RTL is Europe’s leading entertainment brand standing for entertainment, independent journalism, inspiration, energy and attitude. With our TV channels, streaming services, radio stations and online platforms in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Hungary and Luxembourg, we reach millions of people across Europe every day. The RTL brand is owned by RTL Group.
RTL has transformed from a traditional broadcast company to a content, tech and data powerhouse. Our roots date back to 1924 and since then, our core purpose is telling stories which are emotional, entertaining, engaging and informative. We then bring those stories to our audience in every market we are active in.
RTL Group is a leading entertainment company across broadcast, streaming, content and digital, with interests in 56 television channels, eight streaming services and 36 radio stations.
The Group’s families of TV channels are either number one or number two in six European countries, while RTL Group owns, or has interests in, radio stations in France, Germany, Spain and Luxembourg. RTL Deutschland is the Group’s largest business unit and Germany’s first cross-media champion, operating across TV, streaming, radio, and digital publishing. RTL Group’s streaming services include RTL+ in Germany and Hungary, Videoland in the Netherlands and 6play in France.
Fremantle is one of the world’s largest creators, producers and distributors of scripted and unscripted content, and is responsible for around 12,000 hours of programming per year, alongside an international network of teams operating in 27 countries. The streaming tech company, Bedrock, and the ad-tech company, Smartclip, are also owned by RTL Group.
As a market leader, RTL Group strives to foster alliances and partnerships within the European media industry – for example, by building one-stop advertising sales houses in Germany and the Netherlands with Ad Alliance, and driving international advertising sales with RTL Ad Alliance.
The roots of the company date back to 1924, when Radio Luxembourg first went on air. Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion (CLR) was founded in 1931. As a European pioneer, the company broadcast a unique programme in several languages using the same wavelength.
RTL Group itself was created in spring 2000, following the merger of Luxembourg-based CLT-UFA and the British content production company Pearson TV, owned by Pearson Plc. CLT-UFA was created in 1997 when the shareholders of UFA (Bertelsmann) and the historic Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion– CLT (Audiofina) merged their TV, radio and production businesses.
Bertelsmann has been the majority shareholder of RTL Group since July 2001. RTL Group’s shares (ISIN: LU0061462528) are publicly traded on the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt and Luxembourg Stock Exchanges. RTL Group is listed in the MDAX stock index. RTL Group publishes its consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the European Union.
RTL Deutschland is Germany's leading entertainment company, spanning all types of media: TV and streaming, print and digital, radio and podcasts. It is home to some of the country's strongest media brands, from RTL to Stern, Brigitte to Vox, and Geo to NTV, and operates Germany’s largest streaming platform, RTL+, including video, music and podcast streaming with more than 3.7 million subscribers.
RTL Deutschland owns 15 TV channels, 50 premium magazines, the RTL+ Music podcast portfolio and numerous digital offerings, such as Chefkoch and Wetter.de. RTL Radio is one of Germany's largest privately owned radio groups, with holdings in 17 stations including Antenne Bayern and Radio Hamburg.
RTL Deutschland stands for positive entertainment and independent journalism, employing around 1,500 journalists covering all the issues shaping contemporary society. Encompassing everything from news to sport, living to lifestyle, and women to family, RTL Deutschland reaches 99 per cent of the German population.
The company also boasts one of Germany's largest advertising sales houses: Ad Alliance. Thanks to targeted investments in tech and data, RTL Deutschland is well on the way to becoming the country’s leading media company in terms of technology. RTL Deutschland has its headquarters in Cologne and offices at 16 other locations, including Hamburg and Berlin. It employs 7,500 people and is part of RTL Group.
Founded in 1987 with the TV channel M6, Groupe M6 is a powerful French multimedia group offering a broad range of programmes, products and services. These range from television (13 channels including M6), streaming (6play and Gulli Replay) and radio (three stations including RTL Radio, the biggest commercial radio station in France) to production and content buying, digital, e-commerce, feature films, music and live shows. Groupe M6 has built on its strong brands and content to gradually extend its sphere of operations, through targeted diversifications and innovative offers such as the advertising-funded streaming service 6play, launched in 2013 (28,5 million active users in 2021). The objective is to develop a complementary portfolio of brands that addresses the needs of different audiences and new ways of consuming content.
Find out more at groupem6.fr.
Fremantle is one of the world’s largest creators, producers and distributors of scripted and unscripted content, responsible for around 12,000 hours of programming per year. From Got Talent to My Brilliant Friend, Family Feud to The Young Pope, Idols to American Gods, The Price is Right to Neighbours and The X Factor to Deutschland 83 – Fremantle is behind the world’s most-loved and most-watched shows.
Fremantle has an international network of teams across production and distribution, operating in 27 countries – the Fremantle family includes Abot Hameiri (Israel), Blue Circle (The Netherlands), Dancing Ledge Productions (UK), Easy Tiger (Australia), Element Pictures (Ireland), Eureka (USA and Australia), Fable Entertainment (USA), Lux Vide (Italy), Miso Film (Denmark, Sweden and Norway), Original Productions (USA), UFA (Germany), Wildside and The Apartment (Italy), Wildstar Films (UK) and 72 Films (UK).
Find out more at fremantle.com.
RTL Nederland is one of the Netherland’s leading media companies. Its goal is to entertain and inform a broad audience 24/7 on all relevant platforms with stories that touch both the heart and mind. The all-round media and entertainment company comprises five free-to-air television channels (RTL 4, RTL 5, RTL 7, RTL 8 and RTL Z), an independent news organisation, the leading local streaming service Videoland, three digital pay-TV channels (RTL Lounge, RTL Crime and RTL Telekids) and the digital weather platform Buienradar. Its channels and platforms offer a wide variety of predominately Dutch programmes, alongside international content, documentaries, films and drama.
Find out more at rtl.nl.
RTL Hungary is one of Hungary's leading media companies. The general-interest TV channel RTL (formerly RTL Klub) started its operation in autumn 1997 and has been the most successful TV channel in Hungary for more than a decade.
RTL Hungary's cable channels Cool, Film+ and RTL Kettő (formerly RTLII) are the leading channels of the local cable market today and therefore indispensable players in the Hungarian television market. The streaming service, RTL+ Light, is the leading local brand for professionally produced online video content. Its premium subscription-based version, RTL+ Active, additionally includes original productions, local third-party content and international content.
Find out more at rtl.hu.
RTL Luxembourg combines the audio-visual and digital activities of RTL in Luxembourg, including RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg (the only general-interest TV channel in Luxembourgish), RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg (the number one media outlet in Luxembourg), RTL.lu (Luxembourg's most popular online media), RTL 5 minutes (a news and information site in French), RTL Today (Luxembourg's leading news and information site in English), RTL Sport Live Arena (a livestream of the major team sports in Luxembourg), RTL Play (a streaming service with content available in Luxembourgish, French and English), RTL Gold (a web radio dedicated to the greatest hits of the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s) and RTL LX (a web radio dedicated to music made in Luxembourg).
Find out more at rtl.lu.
We Are Era (formerly Divimove) is a first-of-its-kind media company combining digital studios, a talent agency and reach under a single Europe-wide roof with 250 employees in eight offices across Europe. We Are Era works with not only influencers but also artists without a social media background. More and more talents are managed exclusively, enabling individuals to become personality brands and icons for specific target groups. We Are Era offers the entire value chain: from creative concepts, overall strategy, data and talent itself to execution, production and media all out of one hand.
Find out more at weareera.com.