Who Knows You Better Than RTL? France’S Leading Radio Station Shows in a Campaign How Close It Is to the French Hearts

31 March 2011 week 13 Who knows you better than RTL? France’s leading radio station shows in a campaign how close it is to the French hearts United States Germany American Idol extends Grundy UFA starts producing Facebook presence extended episodes of Verbotene Liebe Denmark 15-year-old Sarah wins France X Factor Jacques Esnous on RTL Radio’s Japan coverage the RTL Group intranet week 13 31 March 2011 week 13 Cover: Snapshot from the RTL Radio campaign trailer Who knows you better 2 than RTL? France’s leading radio station shows in a campaign how close it is to the French hearts United States Germany American Idol extends Grundy UFA starts producing Facebook presence extended episodes of Verbotene Liebe Denmark 15-year-old Sarah wins France X Factor Jacques Esnous on RTL Radio’s Japan coverage the RTL Group intranet week 13 Slightly cheeky, but seriously informative In its new, definitely tongue-in-cheek ad campaign, RTL Radio in France has set out to highlight the unique, extremely strong link the station has forged with its listeners. France - 31 March 2011 The first poster proclaims that: “French people make exceptional lovers…according to 95% of French people”. The second claims: “The French love consensus. 50% agree with this statement and 50% do not”. The third and last poster notes that: “French people are worried about the environment...and about rising oil prices”. All three posters end with the tagline: “Who knows you better than RTL?”. For its new communication campaign, the French radio station RTL Radio has opted try something fresh and new. So the ad campaign, conducted with the agency BETC Euro RSCG, comprises French people make exceptional lovers…according to 95% not just the three posters described above, but of French people also an animated film that pokes a bit of friendly fun at the foibles of the French, showing how well the station knows its audience. “By adopting a humorous approach, the posters and the cartoon film reflect the close ties between RTL Radio and its French listeners, a sense of togetherness that only exists because our audience trusts us. There is nothing more precious than that”, says Sophie Déroulède, Director of Communications of RTL Radio in France. She continues: “We deeply appreciate the generosity of our 6.8 million listeners tuning in to our station every day, and we are also very much aware of the responsibility this The French love consensus. 50% agree with this statement brings with it.” and 50% do not RTL Radio is a copybook example of a general- interest station, focusing on information, entertainment and sport. The station seeks to mirror the concerns of its listeners and keeps them up to date with the latest events, offering them several levels of interpretation. In fact, where news is concerned, RTL Radio does not content itself with conveying information solely by listing hard facts. On the contrary, RTL Radio seeks to enlighten its French listeners while also serving as a platform for those people who make headlines, so as to offer multiple points of view, launch public debate and generally encourage people to think. French people are worried about the environment... and about rising oil prices 3 the RTL Group intranet week 13 This is why it employs an editorial team of 150 was high time to thank French listeners for being journalists. The editorial team systematically so faithful to RTL Radio, and what better way unravels the complexities of news stories, both to do this than in a slightly cheeky, humorous in its reports and its analyses. “Identifying a manner? ‘typical profile’ of our listeners is no easy matter because we are aiming at a very broad audience, from top executives to people in lower social categories”, according to Jacques Esnous, Director of Information at RTL Radio in France, who explains: “Our editorial line is clear and accepted both by our young journalists and by the more expe- rienced members of the editorial team: convey news, even the most high-brown information, in a way that makes it accessible for everyone”. Consequently, the tagline “Who knows you better than RTL?” underscores the close ties between the station and its French listeners, and this sense of proximity, which is so strong between RTL and the French, really pays off. “The leader by a mile” was how headlines in the press described the station back in January when the journalists were relaying RTL Radio’s latest glowing ratings. Every day, between 05:00 and noon, RTL Radio in France is the leader across all media, even outperforming the first French TV channel. The campaign trailer As an animated film plays, an off-screen voice says: “In France people want change, so