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

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

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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 experienced 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

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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.

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“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. Germany - 29 March 2011

The purpose was to learn first-hand about the Last year, an autograph signing session was condition of the children and teens hurt in the ended early because of a crush of between incidence. RTL Television spokesman Christian 4,000 and 5,000. According to the organisers, Körner said on 28 March: “This morning, a crowds of this magnitude would not have led to representative for the channel drove to a any problems on Sunday. hospital where some of the fans are staying to gain a first-hand impression. We are also in the process of contacting the parents of the hurt fans in order to offer them support.”

Dr. Peter Ziebell, Head of Paediatric Surgery at the Evangelisches Krankenhaus Oberhausen, where the six children and teens are receiving medical treatment, told RTL Television: “Of the many children who came here, most of them girls, six were admitted as inpatients. The children are between 9 and 15 years old and are still being treated here at the hospital. In all, the children’s condition is stable. Two are still under observation, the others will be discharged soon.”

Körner said on Monday: “Our top priority at this point is the health of the affected fans. We will now try to clarify with the event’s organiser how yesterday’s incident could have happened. We will do everything within our power to support all further efforts to resolve this.”

According to the police, the event attracted about 15,000 fans, and about 3,000 to 4,000 of them were inside the ‘Centro’ Oberhausen mall itself. After the crowd in front of the shopping centre became too large, the doors were shut and the event broken off. The fans were asked to leave the square outside the mall. The police reports that 60 injured fans were given medical treatment on the spot, and 28 of them were initially brought to hospitals in the area for further treatment. In addition to numerous bruises, contusions, nervous break- downs and other minor injuries, there were three cases of suspected fractures, which according to today’s information from the Evangelisches Krankenhaus Oberhausen were not confirmed.

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Facebook presence extended FremantleMedia Enterprises and 19 Entertainment signed an agreement with Cameo Stars which sees American Idol fans being able to have the finalists appear directly in their Facebook pages. United States - 28 March 2011

Haley Reinhart’s “profile” on the new app

The so-called “social cameos” are available “Cameo Stars is very excited to work with since 25 March in a custom Idol-branded FremantleMedia Enterprises and 19 Enter- application designed by Cameo Stars. All social tainment to bring this season’s American Idol cameos will come to life directly in the recipient’s finalists to the millions ofIdol fans on Facebook,” Facebook newsfeed in high definition with no says Daren Hornig, President and CEO of background or borders, featuring each of the Cameo Stars. “We feel this collaboration is finalists in exclusive, never-before-seen content, a natural extension of the show’s new social such as giving “pokes” and singing Happy media strategy, and successfully utilizes this Birthday. Additionally, Cameo Stars will be platform to deliver customized branded content offering one lucky fan a pair of tickets to attend in a way that has never been done before.” the 10th season finale of American Idol. Cameo Stars quickly established itself as a Nicholas Dale, Manager of Interactive for social media leader to revolutionise the virtual FremantleMedia Enterprises, says “We are goods market with its “social cameos” concept. always looking for creative ways to reach our Its platform enables top entertainers, athletes dedicated Idol fan base. The Cameo Stars and personalities to make virtual cameo appear- platform provides us with a wonderful opportu- ances in the everyday lives of fans. nity for our finalists to play a more social role in the user’s Facebook experience. Our fans have always been eager to connect with the next American Idol and this collaboration helps us take it one step further.”

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Sarah’s got the X Factor In front of a crowd of 40,000 at Parken Stadium and with 2.2 million viewers watching at home, 15-year-old Sarah was voted winner of the fourth season of X Factor – this translates to 40.8 per cent of the Danish population watching. Sarah is... Denmark - 30 March 2011

Sarah lists Elvis, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain and Pink as her major influences. The finale featured performances by the reunited boy band Take That, as well as some national acts including Aqua, Fallulah and Carpark North.

With 1.9 million viewers, the main show on 25 March matched the ratings seen for last year’s finale. An average 66.9 per cent of the viewers tuned in for the main show, putting X Factor well above the DR1 prime time average (26.0 per cent). In the target group of viewers aged 15 to 50, almost 70 per cent tuned in to watch the final.

With 2.2 million viewers, the results show was X Factor’s highest-rated edition since the final results show of season two, and its third highest overall. This also confirms X Factor as Denmark’s highest rated show of the year so far and for the past three years running.

...the new winner of X Factor in Denmark On average, 1.8 million viewers tuned in per episode, making this the second highest rated season so far, down just 2 per cent against last year’s season.

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Popular characters return Starting with episode number 3,865, the glamorous German soap Verbotene Liebe will be expanded from 25 minutes to 45 minutes a day. For this reason, its setting has been expanded to include new locales, and three characters make a return. Verboten Liebe logo Germany - 30 March 2011

The daily episodes in the life of the aristo- cratic von Lahnstein clan will no longer be geographically limited to the trendy bits of Dusseldorf and Castle Königsbrunn. The island of Majorca is to become the picturesque new setting for future turbulent and emotional events. And longstanding fans of can look forward to a reunion with popular characters from the early years of the soap. The beastly Clarissa von Anstetten is back, played by Isa Jank, and feelings between the brother-and-sister duo Jan and Julia flare up again in the hot Mediterranean sunshine. Nina Bott and Hubertus Grimm play the couple whose forbidden love was at the Isa Jank plays Clarissa von Anstetten centre of the first 500 episodes and gave the series its name. Shooting began last week on a finca in Majorca’s southeast.

