How RTL Group Channels Are Promoting the Holiday Season

week 50 / 13 December 2012

A RIP-ROARING CHRISTMAS SEASON How RTL Group channels are promoting the holiday season

France Germany United Kingdom France Thomas Rabe on RTL Now and James Arthur wins Alain Duhamel Groupe M6 and Vox Now available The X Factor becomes member the future of TV on HD Plus Replay of the Institut de France week 50 / 13 December 2012

A RIP-ROARING CHRISTMAS SEASON How RTL Group channels are preparing their viewers for the holiday season

France Germany United Kingdom France Thomas Rabe on RTL Now and James Arthur wins Alain Duhamel the future of TV Vox Now on HD The X Factor becomes member Plus Replay of the Institut de France Cover Visual from RTL Television’s christmas campaign

Publisher RTL Group 45, Bd Pierre Frieden L-1543 Luxembourg

Editor, Design, Production RTL Group Corporate Communications & Marketing

k before y hin ou T p r in t

backstage.rtlgroup.com backstage.rtlgroup.fr backstage.rtlgroup.de QUICK VIEW

“Television has always managed to proﬁ t from technological change” Bertelsmann / Groupe M6 p. 7–8

‘Now’ sites now available in broadcast quality on TV screens RTL Interactive p. 9

Christmas time is shopping time IP Deutschland p. 10 “Programme highlights and promotion” RTL Group p. 4–6 James Arthur wins The X Factor FremantleMedia UK p. 11

Big Picture: A Nouvelle Star is about to be born on Plug RTL p. 13

Alain Duhamel SHORT becomes a member of NEWS the Institut de France PEOPLE RTL Radio p. 14–15 p. 12 p.16–17 Around Christmas time, RTL Group’s TV channels show PROGRAMME particularly attractive films – often HIGHLIGHTS AND accompanied by an effective on- and off-air campaign. Backstage PROMOTION presents the campaigns in Germany, France and Belgium. Luxembourg – 13 December 2012 RTL Group

RTL Television builds this year’s campaign around the movie Lion King

4 At RTL Television in Germany, this year’s Christmas movie classics and a few new offerings from Disney, campaign revolves around the Disney ﬁ lm special editions of magazine shows like D&CO, The Lion King, to be broadcast on RTL at 20:15 on Accès Privé, 66 Minutes, a special evening of 23 December as a free-to-air TV premiere. Scènes de Ménages, and Disney Party: en Jan Peter Lacher, Head of Programme Planning at attendant Noël, which will air on Christmas Eve. RTL Television, says: “We are deliberately offering The programme schedule on W9, Paris Première, viewers a strong holiday programme line-up, while Téva and 6ter will also have a festive feel, with a also seeking to capitalise on people’s intensive use line-up including one-off programmes, Christmas of television during the holiday season.” specials and numerous ﬁ lm premières.

The associated on-air campaign, realised by the broadcaster’s internal creative unit RTL Creation, launched on 1 December with six Christmassy commercial separators. The 4-second spots revolve around two playful lion cubs with a Santa hat and Christmas presents. The slogan for this year’s Christmas campaign was chosen to match it: “It’s going to be a rip-roaring Christmas.” Björn Klimek, Creative Director Promotion and Advertising at RTL Creation: “This year’s Christmas campaign creates a fun association between Christmas and It’s Christmas on M6 RTL Television’s fi lm highlight, The Lion King. For Arnaud Boucher, Programme Director and Our Christmas lion cubs are bound to build Head of Group Programming, Artistic Direction and people’s anticipation of the holidays and Self-Promotion at Groupe M6, there are four factors RTL Television’s Christmas line-up over the next few that determine the special programming during weeks.” the festive season: “The Christmas holidays are characterised by very large audiences, which The campaign will be complemented by a station ID. affect our annual ratings and therefore the level of Trailers for RTL Television’s programme highlights investment for the year in question. In actual fact, in December have already been running since even though less is invested at Christmas, the 23 November. The spots are set to festive investments made remain substantial. background music from the latest Rod Stewart Furthermore, they are very high until album Merry Christmas, Baby. A print ad for The 24 December”, he explains, and goes on to point Lion King and other highlights has been running out that: “Programme schedules are devised in in national newspapers, TV guides and popular accordance with underlying trends in the ratings. magazines since 22 November. A fall-off in audiences over a certain period of time will automatically lower the ratings achieved over Says Klimek: “The content of our creative work subsequent weeks. And after scoring poorly it always always focuses on the current programme line-up. takes time to climb back to decent levels again.” He We develop key visuals that emotionally charge adds: “M6’s current status means we cannot afford each programme point as much possible and a signifi cant drop in the size of our audiences, even effectively link it with the RTL Television umbrella over a short period. We are duty-bound to ensure brand. The key visual should be usable across all that the channel constantly maintains a level in marketing activities in December, on- and off-air, keeping with its ranking in the advertising market.” so as to ensure an integrated campaign.” Belgium France In Belgium, RTL-TVI continues the momentum In France, M6’s schedule for the festive season is of the good start of the TV season throughout the structured into three distinct programme year-end holidays by offering its viewers a host categories: ‘Events’, ‘Fairy tales and princesses’ of new fi lms, entertainment, retrospectives of the and ‘Festive gatherings’. Accordingly, viewers will be year 2012, and other innovative programming treated, among other things, to fi rst-time screenings including: the comedy show François Pirette: Rire of comedy shows (Michèle Bernier and Jamel), sur la ville, a special evening with Celine Dion, and

