RTL recovery continues
August 24, 2011
RTL Group has reported half year to June revenue up 3.4 per cent to €2.751 billion, reflecting higher TV advertising revenues in key territories plus growing revenue from FremantleMedia.
First-half EBITA was up 3.7 per cent to €557 million, reaching its highest level yet, mainly driven by higher profit contributions from Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, Groupe M6 and RTL Nederland.
RTL Group’s online platforms and on-demand offers across Europe collectively generated more than 928 million video views of professionally produced content, up 30 per cent year-on-year. Total online advertising revenue was up 27 per cent year-on-year, driven by video advertising.
In total, RTL Group companies have launched more than 80 mobile applications registering 16 million downloads to date. Mobile live TV services available in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
In May, cable network operator Kabel BW and Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland signed an agreement to offer Kabel BW subscribers RTL Television, Vox and RTL II in high-definition (HDTV); in addition, the network operator plans to integrate the catch-up TV service RTL Now in its on-demand service.
In July, RTL Group acquired a portfolio of seven Hungarian cable channels plus a further 31 per cent shareholding in the country’s market leader, RTL Klub; this brings RTL Group’s shareholding in RTL Klub to 98 per cent.