Provocative. Informative. Entertaining

week 40 / 1 October 2015

PROVOCATIVE. INFORMATIVE.

ENTERTAINING. How RTL Television intends to captivate viewers with established hit shows and brand new programmes

Luxembourg North America Luxembourg / Belgium IP Network and RTL Group BroadbandTV is now Radio Lëtzebuerg and publish the Television the second largest Radio Contact Belgium International Key Facts MCN in the world fighting against poverty 2015 week 40 / 1 October 2015

PROVOCATIVE. INFORMATIVE.

ENTERTAINING. How RTL Television intends to captivate viewers with established hit shows and brand new programmes

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

“TV is at the heart of the video world.” RTL Group / IP Network p.11 – 14 “We don’t want viewers to feel excluded.” RTL Group p.4–10 Now the world’s second biggest BroadbandTV p.15

Together for Radio Everyone Radio Lëtzebuerg/ Radio Contact p.16

A night at the Olympia for RTL2’s 20th birthday RTL 2 p.17

SHORT NEWS p.19

Big Picture p.18

PEOPLE

p.20 – 23 RTL Television unveiled its programme schedule for the 2015/16 TV “WE DON’T WANT season. ANY VIEWERS TO FEEL EXCLUDED.”

Germany – 1 October 2015 RTL Television

A good mix of established hit shows and new programmes – Click to watch how RTL Television sees itself

4 It is 24 September 2015, and we are at the Curio Haus in Hamburg, where Frank Hoffmann, Managing Director Programming at RTL Television, is looking forward to presenting the new programmes in

the schedule to an invited audience of nearly 100 / Willi Weber © RTL journalists and photographers. RTL Television is on a mission to provoke, inform and entertain. “That’s precisely how we see RTL Television. We don’t want any viewers to feel excluded, which probably makes Die Turnschuhgiganten us the German broadcaster reaching the broadest Further Hoffmann described Costa Concordia, demographic”, Frank Hoffmann said to greet his as a “highly emotional” film about the cruise ship guests. Naturally, he also came armed with some catastrophe in January 2012. exciting new highlights to unveil in the programme schedule. © RTL © RTL / Wolfgang Ennenbach / Wolfgang © RTL Costa Concordia

All four productions will be accompanied by their Starfighter – Sie wollten den Himmel erobern own documentary providing fascinating background information for RTL Television’s viewers. “We also In the fiction genre, RTL Television has high hopes want our fiction broadcasts to become real events, that its main focus on Germany’s recent history will while maintaining our journalistic approach”, attract and engage the viewers. Accordingly the Hoffmann added. He also gave a brief taste of the new schedule includes not only the event movie new three-part filmed adaptation of the Winnetou Starfighter – Sie wollten den Himmel erobern, which story, Karl May’s classic German saga about Native tells the story of the Starfighter affair and will air on Americans, which RTL Television intends to air at 12 November 2015, but also the already the end of 2016. internationally lauded spy series Deutschland 83. The first two episodes of the UFA Fiction series were shown right after the programme screening. © RTL / Nikola Petrovic, RatPack © RTL © RTL / Nik Konietzny © RTL Winnetou

Hoffmann announced that RTL Television will again be staging a number of live sporting events, which he described as “the lifeblood of free-to-air TV” and “the ultimate challenge”. “We have established a reputation for staging major sporting events”, Frank Deutschland 83 Hoffmann commented. “Our broadcasts of the Euro 2016 and 2018 World Cup qualifiers perfectly In Die Turnschuhgiganten, RTL Television tells the complement our heavyweight boxing matches and story of the Dassler brothers, who split up their Formula One racing, which has recently regained company after a squabble and went on to create the popularity”, he went on, “and we will continue to offer world-beating brands Adidas and Puma. exclusive Grand Prix coverage on free-to-air TV for the next two years”.

