• Group revenue stable at €6.3 billion
  
  
• Adjusted EBITA of €721 million, in line with guidance; Adjusted EBITA margin of 11.5 per cent
  
  
• Operating cash conversion rate for continuing operations up significantly to 102 per cent
  
  
• Total Group profit of €555 million
  
  
• Pro-forma Group revenue (including RTL Nederland)¹ of €6,888 million; Adjusted EBITA of €887 million
  
  
• Paying streaming subscribers in Germany, Hungary and France up 21 per cent to 6.8 million; streaming revenue up 42 per cent to €403 million; significant reduction of streaming start-up losses, clear path to profitability in 2026
  
  
• Audience lead of RTL Group’s family of TV channels in Germany over main commercial competitor ProSiebenSat1 increased further to 6.3 percentage points – the highest lead in over 10 years – resulting in TV advertising market share gain
  
  
• Proposed dividend of €2.50 per share, in line with the Group’s dividend policy
  
  
• Full-year 2025 Adjusted EBITA expected to increase to around €780 million
  
  
• RTL Group expects to obtain regulatory approvals for the sale of RTL Nederland to DPG Media and to close the transaction in the second quarter of 2025

Luxembourg, 20 March 2025 – RTL Group announces its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2024.
 

Stable TV advertising revenue, continued dynamic streaming growth

• Group revenue was stable at €6,254 million (2023: €6,234 million). Group revenue was down 1.5 per cent organically² compared to 2023, mainly due to Fremantle.
  
  
• TV advertising revenue was stable at €2,354 million (2023: €2,368 million). After a positive first half of the year, RTL Group’s TV advertising revenue decreased by 6.4 per cent to €742 million in Q4/2024 (Q4/2023: €793 million).

• Revenue at RTL Group’s content business, Fremantle, was stable at €2,254 million (2023: €2,266 million). In 2024, the international market for content production was still impacted by 2023 US strikes and by budget cuts from streaming services and advertising-financed broadcasters. As a result, Fremantle’s revenue decreased 8.0 per cent organically³. This was partly offset by the acquisition of Asacha Media Group in March 2024.
  
  
• Streaming revenue⁴ was up 42.4 per cent to €403 million (2023: €283 million), driven by a significantly higher number of paying subscribers, increased subscription prices in Germany, and rapidly growing advertising revenue on RTL+ in Germany and M6+ in France.
  
  
• Distribution revenue⁵ was up 6.9 per cent to €354 million (2023: €331 million), driven by RTL Deutschland.
  
  
• Adjusted EBITA⁶ decreased to €721 million (2023: €782 million), mainly due to a lower profit contribution from Groupe M6, partly offset by higher profit contributions from Fremantle and significantly lower streaming start-up losses at RTL Deutschland. The Adjusted EBITA includes streaming start-up losses of €137 million (2023: €176 million). The Adjusted EBITA margin was 11.5 per cent (2023: 12.5 per cent).
  
  
• Adjusted EBITDA⁶ decreased to €992 million (2023: €1,019 million). The Adjusted EBITDA margin was 15.9 per cent (2023: 16.3 per cent). The Adjusted EBITDA margin of Fremantle increased to 11.5 per cent (2023: 8.1 per cent). Adjusted EBITDA is the metric used by most of Fremantle’s competitors.
  
  
• Group profit from continuing operations was €428 million (2023: €483 million). Group profit from discontinued operations was €127 million (2023: €115 million). Total Group profit was €555 million (2023: €598 million).
  
  
• Total net cash from operating activities was €761 million, of which €110 million from discontinued operations (2023: €537 million, of which €77 million from discontinued operations). The operating cash conversion rate⁷ for continuing operations was up significantly to 102 per cent (2023: 68 per cent). RTL Group had net debt⁸ of €-492 million at the end of 2024 (end of 2023: net debt of €-291 million).
  
  
• For RTL Group’s Annual General Meeting on 30 April 2025, RTL Group’s Board of Directors proposes a dividend of €2.50 per share for 2024 (2023: €2.75 per share). The ex-dividend date of the dividend payment would be 2 May 2025 and the payment date 6 May 2025.
  
  
• Based on the average share price in 2024 (€30.29⁹), the proposed dividend of €2.50 per share represents a dividend yield of 8.3 per cent (2023: 7.2 per cent).

