RTL sees strong rebound in TV advertising
March 12, 2021
RTL Group announces its audited results for the year ended December 31st 2020.
Group revenue for the European TV giant decreased 9.5 per cent to €6.01 billion, mainly due to declining TV advertising markets across Europe in Q2 and lower content production revenue as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. Group revenue was down 6.8 per cent organically.
RTL Group saw strong rebound in TV advertising in the second half of 2020. TV advertising revenue across the Group was up 0.8 per cent year on year in the second half of 2020 and up 2.8 per cent year on year in Q4.
Streaming revenue from TV Now and Videoland grew by 20.6 per cent to €170 million.
Profit for the year decreased by 27.7 per cent to €625 million, mainly due to the decrease in Adjusted EBITA. This was partly compensated by lower income tax expense and capital gains.
Thomas Rabe, Chief Executive Officer of RTL Group, commented: “2020 was a year of both unprecedented challenge and major achievements for RTL Group. We managed to strike the right balance between implementing cost and cash flow counter measures, maintaining our market positions and investing in the future of our businesses, in particular in streaming and advertising technology. This is reflected in a net profit of €625 million, an operating cash conversion rate of more than 100 per cent, audience out performance of our commercial competitors and rapid growth in numbers of paying subscribers for our streaming services. Over the past six months, we sold non-core businesses, unlocking significant shareholder value. We continue to strengthen our portfolio with the full acquisitions of Super RTL in Germany and RTL Belgium. And we entered into new partnerships, for example with Deutsche Telekom to grow our streaming business in Germany and to cooperate in advertising technology, advertising sales and content.
“As stated on January 29th 2021, there is a strong case for consolidation in the European broadcasting industry. We are currently reviewing such options for our controlling stake in the French broadcaster Groupe M6, with a view to creating value for ourshareholders.There can be no certainty that this may lead to any type of agreement or transaction,” he concluded.