quality in Sky Stream.

In December 2024, RTL Deutschland’s and ProSiebenSat1’s advertising technology partnership started, which bundles the services of their advertising technology businesses, Smartclip and Virtual Minds, to enable advertisers to book campaigns across all inventories – linear and non-linear – including the streaming services RTL+ and Joyn, as there was no technical approach in the market to unify the different consumption channels before. The arrangement utilises the complementary strengths of both businesses: RTL’s technology solutions for digital TV (specifically for addressable TV, online video, and connected TV) and, Virtual Minds’ innovative approaches for the digitisation of linear TV advertising. The long-term vision is to create a European TV ecosystem that offers the same benefits for advertisers and broadcasters on a European scale, not just in Germany. In 2025, the parties are progressing towards the creation of an open, transparent platform that unifies digital and linear advertising with straightforward booking options.

In December 2024, Smartclip and M6 Publicité, the advertising sales house of Groupe M6, announced a strategic technology partnership. Smartclip’s advanced ad-tech solutions will progressively be integrated into M6 Publicité’s ad-tech stack, supporting Groupe M6’s ambition to triple its streaming revenue to €200 million by 2028 compared to 2023.

In January 2025, RTL Group, as part of a partnership between Bertelsmann and Open AI, became part of a far-reaching collaboration with the world’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) company. The central element of the partnership is early access to leading AI tools, which, among other things, enables creatives to automatically produce high-quality video content that retains an individual and creative signature thanks to the user’s design. RTL Deutschland and OpenAI are working together to adapt the tools to the needs of the media industry and to set new standards in video storytelling for the creation of unique content.

One key development for RTL Group’s largest revenue stream – advertising – has been the increased demand from advertisers and agencies for global ad-buying opportunities. Consequently, RTL Group is expanding international advertising sales to cater to the demand from international advertisers and agencies for easy access to the Group’s large portfolio of TV and streaming services, its social media company and advertising technology in a brand-safe environment.

In 2022, RTL Group combined RTL AdConnect, G+J iMS and the media division of Smartclip to create an international advertising sales champion: RTL AdAlliance. RTL AdAlliance provides international advertisers with simplified access to a unique portfolio of media brands across TV, digital video, radio/audio, online, mobile and print.

In October 2024, RTL Group’s international sales house, RTL AdAlliance, announced that the multi-channel sales house IP Österreich – now a 100-per-cent subsidiary of RTL Group – will fully become part of RTL AdAlliance and merge its portfolio from July 2025 onwards. Advertising clients in Austria will benefit from the advertising inventory of well-known European media brands and the premium content of RTL AdAlliance.

On a national level, the German Ad Alliance launched in 2016, offering high reach to advertisers and agencies. Ad Alliance in Germany is a one-stop shop for the development of cross-media solutions and innovative advertising products. Its portfolio spans television, radio/audio, print, and digital. Ad Alliance is the only sales house in Germany that offers complex, all-media campaigns from a single source. In 2019, the sales house Media Impact (Axel Springer) became a partner of Ad Alliance, and from January 2024, Ad Alliance has taken over the advertising sales of the digital portfolio of Bauer Advance. The partnership includes all digital brands of the Bauer Media Group and is a further step towards RTL Group’s envisaged ad sales consolidation. Together, the platforms of Ad Alliance reach 99 per cent of the German population. Ad Alliance remains open to additional partnerships.