Super Bowl success

In the early hours of Monday 19 February, RTL Deutschland broadcast the Super Bowl live for the first time. The Super Bowl is the grand finale of the NFL season, determining the reigning champion of the preceding season. RTL Deutschland, as NFL’s exclusive TV partner in Germany, broadcast the game live from Las Vegas on flagship channel RTL.

The broadcast was a complete success, breaking three records for audience shares on linear TV in Germany. In the 14-59 target group, RTL Deutschland scored an average audience share of 53.7 per cent, which increased to 65.8 per cent in the 14-49 target group. When the game went into overtime, 79.7 per cent of 14- to 49-year-olds tuned in on free-to-air TV. It has been 23 years since RTL Deutschland achieved an audience share of over 70 per cent for a live sports broadcast – during the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2001. The third record was scored in the total audience group: An average of 1.71 million and peak of 2.27 million fans tuned in, representing a total audience share of 38.6 per cent. The Super Bowl was also a success for streaming service RTL+, with a total of 6.77 million minutes of NFL content streamed on Sunday 18 February.

Inga Leschek, Programme Managing Director RTL and RTL+, says: "For Americans, a perfect season is a flawless record with a never-ending winning streak. There's no other way to describe our first NFL season: It was a perfect team performance, which concluded with a nail-biting overtime final at the end. With the clout of RTL Deutschland, we gave American football an unprecedented media presence in Germany. We look forward to continuing to showcase this fascinating sport to an ever-growing fan base in the coming years."

_{Jana Wosnitza, Inga Leschek and Markus Kuhn}

Outperforming the previous season

The victory of the Kansas City Chiefs was the perfect ending to RTL Deutschland’s first NFL season, during which the team created a new studio, introduced a new on-air team and invested in content across all channels. Thanks to these efforts, the NFL reached more people in Germany than ever before. With increased audience shares in all relevant target groups, NFL content clearly outperformed the previous season – both in the regular season and during playoffs.

For the playoffs, which took place in January, RTL Deutschland increased the audience share in all advertising-relevant target groups compared to the previous season: 17.2 per cent in the 14-49 target group (up 5.8 percentage points), 12.9 per cent in the 14-59 group (up 5.2 percentage points) and a total audience share of 7.7 per cent (up 3.2 percentage points). For the regular season, the NFL achieved a new record on free-to-air TV during Sunday prime time when 850,000 fans watched the Detroit Lions take on the Chicago Bears during week 11. The Chiefs’ performance in Frankfurt was also a season highlight, with an average of 1.35 million and peak of 1.51 million fans tuning into the most-watched game of the season. The regular season was particularly successful among young men, achieving an audience share of 23 per cent in the 14-29 male target group.

Reaching new target groups with cross-media content

With a 360-degree approach and content across TV, radio and streaming, American football has never been so popular in Germany. Since April 2023, 247 hours of NFL-related content have been broadcast on RTL Deutschland’s linear channels. RTL News produced 619 NFL reports for TV, while up to 19.5 per cent of 3- to 13-year-olds watched Toggo Touchdown. RTL Sport’s social media channels were popular among the 14-29 male target group – achieving 130,000 new followers and over 100 million impressions by the end of the season.

Overall, the NFL was a cross-media success for RTL Deutschland. Next up is the NFL Draft on 25 April, which will be broadcast live from Detroit on Nitro.