CEO’s quote

“RTL Group once again demonstrated resilience in 2024. Despite challenging market conditions in the second half of the year, our results were in line with the guidance we provided at the beginning of 2024.

More importantly, we reached turning points in our streaming services and content production business. As a result, we expect to significantly increase our operating profits in the coming years. Our streaming services continued to grow dynamically and significantly reduced their start-up losses in 2024. We are firmly on track to reach profitability by 2026.

We have continued to strengthen our global content business, Fremantle. Thanks to a significant reduction of overheads and the contribution from Asacha Media Group – acquired in 2024 – Fremantle reached a record result and significantly improved its Adjusted EBITA margin. We plan to increase Fremantle’s margin to 9 per cent by 2026.

Our strong results and cash flows enable us to pay an attractive dividend of €2.50 per share to our shareholders.”

Core

Strengthening RTL Group’s core

• In March 2024, Groupe M6 announced its acquisition of the exclusive free-to-air TV rights for the majority of the matches of the Fifa World Cup in 2026 and 2030 – a total of 54 matches for each tournament. This significant investment strengthens Groupe M6’s event-based, free-to-air sports offering and its streaming service M6+.
  
  
• In September 2024, RTL Deutschland announced an exclusive five-year deal with Stefan Raab. Following the boxing match against the former German professional boxer Regina Halmich on 14 September, RTL Deutschland announced a new weekly comedy/quiz/competition show, Du gewinnst hier nicht die Million bei Stefan Raab (You Won't Win A Million Here with Stefan Raab), available exclusively on RTL+ in 2024, and from February 2025 also on the main channel RTL. New show formats from and with Stefan Raab for RTL and RTL+ are currently in development, and included a cooperation with the public broadcaster ARD for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 for choosing the German representative.
  
  
• In December 2024, RTL Deutschland acquired highlight rights for the German football league (Bundesliga) for its streaming service RTL+ plus the free-TV rights for the weekly top match of the second league (2. Bundesliga) for the four seasons 2025/26 to 2028/29.
  
  

Growth: streaming

Boosting growth businesses: streaming

• The number of paying subscribers for the German streaming service RTL+ increased by 22.7 per cent to 6.061 million, compared to 4.941 million at the end of December 2023. The partnership with Deutsche Telekom to bundle RTL+ Premium in Magenta TV and exclusive content such as Du gewinnst hier nicht die Million bei Stefan Raab contributed significantly to the growth. The first episode of the weekly show achieved the highest subscription growth for an original format on RTL+ to date – 73 per cent of these new subscriptions came from new customers and were male viewers aged between 30 and 49.
  
  
• Viewing hours¹⁰ for RTL+ in Germany increased by 66.6 per cent to 649 million hours in 2024, making RTL+ the leading German entertainment offering in the streaming market. In Q4/2024, viewing hours were up 84.3 per cent year on year.
  
  
• 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 streaming service M6+, which launched on 14 May 2024, started strongly. 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 measurement¹¹.
  
  
• In July 2024, RTL Group announced that RTL+ in Germany plans to migrate to the Bedrock technology platform. The goal is to complete the migration in early 2026, which will generate significant cost savings. The migration will contribute to RTL Group’s goal to reach profitability with its streaming businesses in 2026 and to further grow Bedrock.
  
  
• In August 2024, RTL Hungary and One (previously called 4iG Group) entered into a strategic partnership. From 1 January 2025, Hungarian integrated service provider One, together with its telecommunications subsidiaries, started to distribute all linear TV channels of RTL Hungary and exclusively distribute the streaming service RTL+. Additionally, One’s content production division supports RTL Hungary in broadcasting the Uefa Champions League matches.

Growth: Fremantle

Boosting growth businesses: Fremantle

Alliances and partnerships

Fostering alliances and partnerships

Outlook

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 at least stable TV advertising revenue across the Group:

• RTL Group expects its full-year revenue for 2025 to increase to around €6.45 billion, mainly due to significantly higher streaming revenue and portfolio effects.
  
  
• RTL Group expects its Adjusted EBITA for 2025 to increase to around €780 million, mainly due to lower streaming start-up losses.
  
  
• RTL Group’s dividend policy remains unchanged: RTL Group plans to pay out at least 80 per cent of its adjusted full-year net result.
  
  

Profitability is expected by 2026¹³.

Fremantle targets
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.