Next >

5 As every year, RTL Belgium’s procession of ﬂ oats – illuminated, animated and with sound – brings celebrated presenters and journalists, accompanied by Father Christmas, to meet the public. “RTL wanted to link its values to a family event that is related to the holiday season and New Year,” says Jean-François Guillin, Head of Events at RTL Belgium. “The idea in launching this initiative was to create a unique, free event, which highlights RTL’s brand values: proximity, family, local roots and above all the presence of RTL’s TV personalities. On average, some 70,000 people travel to attend the event. We observe an overall satisfaction with the quality of the show, the presence of the TV presenters, the fact that the event is free, and the gifts distributed by the publicity caravan.”

Jacques Van den Biggelaar, Journalist and RTL-TVI Presenter, has participated in the Christmas parade for several years now: “Along the way we distribute sweets to the children and their parents. It is a powerful feeling, every time, to see their eyes sparkling with wonder and joy, their bright smiles. You feel how much people love us; it’s really terribly moving. The parade gives meaning to what we do: Poster motif of RTL Belgium’s Christmas Parade we are modern-day troubadours, and it is crucial Les belles-sœurs, the theatre play from the Télévie and very motivating to know that our entertainment 2012 telethon. Erwin Lepraille, Deputy Director of reaches and touches the public.” Television at RTL-TVI, explains how the leading channel in French-speaking Belgium tackles this crucial period, and with what programming mix: “We begin by isolating the four critical days: 24, 25, 31 December and 1 January. These days, we know we will inevitably break with the routine and offer specials. The transition to the New Year is the evening where you need the greatest mix of information, entertainment and ﬁ ction.”

Off-screen, the RTL Christmas Parade will hit the road(s) in French-speaking Belgium for the eighth consecutive year on 16 and 22 December. At the Christmas Parade

RTL BELGIUM’S CHRISTMAS PARADE IN FIGURES:

970,000: total number of spectators who attended the first 12 parades 275,000: the number of sweets distributed during the parades 900: average weight in kilos of sweets distributed at each parade 150: the number of extras recruited for the parade 50: the number of security officers who work to ensure the safety of the procession 19: the number of scenes in the parade (e.g.: Santa Claus’s toy factory, the Ice Queen, the Polar Express) 2: the length of the parade route in km 1: the one and only Santa Claus

6 “TELEVISION HAS ALWAYS MANAGED TO PROFIT FROM TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE” Bertelsmann / Groupe M6

On 10 December, Bertelsmann’s Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe visited Groupe M6 in Paris. In an interview with the Groupe M6 intranet, he talked about the French market and the future of television. France – 11 December 2012

You have sat on the Groupe M6 Supervisory Board for several years now. What is your view of our company at this time? Groupe M6 is a company we are very proud of and which is developing very well indeed. M6’s steadily growing audience shares speak for themselves, especially when you consider that fragmentation is forcing more and more channels to compete for the same number of viewers. Beyond this, I am particularly impressed by Nicolas de Tavernost and his team’s powers of innovation: Groupe M6 shows how the digital transformation and diversiﬁ cation of a strong brand can be managed.

It’s been nearly a year since you took over as CEO of Bertelsmann – what major challenges does the company face? At the beginning of my fi rst year as CEO I had many conversations – quite a few of them here in France – about Thomas Rabe Bertelsmann’s situation. The results of these conversations were taken into account in the strategy that we presented at the Bertelsmann Management Meeting in September. In general, and our fi gures confi rm this, Bertelsmann is in a good position: Our businesses command leading market positions and are very profi table. Nevertheless: Our business environment is changing faster than ever before, driven by megatrends like digitisation and the globally growing demand for education and outsourcing. Bertelsmann will take an active role in shaping this change. However, this means that we, too, have to change. Many of our businesses operate in markets that are in a structural decline. Or in regions that will see weak growth in the years ahead based on their demographic developments and other factors. Accordingly, we have developed a strategy that will boost our growth and make us more digital and international. And we’ve already taken fi rst steps, such as the combination of Random House and Penguin to strengthen our book business.