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5 © RTL / Stefan Gregorowius © RTL

Click to watch the highlights of the fiction Star chef Christian Rach and the sporting events Plenty of new shows will come on air on Star chef Christian Rach, at the moment on air with RTL Television: Ninja Warrior, due to start airing Rach Undercover, 21:15 on Mondays, is also being soon on RTL Television, will see contestants take given another show on RTL Television, called Rach on the “toughest obstacle course ever built”, and sucht: Deutschlands Lieblingsrestaurant, in which the new line-up’s Die große Hypnoseshow will be he embarks on a quest to find Germany’s favourite a German adaptation of the hit ITV hypnosis game restaurant. This programme will start airing in 2016. show You’re back in the room. Petrol heads will have a treat in store, too: RTL Television will produce RTL Television’s new schedule also includes plenty Top Gear Deutschland – Die Show, presented by the of fresh, new comedy. In Die Reisechecker, Let’s duo Panagiota Petridou (from Vox’s Biete Rostlaube, Dance juror Joachim Llambi investigates the high suche Traumauto) and Matthias Malmedie (from point of people’s year, their holiday, giving viewers a RTL 2’s Grip – Das Automagazin). humorous reality check. What were holidaymakers promised and how well did reality match up to their expectations? © RTL / bigSmile © RTL © RTL / Lars Schröder © RTL

Die Puppenstars

Meanwhile, Hoffmann described Die Puppenstars, the first ever German TV show whose stars are all puppets (and of course their puppet masters!) as Mirja Boes “the perfect show for the whole family”, whereas 500 Questions was billed as probably the toughest In Der Nächste, bitte! Mirjas Sprechstunde, comedian quiz show ever, with the contestants having to find Mirja Boes wholeheartedly embraces the notion that 500 answers covering an incredibly wide array of laughter is the best medicine by poking fun at the subjects, without any assistance, ‘safety levels’ or medical profession, while adopting an undeniably multiple choice alternatives to help them. critical, investigative and above all entertaining approach. Mirja can also be seen on Mirjas wilde 13, which airs every Friday, mischievously reviewing the previous week’s most curious news items.

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6 In Bülents große Überraschungsshow, Bülent Ceylan will combine his personal brand of comedy with the element of surprise, ambushing viewers with a little help from some celebrity guests.

Click to watch the new highlights on RTL Television

In the news segment, new episodes of Günter Wallraff’s undercover investigation show Team Wallraff – Reporter Undercover, scheduled to air in 2016, are guaranteed to cause a buzz. © RTL © RTL

Before then, on 1 October 2015, a new true crime report magazine called Stern Crime – Wahre Verbrechen, spotlighting real-life cases viewed from some very different points of view, starts on RTL Television. For the making of this programme, RTL Television is cooperating with Gruner + Jahr, which started publishing an identically titled printed version in magazine form in June 2015.

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New cooperation and a new network of foreign correspondents, but the same chief correspondent © RTL / Frank W. Hempel / Frank W. © RTL

Maik Meuser, Presenter of RTL Nachtjournal The focus of RTL Television’s news coverage is on even greater commitment to investigative journalism. Since July 2015, the evening news show RTL Nachtjournal has been collaborating with a team of investigative journalists at Correctiv. The new season will also see RTL Nachtjournal’s Maik Meuser presenting the findings of in-depth investigative reporting on highly charged and complex political, economic, cultural or sport-related issues.

Meanwhile, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s network of foreign correspondents is set to expand over the next few months, the turbulent current world situation prompting RTL Television to open both a new Southern and Southeastern European © RTL / Suzy Stoeckl © RTL Office and an office in Beijing. The media group’s channels will also once again be represented by fixed correspondents in both Brussels, the ‘capital of Europe’, and Moscow. At the same time, the contract of Chief Foreign Correspondent Antonia Rados has been extended for another three years. In addition to her current reports, she will also produce up-to-date reports from crisis-hit areas. One of the new series of reports planned, Die neuen Fronten Europas, will cover new fronts that have opened up on our continent.

Antonia Rados

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“Any series must be about something that, for whatever reason, ‘speaks’ to a lot of people, in our case meaning several million viewers” © RTL / Morris Mac Matzen © RTL

Frank Hoffmann, Managing Director Programming at RTL Television

On the sidelines of the press conference in Hamburg presenting RTL Television’s new programme schedule, Backstage snagged an exclusive interview with Frank Hoffmann.

Which factors do you think have made Deutschland 83 such an international success, and what impact do you hope its airing on RTL Television this autumn will have?

