In summer 2021, following a thorough review of RTL Group’s brand architecture, a team at RTL Group and the Group’s largest business unit, RTL Deutschland, rolled out our new one-brand strategy.

After a comprehensive redesign and repositioning, the multicoloured brand identity strengthened RTL as Europe’s leading entertainment brand. With one unified RTL brand, the focus is on entertainment and independent journalism, alongside inspiration, energy and attitude. The cornerstone is the multicoloured logo – a unique feature in Europe’s media landscape that now represents RTL Group, RTL Deutschland, RTL Nederland, RTL Hungary, RTL Luxembourg and RTL Ad Alliance.

The repositioning of RTL was a joint project between RTL Group and RTL Deutschland, while the new design was created by RTL Deutschland’s design team in close collaboration with design agency AKQA.

Oliver Fahlbusch, EVP Communications & Investor Relations at RTL Group, says: “The repositioning and redesign of our iconic brand RTL is a key element in the transformation of RTL Group. Since the launch three years ago, it has been fantastic to see the new branding come to life across our TV channels, streaming services, radio stations and digital touchpoints. The one-brand strategy helps to future-proof RTL in the European media landscape, as evidenced by the rapid growth of our streaming service RTL+ in Germany and Hungary and the strengthened market leadership of our family of channels in Germany and the Netherlands. The colourful and customisable branding perfectly reflects the diversity of our content and people.”

14 June 2021: The new brand identity is unveiled at RTL Deutschland’s location in Cologne and at Screenforce Days, Germany’s largest annual TV event. RTL Deutschland’s management team presents the new branding to employees, advertisers, partners and journalists, explaining how the new brand strategy will be pivotal in boosting the digital transformation of the business.

6 August 2021: RTL Group is the first to roll out the new branding with the publication of its interim results for 2021. RTL Group’s corporate site, intranet and daily newsletter are all revamped with the new brand identity.

15 September 2021: RTL Deutschland is the first business unit to roll out the new identity to its audience. Mediengruppe RTL is renamed to RTL Deutschland, five TV channels go on-air with the new brand identity, and rtl.com bundles all entertainment offerings under one digital hub, while merging the corporate sites of RTL Group and RTL Deutschland.

4 November 2021: RTL Deutschland’s streaming service TV Now becomes RTL+, ahead of significant investments over the following years to create Germany’s first multimedia app, combining video, music, audiobooks, podcasts and magazine content in one subscription and one app.

11 January 2022: RTL Deutschland joins forces with publishing house Gruner + Jahr to create Germany’s leading entertainment company across all media genres.

10 June 2022: The RTL brand wins a Gold Award in the ‘Excellent Brands: Media & Entertainment’ category of the German Brand Awards. The jury praises the “clear and comprehensive” relaunch of a brand that convinces audiences “in an ingenious way and with a captivating simplicity”.

22 June 2022: RTL AdAlliance – which combines RTL AdConnect, G+J iMS and the media division of Smartclip – is unveiled at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the unified RTL brand identity. Every year since, RTL Beach has become a staple on the Cannes Croisette, enticing visitors with the bright RTL brand and an engaging line-up of panels and talks.

22 August 2022: The RTL brand receives the renowned Red Dot Award in the ‘Brands & Communication Design 2022’ category for its excellent design and recent repositioning. The RTL brand, the RTL United font and the transformation project were all honoured by the international jury.

2 September 2022: RTL Hungary goes United! In honour of its 25th anniversary, RTL Hungary launches the new identity, joining the unified brand architecture of RTL. In the following months, RTL Hungary completely renews its corporate identity, alongside some of its TV and digital brands – such as news site rtl.hu. Flagship channel RTL Klub is renamed to RTL and advertising sales house R-Time becomes RTL Saleshouse.

7 September 2022: RTL Group launches its state-of-the-art career site, with a focus on one unified employer brand RTL, to attract fresh talent. The new site unites all RTL-branded businesses and harmonises the Group’s career offers with an overview of its nine job worlds: entertainment, journalism, tech, data, digital businesses, broadcast & production, sales, marketing communications, and corporate functions.

18 October 2022: RTL is featured in the German Design Council’s acclaimed publication Die großen Marken in Deutschland 2023 (The greatest brands in Germany 2023) for its successful repositioning of the RTL brand.

26 April 2023: RTL Luxembourg goes United! The new branding is unveiled during a special event at RTL City and rolled out across TV, websites, apps, social media and visual radio. The rebranding is accompanied by a cross-media marketing campaign, focusing on RTL’s core values and featuring multilingual slogans.

1 May 2023: RTL Nederland goes United! The unified RTL brand is launched across RTL Nederland’s TV channels, digital platforms and corporate identity, offering viewers, visitors, stakeholders and potential employees one experience and one RTL.

27 June 2023: Three major stations of RTL Radio Deutschland – 104.6 RTL, RTL Deutschland’s Hit Radio and 89.0 RTL – introduce the multicoloured logo and harmonised brand design of RTL across all platforms.

25 July 2023: The RTL brand is honoured with another Red Dot Award for the rebranding of RTL Luxembourg. Together with the design agency Gédéon, RTL Luxembourg receives ‘distinction’ in the ‘Brands & Communication Design’ category. The cross-media marketing campaign for the launch of RTL+ Musik – the audio app from RTL+ in Germany – is also awarded with a Red Dot Award in the same category.

15 August 2023: RTL Super, formerly known as Super RTL Primetime, joins the unified RTL brand identity. In comparison to children’s channel Super RTL, RTL Super operates during the prime-time slot and films and entertainment content for the rest of the family.

May 2024: The migration of RTL Group, RTL AdAlliance and RTL Hungary to our shared rtl.com email domain is complete, resulting in a more unified and simpler email structure for employees working in business units with the RTL brand identity.