Next >

7 M6 Mobile is one of Groupe M6’ diversiﬁ cation projects

Bertelsmann controls 54 TV channels via RTL Group. Given the present economic situation and the many technical developments, do you fear for the future of television? Television has always managed to adapt to technological change and proﬁ t from it. If today’s viewers can watch their favorite series any time and on any end device they want, this will ultimately lead to their watching more, not less, TV. Accordingly, our goal is to further expand the digital presence of our strong brands.

With M6, FremantleMedia, RTL, Prisma and Arvato, Bertelsmann has more operations in France than in any other country except Germany. Will you continue developing your businesses here? Indeed Bertelsmann has more operations in France than anywhere else except Germany. The fact that Nicolas de Tavernost is on our Group Management Committee clearly shows how important France is to us. France is and will remain a core market for Bertelsmann.

8 ‘NOW’ SITES NOW AVAILABLE IN BROADCAST QUALITY ON TV SCREENS RTL Interactive

The new ‘HD Plus Replay’ platform now makes it possible to view the RTL Now and Vox Now on-demand services on TV screens in broadcast quality – Super RTL Now will follow before the end of the month. Germany – 7 December 2012

Viewers can use the platform to download and watch popular RTL Television programmes they’ve missed, such as Das Supertalent (Got Talent) or Bauer sucht Frau (The Farmer Wants A Wife) and Vox formats like Das perfekte Dinner or CSI: New York following the TV broadcast. By the end of December, Super RTL Now will also be available on ‘HD Plus Replay’.

Marc Schröder, Managing Director of RTL Interactive and the Member of the Management Board responsible for strategic business development at Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, says: “We are pleased that time-shifted viewing of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland programmes in broadcast quality is returning from the Net onto the big TV screen. Users can easily access our offerings by clicking on the Red Button from whatever programme happens to be on. I am conﬁ dent that our viewers will be thrilled by our specially designed intuitive user interface.”

Under the collaboration between RTL Interactive and HD Plus, the HbbTV sites RTL Digitaltext, N-TV Digitaltext, Clipﬁ sh Music, Kochbar, and Vox Digitaltext are now available free of charge via the TV portal ‘HD Plus SmartTV’, which also provides access to the ‘HD Plus Replay’ offerings.

To use HD Plus Replay, viewers need an HD Plus Smart TV receiver with the requisite software. The satellite receiver must also be connected to the Internet, with a connectivity speed of 6 Mbit/s or faster.

9 CHRISTMAS TIME IS SHOPPING TIME IP Deutschland

The latest IP Trendline, IP Deutschland’s trend barometer concludes that women and older people spend more money on presents; TV and online advertising provide ideas and inspiration; and half of all gift-givers order Christmas presents online. Germany – 10 December 2012

This year is no exception: the Germans are in a pre-Christmas buying mood. Only a small minority of 4 per cent of those surveyed aged 14 to 65 plans have no plans to participate in the buying frenzy. When it comes to the gift budget, most (69 per cent) plan to spend about the same amount as last year. One in two respondents usually spends €200 and more on Christmas presents. Gift budgets vary by gender and age: women spend more money on Christmas gifts, while younger people want to (or can) invest much less.

Especially in the lead-up to Christmas, people are grateful for gift ideas, and are very receptive to advertising. The people surveyed feel that audio-visual TV advertising provides the best inspiration: 59 per cent of 14- to 65-year-olds conﬁ rm that they get gift ideas from television, followed by the internet (47 per cent), and magazine ads (40 per cent).

Nearly half (48 per cent) of the 14- to 65-year-olds surveyed go online to order Christmas presents for their loved ones. Many (48 per cent) like to do their online shopping while relaxing in front of their TV sets. This form of parallel usage is particularly popular among young demographics: 58 per cent indicate that their TV is on at least occasionally when they’re looking for Christmas bargains online. The people surveyed conﬁ rm that in such usage situations, television animates them to research products (73 per cent), gives them inspiration for presents For further information, please (55 per cent: TV advertising, 42 per cent: TV programming) or visit ip-deutschland.de encourages them to visit an online shop (59 per cent). Fully half of respondents admits to directly putting the recommendation of their shopping assistant, the TV, into action: 53 per cent of 14- to 65-year- olds conﬁ rm that they have ordered based on something they saw on television.