We’re hoping that this top-notch production will really grab our existing viewers and attract a few new ones to RTL Television! It’s an exciting tale from our very own recent history here in Germany, brilliantly adapted and could potentially appeal not only to history fans, but to a far broader audience. From my standpoint, I can only make a limited assessment of the reasons for the programme’s international success. Perhaps it’s a bit like the 2006 World Cup, when our team played a different kind of soccer very effectively and, by doing so, won people’s heartfelt support. The subject matter of Deutschland 83 and, to an even greater extent, the way the programme was made, stands out as being markedly different from what international viewers have associated with German series in the past.

The growing fragmentation of television is making it increasingly harder for large channels to reach large audiences. So will future programme schedules have major highlights, and if so, what kinds of formats will they be?

Large-scale shows and live events constitute our supreme challenge – and when I say “our” I mean television in general, but RTL Television in particular. Real landmark events in the sporting calendar, whether football or heavyweight boxing, enable us to regularly reach audiences in excess of ten million viewers. Shows like Das Supertalent or Let´s Dance are the most successful in our market, even if the audiences they attract are somewhat smaller than they were just a few years ago. In the fiction segment, too, our theme nights are ‘events’. For instance, a film dramatisation of the Starfighter affair in mid-November will be followed by a broadcast of our very own documentary on the actual events that took place, complemented by interviews with actual witnesses of what happened. We will follow a similar programming strategy when we launch Deutschland 83, following the broadcast of back-to-back introductory episodes with a documentary, also featuring Peter Kloeppel and produced by Info Network. Next >

9 The press frequently invokes a new ‘Golden Age of television’, as typified by ambitious series like Breaking Bad or House of Cards. What do you think it takes for a series to achieve widespread success, rather than just find a niche audience?

Great subject matter. Any series must be about something that, for whatever reason, ‘speaks’ to a lot of people, in our case meaning several million viewers. We hit upon the idea of Deutschland 83 after talking about Germany’s baby boomers, people born during years when our country had a very high birth rate, and asked ourselves what viewers of that age might find moving? That’s how we ended up choosing the programme’s subject matter, which we then placed in the hands of an excellent cast and a first-class production team.

More and more, RTL Group is investing in the online video segment. For instance, RTL Television has already produced web series leaning on Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten (GZSZ). Is RTL thinking of banking even more heavily on online video?

Our daily series with their young audiences are predestined to have certain strands of their storyline carried over onto the web and developed there. We first started doing this back in 2007, with Unter uns, and carried out similar experiments with GZSZ and Alles was zählt. We are determined to reach and hook our target groups wherever they happen to be, so online video is becoming increasingly important. And this segment includes not only TV content that ends up being given an extended lease of life on the Internet, but also original Web-based content that is only available online. Our new information and entertainment portal, RTL Next, aimed particularly at young users by focussing on highly emotive issues as well as especially useful topics, which are thus suitable for sharing, will be launched in just a few days’ time. For us, this service will be ‘maximally mobile’, presenting a mix of videos and TV content produced specially for RTL Next. Teams at Info Network and RTL Interactive are working very closely together on this project, which is just one of many.

Is RTL Television also going to continue investing in fiction, whether series or films?

We most definitely are. Producing our own fiction may be very expensive, but it also has some unbeatable advantages, because if the results prove successful they can make our programme schedule really stand out by giving it an unmistakeable outline. This is becoming more and more important for brands like ours, faced with the growing mass of video portals. Our Group has taken the strategic decision to invest more in its own content, and not only in fiction. By doing this, we are investing in attractive rights that we can exploit on all platforms ourselves, in either a linear or non-linear fashion. © RTL / Morris Mac Matzen © RTL

Frank Hoffmann at the Curio Haus in Hamburg

10 “TV IS AT THE HEART OF THE VIDEO WORLD.” RTL Group / IP Network

IP Network and RTL Group have published the 2015 edition of Television International Key Facts, a television yearbook and interactive database, which covers 35 European countries as well as Brazil, China, Japan and the United States. Luxembourg – 29 September 2015

This year’s edition focuses on the theme “TV is at the heart of the video world.” Despite the evolution of content watching in the digital age, TV is still the audience favourite and the digital revolution presents TV with exciting new challenges in terms of content, audience measurement and advertising.

