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What plans RTL has for the streaming platform
Actor Peter Kurth (m) and the film producers Nico Hofmann (l) and Oliver Berben at the presentation of the new streaming platform RTL +. Photo: Jörg Carstensen / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
RTL is rebuilding its streaming area next year: it will become a kind of super platform. Will others follow suit?
RTL will take a step in Germany next year that will be closely watched in the streaming industry: The TV broadcasting group is expanding its video streaming platform into a cross-media area.
Such super platforms, which bundle different categories, are an issue when it comes to the question of who will compete in the booming business in this country. So far, there are no such super media libraries from German broadcasters. Some details about RTL’s plans:
Cross-media: The streaming platform TVnow, which has been called RTL + since Thursday, is currently concentrating on live-streaming video offers from TV channels, streaming series and the media library. Additional categories will be added in the first half of 2022. RTL calls the “One app, all media” offer.
It should be a super media library
Music, audio books, podcasts: So far, RTL has had its own audio library – Audio Now. This should go into the new super media library. Exclusive audio libraries are apparently no longer the preferred option for TV companies in Germany: The competing company ProSiebenSat.1 decided some time ago to give up its not so old audio platform FYEO – but at the same time the company is investing in podcast content which should then be available on other platforms.
For audio books, RTL + cooperates with the German-speaking Penguin Random House publishing group. That makes sense: Both houses are part of the portfolio of the Bertelsmann media group in Gütersloh. For music, RTL Germany wants to work with the audio streaming service Deezer.
E-magazines: Bertelsmann is about to take a strategically important step next year: RTL Deutschland is taking over the German magazine division of the Hamburg publishing house Gruner + Jahr. This allows, for example, the magazine products and podcasts to be integrated on the platform.
Competitive battle with Netflix and Amazon
High-quality video content: RTL wants to continue to offer high-quality and exclusive content in order to shine in the competition with major platforms such as Netflix or Amazon in the German market here. Some examples: The judicial drama “Ferdinand von Schirach – Faith” with Peter Kurth and Narges Rashidi is currently available. Further fiction highlights from in-house production are planned until the end of the year.
These include the film adaptation of the Hitler diary affair, “Faking Hitler” with Lars Eidinger and Moritz Bleibtreu or the history series “Sisi” with Dominique Devenport and Jannik Schümann. The crime comedy «Balko» is also experiencing a revival. The co-managing director of RTL +, Henning Tewes, wants to offer “Germany’s largest entertainment world”.
The overall strategy: Matthias Dang and Stephan Schäfer, Co-CEOs of RTL Germany, said: “With a subscription, our customers get access to an entertainment world that is unique in its diversity.” RTL + also means an innovation for the international media market. “Through the close exchange with our audience, we know that a lot of people have been waiting for such an offer, diverse and easy to use at the same time.”
The perspective: by the end of 2026, the RTL Group, which operates TV channels in several countries, is aiming for ten million paying subscribers for the two streaming platforms RTL + in Germany and Videoland in the Netherlands. Streaming sales of one billion euros should also be achieved by 2026, and both services should then be profitable. So far, the goal had been to have between five and seven million paying subscribers by 2025. The turnover should be at least 500 million euros and the profit zone should be reached.
According to the company, streaming sales rose by 30.6 percent to 162 million euros between January and September. In the same period of 2020 it was 124 million euros.
The listed RTL Group had 3.4 million paying subscribers for the two streaming services at the end of September. Of these, RTL + had around 2.39 million subscribers. According to the information, the total corresponds to an increase of around 90 percent compared to September 2020 with almost 1.8 million paying subscribers.
Partnerships: Partnerships, for example with MagentaTV from Telekom, were an important step for RTL among paying subscribers. The cooperation between the two companies went so far that the premium TV content, which would otherwise be subject to a charge, for Telekom Magenta customers is integrated into some tariff models. That increased the number of subscribers.