they For the past 10 years, no other station has been elect a president to implement reforms. But able to hold a candle to RTL Radio in France, French people do not like the reforms, so they which recorded its highest ever performance in go on strike. All of a sudden, cooped up at the November-December 2010 ratings survey, home, French couples start making babies. attracting no fewer than 6,865,000 listeners a Before you know it, classrooms are full to day. As France’s leading radio station by a huge bursting and lice are making a comeback. margin, it succeeded in attracting 289,000 new At the same time, French families fill more listeners in the space of a year, placing it an washing machines that consume a lot of unprecedented 26 per cent ahead of the second energy, so the price of electricity goes up. The most popular radio station, attracting 1,437,000 French people then want this to change, so more listeners than its closest rival. Never since they elect a president to implement reforms”. the results of the September-October 2000 ratings survey had the gap been as large. So it The latest ratings survey published by Médiamétrie, covering the period November- December 2010, was a real vote in favour of RTL Radio in France with a cumulative audience of 6.865 million listeners a day with an audience share of 12.7 per cent with an average daily listening duration of 2 hours and 18 minutes with 831,000 listeners tuned in at any one time 4 the RTL Group intranet week 13 Into the new season at full throttle The new Formula 1 season began with the Australian Grand Prix: RTL Television, RTL 7, RTL Klub and Alpha broadcast the race live. Just before the Grand Prix in Melbourne Germany / Netherlands / Hungary / Greece - 25 March 2011 More than twenty drivers, new tyres, the return of the Kers system and the attendant performance boost all combine to promise an unforgettable season. Although Robert Kubica will be missed after being injured in a rally accident, numerous drivers including Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button are eager to wrest the title from Sebastian Vettel – who in turn will do everything in his power to prevent this. For RTL Television, the 2011 season marks an anniversary: for 20 years, the channel has been Sebastian Vettel the exclusive free-to-air broadcaster of the races of the top tier in motorsports. Manfred Loppe, Formula 1 fever is taking hold again at RTL 7 Head of Sports at RTL Television, says: in the Netherlands as well: RTL GP will air live “People who think of RTL Television immediately broadcasts of the races and qualifyings. The associate it with Formula 1 and vice versa. programme will also include other motorsport Formula 1 is one of the pillars of the exceptional events alongside F1, including the Dakar Rally. RTL Television brand, on a par with other RTLGP.nl, the homepage to accompany the beacons of its programming like Deutschland channel’s motorsports coverage, contains lots of sucht den Superstar, Wer wird Millionär? and additional information for viewers. There is also RTL Aktuell.” a printed magazine entitled RTL GP. To this day, the ratings record is held by the In Hungary, the Formula 1 races will be broadcast European Grand Prix on 26 October 1997, which by RTL Klub as in previous years. The popularity attracted 15.41 million viewers at the time. The of Formula 1 is still unbroken. In 2010, four of great popularity of the sport is evident in last the five most watched sport programmes were year’s figures: at an average 6.28 million, the Formula 1 races. In the target group of viewers number of viewers was up by 1.27 million over aged 14 to 49, the Monaco Grand Prix was the 2009 – a striking upward trend attributable to most watched programme. The Bahrain and an exceedingly exciting season. Manfred Loppe Monaco Grand Prix achieved higher ratings in comments on the expected ratings in 2011: the afternoon than the Champions League final “If we can maintain last year’s results, we’re in prime time on the competitor’s channel. on plan. If we can attract even more viewers, we’d be thrilled.” 49.5 per cent of the viewers Alpha in Greece will be broadcasting the races in tuned into watch the Melbourne Grand Prix on the 16:9 format for the first time this year, and has RTL Television on 27 March. prepared numerous innovations for its viewers. 5 the RTL Group intranet week 13 “The well-being of the injured fans is our top priority” After the Deutschland sucht den Superstar autograph-signing session at the Centro shopping mall in Oberhausen last weekend had to be broken off by the organiser because of the enormous onslaught of fans, an RTL Television representative has now travelled to Oberhausen for a hospital visit.

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