In 2014 the average viewing time in Europe continued to rise: up three minutes for all individuals

In Europe, the average daily viewing time increased by three minutes to reach three hours, 57 minutes*. This constitutes the highest viewing time ever recorded in Television International Key Facts.

Worldwide TV viewing is more or less stable at three hours, 13 minutes daily. European viewing time is above the global average, while North America and the Middle East watch even more TV at four hours, 37 minutes and four hours, 29 minutes daily respectively.

European prime time – Monday to Friday at approximately 21:15 – attracts 276 million viewers.

The highest TV consumption in 2014 was measured in Romania for the third year in a row with five hours, 40 minutes daily on average. The highest year-on-year increase was surveyed in Poland: plus 13 minutes compared with 2013 figures, for a total viewing time of four hours, 20 minutes.

In Germany, the viewing time was stable at three hours, 41 minutes; France and the United Kingdom both reached the same figure. The viewing time increased by three minutes in South Belgium, (reaching three hours, 53 minutes) and by four minutes in North Belgium (reaching three hours, 21 minutes).

Next > 11 Live events continue to attract large audiences

The final of the Fifa World Cup in Brazil achieved the highest-ever TV reach in Germany, with almost 35 million Germans glued to their TV sets, resulting in a market share of 86 per cent (excluding all viewers outside their homes).

Every year, major national events attract the biggest audiences: in 2014 the annual Spring Festival celebrations in China was watched by 210 million viewers and the Super Bowl was watched by 113 million US Americans.

Equipment: New devices are increasingly common in today’s househoulds

In Europe, smartphone penetration rose to 67 per cent (2013: 53 per cent). In Denmark, Finland and Estonia, the rate already achieved the 100 per cent mark.

Programming trends: Innovations and social experiments

Fiction: two trends have established themselves in drama series. Local series and productions are increasingly popular like Deutschland 83 (RTL Television), Broadchurch (ITV) and Refugiados (Antena 3). Dark and disturbing productions, often based on true events, are multiplying all around the world: e.g. The Missing (UK) and Under Suspicion (Spain). Historical themes are also increasingly popular.

Televised social experiments are flourishing. People are thrown into unusual situations, often without any prize money to win: e.g. Ja Jan (Belgium), Klædt af (Denmark) and 10,000 BC (UK), a BBC production.

Technical innovations in the documentary sector have revived the genre. Thanks to 3D, 4K or 8K pictures, programmes about nature and the animal kingdom have had a new lease on life.

Entertainment constantly renews itself. While the historically strong talent and reality formats (Got Talent, Your Face Sounds Familiar, The Voice) keep attracting very large audiences, unusual, weird and funny new concepts have been brought to existence in productions such as Popster, Skin Wars, Man v Fly, Wild Things and Labor Games.

Please click here to order a copy of Television International Key Facts, Next >

12 THE EDITORIAL TO THE TELEVISION INTERNATIONAL KEY FACTS 2015 BY RTL GROUP’S CO-CEOS ANKE SCHÄFERKORDT AND GUILLAUME DE POSCH