The new scope is a quite challenge for the production team. Indoor scenes will be shot on five instead of four days a week, and outdoor shoots take place on four instead of three days a week. Add to that the new storyline on Majorca. “That’s why the authors were told well in advance: we need more stories, more creativity and suspense, to do justice to the high narrative tempo,” explains Rainer Wemcken, Managing Director of Grundy UFA, who produces Verbotene Liebe for ARD on behalf of ARD Werbung. “And of course so that viewers enjoy their daily dose of Forbidden Love even more.”

The new episodes are scheduled for broadcast on ARD beginning 23 June 2011.

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A sense of responsibility “RTL says no to gloom-mongering and sensationalism,” said Jacques Esnous, News Director of RTL Radio in France, commenting on the coverage of recent events in Japan. France - 25 March 2011

Jacques Esnous

Emmanuel Schwartzenberg, a journalist at Having credibility and a sense of responsibil- TV Magazine, a French weekly dedicated to ity are values that RTL Radio in France does audiovisual news, asked Jacques Esnous how not compromise. “I want the journalists talk- RTL Radio devoted itself to covering the latest ing in the morning to be responsible for what tragic events in Japan: “By adopting a profes- they say, for them to verify their information. sional attitude. When the news of the earth- No liberties with these values can be taken in quake in Japan broke before the 7 o’clock news, the name of competition. Christopher Baldelli we decided to interrupt our broadcasts at 7:20 is right to say that we must not play with the to provide initial clarification with the help of our news. Speaking to millions of listeners entails a correspondent. RTL reacted without yielding to sense of responsibility,” he stated emphatically. gloom-mongering.” However, who does speak on the air at It is an attitude that is not visibly shared by RTL Radio in France? The journalists, of course, everyone. A rival broadcaster that same day experts who provide clarification, dissonant announced on its 8:00 news bulletin that voices who offer another point of view, leading millions of people were going to be evacuated political and artistic personalities, but most of on the West Coast of the United States. “Speed all the listeners themselves, to whom RTL’s [of reporting] must not take precedence over airwaves remain open. “RTL forges close links credibility. The reason why RTL is the leader in with its audience which are transformed into France and why its news is the most popular relations built on trust,” Jacques Esnous there is because its listeners expect us to be concluded. professional and believable. They know that we don’t tell them just anything. We are the leaders because we do not yield to either gloom- mongering or sensationalism,” said Jacques Esnous. 10 the RTL Group intranet week 13

More money than ever During the six days of the Való Világ charity campaign more than HUF 160,000,000 (EUR 600,000) were raised. Való Világ Hungary - 25 March 2011

The participants of the reality show Való Világ called attention to the problems of those living in underdeveloped small regions, in particular the problems of malnourishment among children, and raised money all week for the Minden Gyerek Lakjon Jól Alapítvány (All Children Should Eat Well) initiative. During the six days of the campaign, a total of HUF 177,032,520 (EUR 658,113) was raised through premium-rate text messages, making this the most successful television charity campaign ever to be run in Hungary.

The charity week ended on 19 March with a Gala programme on RTL Klub, where singers from X-Faktor and Csillag születik joined the participants of Való Világ. After six days, the gala started out with HUF 82 million (EUR 304,832), a figure that ended up being doubled in the two hours of the show. In the end, HUF 95 million (EUR 353,159) was raised on the last day alone.

This is enough money to help 8,852 families, or more than 35,000 needy persons. Való Világ viewers modeled partnership, helpfulness and compassion by giving record support to the foundation. The previous edition of Való Világ had raised HUF 75 million (EUR 278,810); now, seven years later, the amount more than doubled. No service fees or any other costs are deducted from the donations: RTL Klub and Telekom New Media will transfer the entire net amount to the foundation to provide relief to hungry children.

The charity gala generated audience shares above the channel average, attracting 36 per cent of viewers aged 18 to 49.

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Be of general interest, on the Web too RTL Belgium’s digital division, RTL New Media, has just launched RTL.be, a brand new general- interest website set to develop in the very near future. Jean-Jacques Deleeuw Germany - 31 March 2011