The IP Trendline survey is carried out quarterly by Forsa on behalf of IP Deutschland. For each survey, the institute conducts phone interviews with 1,000 adults aged 14 to 65, asking them questions on the economy as well as on market and media trends

10 JAMES ARTHUR WINS THE X FACTOR Thames

The ﬁ nal results show of season nine of The X Factor peaked with 12.8 million viewers – the highest peak audience of the night by nearly 2 million viewers. James Arthur, 24, beat Jahmene Douglas, 21, in the ﬁ nal and won himself the recording contract. United Kingdom – 11 December 2012

Dermot O’Leary congratulating James Arthur Arthur, who hails from Saltburn by the Sea on the north coast of © Ken Mc Kay / Thames / Rex Features England, has been gigging in his local area for the last few years. He writes his own songs, raps and plays guitar. The disbelieving winner only auditioned for the show at the last minute after being convinced he had nothing to lose.

The two hour show on Sunday averaged 11.1 million viewers, the highest audience recorded on British television since the closing ceremony of the London Olympics 2012. Season nine of singing competition The X Factor has averaged 9 million viewers across the run, making it one of the highest-rating series broadcast this year. With recorded viewing factored in, The X Factor has averaged 10 million viewers. One Direction, Rihanna and Emeli Sande performed at the live ﬁ nal in Manchester on Sunday night.

The Xtra Factor on ITV2 also peaked with 2 million viewers, averaging 1.7 million across the show – matching ITV2’s audiences on ﬁ nal night last year.

Rihanna performed in the results show on 9 December © Ken Mc Kay / Thames / Rex Features

11 ALAIN DUHAMEL BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE INSTITUT DE FRANCE RTL Radio

Alain Duhamel, political columnist at RTL Radio in France, was elected in the ﬁ rst round as an academician at the Institut de France. France – 13 December 2012

Alain Duhamel, 72, is the ﬁ rst audiovisual columnist to enter the Institut de France, which is the seat of the Académie française, the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, the Académie des sciences and the Académie des beaux-arts. He succeeds the geographer and demographer Jean Dupaquier in the seventh seat of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques.

On this occasion, Christopher Baldelli, the Chairman of the Board of RTL Group’s French radio stations, said: “RTL is very pleased that its political columnist has been recognised by the Institut de France for the depth and excellence of his work.” Alain Duhamel Alain Duhamel is a graduate of the Institut d’études politiques and the Fondation nationale des sciences politiques. He began his career as a print journalist in 1964 at Le Monde, Témoignage Chrétien and L’Express. He then expanded his activities into television (starting in 1970) and radio (starting in 1974). In 1999 he joined RTL Radio, where he presents the political column each morning. Since 2007, he also debates on On refait le monde at 19:15. Alain Duhamel is the author of 18 political essays including Portraits souvenirs: 50 ans de vie politique, published in 2012.

12 A Nouvelle Star is about to be born on Plug RTL After a two-year hiatus, La Nouvelle Star returns to Belgian and French television. Starting on 12 December, Plug RTL will broadcast the talent show with an entirely new generation of singers. 14.6 per cent of shoppers aged 18 to 54 tuned in. SHORT NEWS 1/2

New member joins the M6 family 6ter

6ter, Groupe M6’s new DTT channel was launched on 12 December 2012 in prime time. The free channel aims to satisfy the whole family’s thirst for curiosity and escape. France – 12 December 2012

Elio on Grand Direct: one year later RTL-TVI

One year ago, the Di Rupo government came to power after an interminable political crisis in Belgium. On 5 December, the eve of this anniversary, Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo was the invited guest on RTL-TVI’s Le Grand Direct. 455,000 viewers followed this report. Belgium – 7 December 2012

Best – and most popular – website of 2012 Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland

The social network Wer-kennt-wen.de has been named ‘Website of the Year 2012’ in the Communities and Social Networks category by the Internet market research agency Metrix Lab. Germany – 7 December 2012

Sing, direct and participate with RTL Nederland apps RTL Nederland

October and November were once again excellent months for RTL Nederland’s digital activities. The department also launched a series of new online initiatives. The Netherlands – 10 December 2012

Great ratings for a documentary RTL Televizija

Antonia Bilic – nestali osmijeh, RTL Televizija’s documentary about a missing 17-year-old girl broadcast on Sunday 2 December attracted 40.2 per cent of viewers aged 18 to 49, making the documentary this season’s most-watched show. Croatia – 10 December 2012

14 SHORT NEWS 2/2

A committed ﬁ eld visit RTL 4

On 8 December on RTL-TVI, Place Royale, the programme about crowned heads, dedicated a full report to Princess Mathilde’s mission in Haiti, which is part of her mandate as Honorary President of Unicef Belgium. The report captured an audience of 384,100 viewers. The Netherlands – 11 December 2012