The winners in the digital age No longer can anyone doubt the power of television, With the ever increasing pace of change in our even in this digital age of total choice. No medium industry, RTL Group has invested in multi-channel touches people, brings people together, or triggers as networks with leading positions in key verticals, much food for conversation as TV does. Taking centre such as fashion and beauty (StyleHaul), gaming or stage in people’s lives, today’s television isn’t limited kids (BroadbandTV). With over 9 billion online video just to the TV set any more, which brings a wealth of views a month, RTL Group is now the world’s fourth opportunities… and some challenges. largest operator in online video. Always at the forefront of technology, in July 2014 we acquired a majority Linear television remains by far the most popular of stake in SpotXchange (today: SpotX), one of the global all media, attracting 237 minutes of viewing a day leaders for programmatic online video advertising. in Europe in 2014, up four minutes year-on-year, according to Eurodata. Unlike other media, TV thrives The measurement issue alongside the internet, and benefits from its various Nevertheless, the change in viewing patterns brings new means of consumption. At the Financial Times with it some major challenges. For advertising- Digital Media 2015 conference, Martin Sorrell, CEO of financed content, the key question is: How do you WPP, said: “The conventional wisdom is that television measure, and ultimately monetise, out-of-home, viewing is dropping – it isn’t. If you aggregate all the second-screen, third-screen and other alternative screens, it’s probably still continuing to grow. Young viewing habits? For the American author and essayist people do watch television...but they watch it on Michael Wolff, writing in The Hollywood Reporter different screens.” Going digital facilitates viewing and in May 2015: “Television has simply outgrown the prompts users – young and old – to spend even more Nielsen measurement system, it has become a time in front of a screen. In the digital age, there are much broader notion, much harder to capture and two winners: TV and online video. And the marriage to measure and, in the transformation, a much richer between TV and digital looks promising, even though it and influential business.” Reports from the annual is perhaps only in its honeymoon period. spring ‘upfront’ presentations in the United States were talking about “signs of upheaval” or “a sense of urgency” as advertisers crave for better multiscreen measurement and targeting.

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13 This unresolved metrics problem will need to be In this golden age of TV, we strongly believe in addressed in the near future. Big Data Analytics, having our own exclusive formats, shown only on our as suggested by Horst Stipp from the Advertising channels. That’s why we invest in development, and Research Foundation in this edition, could be one of start our own initiatives. We are already relying on this the solutions. But we see progress: in April 2015, the strategy, but we want to pursue it more aggressively. German TV Audience Research Association announced Therefore, finding the new hits – large and small – the integration of YouTube into its research system. is a joint priority, both for our broadcasters and for The first results should be available in 2015. FremantleMedia. A good example is the Cold-War- inspired, gripping drama Deutschland 83, a co- New advertising opportunities production between FremantleMedia company UFA So what does this mean for advertisers? Well, more Fiction and RTL Television, which became the first potential for targeting and reaching consumers, German-language series ever to have aired on a especially if they use programmatic which offer major US network, and which has to date been sold in audience-tailored advertising. And with digital video Scandinavia and France. ad spending forecast to increase by 30 per cent in 2015 according to eMarketer, online video advertising The 2015 edition of Television International Key Facts has its best days ahead. will provide you with many useful facts and figures, and inform you of new trends, observed and researched As Ender Analysis recently pointed out: “Digital is by international media experts. We hope it will be as wonderful at many things, but its weaknesses are the informative and as captivating as today’s television. very things that are TV’s strengths.” The TV screen remains the best medium to reach mass audiences. A lot of mobile activities simply cannot be monetised yet, as a 30-second spot is not compatible with short- form video consumption. Also, as Thinkbox found out in its study Screen Life: TV advertising everywhere, the longer the viewing, the better the ad recall, and, maybe surprisingly to some, ad break multi-screeners have similar levels of recall.

Google, Facebook and similar have understood this. They are “selling themselves as the industry they are fighting to disrupt,” observed The Financial Times. In February 2015, Facebook was just the latest digital media company to turn to TV for brand-building.

Content is king Linear or non-linear, ultimately what viewers are looking for is a good story. As a result, an undeniable shift has taken place, from cinema to TV. Big names want to be on television as this is where unique, gripping and creative storylines are found. The irony is, that “there’s more good stuff on TV than I have time to watch,” as viewers said to David Poltrack, Chief Research Officer, CBS Corporation.

14 NOW THE WORLD’S SECOND BIGGEST BroadbandTV

According to the latest statistics on SocialBlade, BroadbandTV (BBTV) is now the second largest multi-channel network (MCN) in the world. This follows significant growth since September last year where BBTV has been the fastest growing major MCN*. North America – 25 September 2015

