RTL H1 revenue down 5.1%
August 8, 2023
RTL Group has reported H1 revenue was down 5.1 per cent to €3.1 billion mainly due to significantly lower TV advertising revenue. Group revenue was down 4.3 per cent organically.
RTL Group’s TV advertising revenue decreased 12.5 per cent to €1.18 billion, in particular in Germany. Compared to the first half of 2019 (pre-Covid), RTL Group’s TV advertising was down 15.5 per cent. RTL Group expects its TV advertising revenue to grow slightly in the second half of 2023 compared to 2022, which was marked by significant negative effects from the football World Cup in Qatar. In Germany, RTL Group’s TV advertising revenue was broadly stable year on year in June and July.
Streaming revenue from RTL+ and Videoland was up 16.9 per cent to €152 million. Distribution revenue was stable at €219 million. Group profit was €132 million.
Thomas Rabe, Chief Executive Officer of RTL Group, said in a press statement:
“The market environment in the first half of 2023 was particularly challenging, with geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties in addition to the long-term structural shifts in video viewing.
The RTL Group team remains focused on bringing our strategy to life: strengthening our core business, growing our streaming and content businesses, and building alliances and partnerships. Based on our strong balance sheet, we are investing into business transformation through the cycle – in premium content, leading national streaming services and in advertising technology.
Technology plays a key role in our transformation, and we see great opportunities from Artificial Intelligence (AI), in particular to increase efficiency and generate content. Today, we already apply AI at scale in advertising planning and have started to support content creation with generative AI.
We are convinced that investing through the cycle will put us in a strong competitive position when the advertising markets recover. The half-year results came in broadly in line with our expectations. Although we are seeing first signs of market stabilisation in Germany in particular, we have adjusted our outlook for the full year 2023. RTL Group now expects an Adjusted EBITA of around €950 million after streaming start-up losses of around €200 million.”