IP Deutschland joins the Advertising Research Foundation IP Deutschland

IP Deutschland is the ﬁ rst German TV ad sales house to join the ARF, a leading American research association. Germany – 12 December 2012

Internet audience results in France RTL Net

The Internet audience measurement results for October have just been released in France. RTL.fr is still the country’s leading radio website with 2.5 million unique visitors. For the ﬁ rst time, Funradio.fr passed the 1-million-monthly-visitor mark. France – 12 December 2012

N-TV.de logs 33.3 million visits N-TV

In November N-TV.de generated 33,300,000 visits, once again securing itself a place in the IVW rankings as one of the most successful German news portals. Germany – 13 December 2012

15 PEOPLE JACQUES RIGAUD IS DEAD RTL Group Luxembourg – 7 December 2012

As President of RTL Radio in France from 1980 to 2000, he was able to defend the station’s interests when FM arrived and led to an explosion in radio services, and also contributed to establishing RTL as the top radio station in France.

Guillaume de Posch, Co-CEO of RTL Group, speaks of him in glowing terms: “The teams, executives and shareholders of RTL Group are deeply moved by the death of Jacques Rigaud. We are indebted to Rigaud for his outstanding contribution to the development of RTL and for promoting the interests of the Group in France during his twenty years at Rue Bayard. He was a great patron of the audiovisual sector in France as well as a humanist and a redoubtable writer.”

Christopher Baldelli, CEO of the French Radio family, says: “A man of culture, Jacques Rigaud was one of the great leaders in RTL’s history. He was formative in establishing ours as the top radio station in France, and always safeguarded its editorial independence, which is now encoded in the DNA of our station.”

A graduate of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) Jacques Rigaud and a great public servant who was engaged in the art world as well, Jacques Rigaud served as President Jacques Rigaud, Member of the Board of Directors of of the Public Establishment of the Museum of Orsay Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT) (1981 to 1987), the Association for the Development of from 1979 to 1998, and President of RTL Radio in France Industrial and Commercial Philanthropy (1980 to 2008), for 20 years, died on 7 December 2012 aged 80. the Committee for Research on Government’s Cultural Policy (1996 to 1997), and sat on the Supervisory Board On the heels of a great career in the world of of Bayard (1986 to 2006). politics, culture and communications, Jacques Rigaud joined the world of media in 1979, as Member of the Board of Directors of Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT). With Jacques Rigaud at its helm, the company successfully achieved its European expansion, entered the French television market with the launch of M6 in 1987, and also conquered the German, Belgian and Dutch markets, today pillars of the company.

16 PEOPLE RTL II RESTRUCTURES ITS MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS RTL II Germany – 11 December 2012

As Viacom’s Creative Director Comedy Central North Europe, he bore international responsibility for the branding of Comedy Central, MTV and VIVA. Lacic has a degree in Communications Design from the Georg Simon Ohm University of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg.

Carlos Zamorano (45), who has served as Head of Press & PR and corporate spokesman since November 2009, will supervise the Munich-based channel’s internal and external communications and reports directly to the management.

Jochen Starke, Managing Director RTL II, says: “The reorganisation of our Marketing and Communications department reﬂ ects RTL II’s very positive development. This gives us more power to ensure wide visibility for these successes and to further build on them.“

Carsten Molis, Overall Project Manager Marketing & Communications, ended his term as the channel’s consultant on 30 November 2012 as planned. Molis had worded with the design agency ‘Leitwerk’ since 2009 to implement the channel’s positioning ‘It’s fun’“ and its new 3D on-air design.

Says Starke: “Carsten Molis has been formative in ensuring RTL II’s excellent marketing and communications set-up. I wish him the best of success in his further career and personal life, as well as his new projects.”

Dinko Lacic

17 More about Backstage

BACKSTAGE DAILY NEWS FROM ‘AT RTL GROUP, IS AVAILABLE ACROSS THE WE CARE’ IN THREE GROUP – DIRECTLY LANGUAGES IN YOUR INBOX

You can read In addition to the RTL Group is committed Backstage in your weekly newsletter we to effectively combine preferred language – offer to registered users business success with in English, German a daily newsletter socially responsible actions or French. available in three towards local communities languages. and to protect the environment. Visit the Corporate Responsibility news section on Backstage (CR news) and ﬁ nd out how RTL Group aims to improve the societies in which we operate.

backstage.rtlgroup.com backstage.rtlgroup.fr backstage.rtlgroup.de

For more information, don’t hesitate to contact the editorial team: [email protected]