New RTL.be website

“RTL.be is RTL Belgium’s new general-interest RTL Group’s Belgian entity has already made a site, packed with news and entertainment,” said name for itself on the Internet, in news, with its Freddy Tacheny, RTL Belgium Director before thematic site RTLinfo.be. On the strength of this explaining: “Belgian people consume more and renown, it is now launching RTL.be “a general- more media, spend more time doing so and do interest news and entertainment website offering it more and more at the same time. In this media a wealth of content for everyone. There will maelstrom, RTL Belgium has always focussed be news, sport, celebrity gossip, a section on on general-interest media. RTL-TVI in TV, leisure and another on services,” announced Bel RTL in radio and now, RTL.be on the Web.” RTL New Media Director, Jean-Jacques Deleeuw. “Welcome to RTL.be. You decide what to have on your home page. You can customise your The site is packed with photos and videos and home page in just a few clicks and add your can be fully customised, thanks to an associa- local weather forecast, breaking news, your tion with Netvibes, the international specialist in Facebook inbox, or recipe ideas…” This is the website personalisation. Web users are invited message that welcomes first-time visitors to the to create an account to receive newsletters, be site RTL.be. informed of special operations and enter games. RTL.be is a portal bringing together RTLinfo.be and RTLsport.be as well as three new sites: RTL People, RTL Loisirs and RTL Services.

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On 28 March, RTL Television launched its new reality show Undercover boss in which a senior executive works undercover as an entry-level employee in his own company – 6.2 million viewers tuned in to the premiere. Next Monday, Marcus Smola, CEO of Best Western Germany, will investigate how the company really works and identify how it can be improved. the RTL Group intranet week 13

Switch if off In the run-up to the switch to daylight saving time, RTL Group had launched a mobilisation campaign in support of energy efficiency measures at the Kirchberg site in Luxembourg. Luxembourg - 25 March 2011

Glee comes to France As a new way of illustrating the synergy that exists at Groupe M6, the series that won the most awards in 2010 premiered on M6, then continued on W9. France - 28 March 2011

Radio 538 and War Child join forces to help children Radio 538 started a week-long campaign that sees its DJs travel through the Nether- lands in a bid to raise as much money as possible to help the charity War Child with their activities. Netherlands - 28 March 2011

To handle licensing for Daniela Katzenberger RTL Interactive’s Licensing team will serve as Daniela Katzenberger’s license and merchandising agency from now on. Germany - 28 March 2011

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Enriching with news presenters RTL Belgium’s editorial department has chosen to place its trust in Alix Battard and Olivier Schoonejans, two young but experienced reporters, who make their debut presenting the news at 13:00 and 19:00. Belgium - 29 March 2011

New ways of listening to radio smile on Fun Radio Fun Radio’s website increases its ratings by 40 per cent in a year while the brand becomes established in the new media. France - 29 March 2011

From experiment to leading children’s brand Super RTL’s umbrella brand for children’s programming, Toggo, celebrates its 10th anniversary. Launched in March 2001, Toggo is now the leading children’s entertainment brand in Germany: according to representative surveys, more than 85 per cent of German 6- to 12-year-olds are familiar with it. Germany - 31 March 2011

A new DVD library A new DVD library of high-end science, history and nature documentaries recently made its debut under the N-TV Wissenswert umbrella. Germany - 31 March 2011

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People Tim Voges Tim Voges Germany - 30 March 2011

Tim Voges (36) has been appointed as on his long years of experience, he will continue Head of Sales and Cooperation for the to build our Sales business in close collaboration Wer-kennt-wen.de social network with effect with our ad sales agent, IP Deutschland.” from 1 April. Tim Voges began his career at IP Deutschland In this role, he will supervise all marketing in 2000. From 2006, he was a Senior Product and cooperation activities. “We are delighted Manager Ad Link Media, leaving in 2008 to that we were able to recruit Tim Voges for become Head of Sales Management, Video Wer-kennt-wen.de,” says Eva-Maria Bauch (40), Network at OMS Online Marketing Service. Managing Director of Wer-kennt-wen.de. Voges most recently served as Head of Sales “His appointment rings in the next stage in the Management at Sevenload. development of our marketing activities. Based

People Reinforcements for the office in Cologne Germany - 30 March 2011

Jürgen Schuster, Managing Director and Filmstiftung NRW in Düsseldorf is very important Producer at UFA Cinema and Teamworx, will to us. We are delighted to have been able to additionally take on the management of UFA recruit two such successful young producers Cinema’s Cologne office following the departure from North Rhine-Westphalia for UFA Cinema’s of Producer Christian Granderath. Cologne office. Both Daniel Mann and Marco Gilles will strengthen the UFA Cinema team in At the beginning of the year, the team at the Cologne as they develop and help to produce Cologne office was strengthened by the addition domestic as well as international cinematic of Marco Gilles and Daniel Mann, two young projects.” Producers who have cooperated with Teamworx on co-productions on several occasions in the In the past, Gilles and Mann had collaborated past, most recently on the highly acclaimed with Teamworx on Just in time, an image movie two-part miniseries Go West – Freiheit um jeden for Deutsche Post World Net which won the Preis for ProSieben. Deutscher Wirtschaftsfilmpreis 2006 (German Business Film Prize), and the Gold World Medal Jürgen Schuster says: “Having an office in and Grand Award at the New York Festival. Their Cologne and our good collaboration with the other past work includes serving as Associate locally based channels RTL Television and Producers for MMC on the movie Chéri. WDR, as well as maintaining proximity to the 16 http://backstage.rtlgroup.fr http://backstage.rtlgroup.com http://backstage.rtlgroup.de

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