On average, BBTV has been growing by ten per cent month over month**, compared to two per cent growth from its nearest competitor. This accolade is highlighted by both ComScore’s USA and Worldwide YouTube Partner Support reports, for both unique and desktop views. Shahrzad Rafati, BBTV now boasts over 37,000 content partners, achieving 5.7 billion Founder and CEO, BroadbandTV monthly views. H1/15 was the strongest half in its history, achieving 1.8 billion new views. Since December 2014, BBTV has more than * According to ComScore’s latest USA doubled its impression base. (11 months: September 2014 to August 2015) and Worldwide (10 months: September 2014 “Our strategy to build strong online brands, with the most engaged to July 2015) YouTube Partner Support Report for both unique and desktop views, BBTV is the communities, powered by the best tech and services in the market fastest growing among all major global MCNs has paid off,” comments Shahrzad Rafati, Founder and CEO, BroadbandTV. “We’re building the future of entertainment and ** According to ComScore’s latest Worldwide YouTube Partner Support report, BBTV has we’re doing so by delivering the most engaged and powerful media grown by 80 per cent, or on average 10 per cent experience for millennials around the world. Despite our scale and month over month, in terms of worldwide desktop hyper growth this year, the foundation is set for 2016 to be another views over period September 2014 to July 2015 (10 months) record-breaking year for the business and the industry.”

BBTV’s content creators span a number of key media brands including: TGN, the most engaged gaming network on YouTube; Opposition, the largest hip-hop music network; number one Electronic Dance Music (EDM) network, Wimsic, in addition to HooplaKidz, Outspeak and Windfall.

According to the media trade Tubefilter.com, BroadbandTV’s channel partner RCLBeauty101 tops the charts as the most subscribed YouTube channel worldwide in August 2015. Overall, three of the top five positions are taken by channel partners of the RTL Digital Hub.

20-year-old Rachel Levin gained more than 700,000 subscribers in August, overtaking the former top-channel PewDiePie in the worldwide charts who gathered 609,146 new subscribers. Spot number three is taken by Fernanfloo with 607,080 new subscribers, another channel partner of BroadbandTV; followed by Divimove’s Elrubius with 574,514 new subscribers.

In August, BroadbandTV had six channel partners in the Top 100, StyleHaul five channels and Divimove two channels – bringing the total number of RTL Digital Hub channels in the Top 100 to 13.

Tubefilter Charts is a new weekly rankings column from Tubefilter with data provided by Click here for more information OpenSlate. It is a top number ranking of YouTube channels based on statistics collected within a given timeframe.

15 #RTLGivesBack TOGETHER FOR RADIO EVERYONE Radio Lëtzebuerg / Radio Contact

Radio Lëtzebuerg and Radio Contact Belgium have joined the Radio Everyone project, a new United Nations Millennium Development Goals initiative to raise awareness about the 17 goals for fighting poverty. Luxembourg / Belgium – 28 September 2015

On 25 September 2015, the United Nations launched a new set of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), aimed at eradicating extreme poverty and improving global conditions by 2030. Radio Lëtzebuerg and Radio Contact in Belgium are taking part in one of the many initiatives created to raise awareness of the goals: the ‘Radio Everyone project’. Radio Everyone is part of the broader Project Everyone. Its mission is to reach every single person worldwide within seven days, through media, whether via TV, radio, the internet, print, or mobile media.

Project Everyone was launched by filmmaker and campaigner Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually) and a founder of the British charity Comic Relief. In addition to this, Central Park hosted on 26 September a concert, curated by Chris Martin and organised by Global Citizen where Ed Sheeran, Coldplay and Pearl Jam headlined, among others.

Radio Lëtzebuerg, launched its campaign on Friday 25 September, by covering the concert and transforming itself into Radio Everyone Watch the Global Citizen festival here for a week (from 26 September to 2 October), as well as informing its listeners with content related to the MDGs. Many VIPs have been interviewed: on Saturday 26 September, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, was on air from New York and talked about the importance of the Goals, while Romain Schneider, the Luxembourg Minister of Development, explained their background. Other interviews involved members of NGOs in Luxembourg that are committed to achieving the goals. On Wednesday 29 September, Jean Feyder, Luxembourg’s former UN Ambassador in Geneva and author of the book Mordshunger, was a guest on Radio Lëtzebuerg, explaining the For more information about main causes of hunger in the world and what must be done about it. the Global Goals initiative, visit: Young people from Luxembourg will also be interviewed throughout www.globalcitizen.org/en the week to find out how they think life will be in 2030 and also remind politicians about the goals they promised to achieve by that year. Read more here.

Similarly, Radio Contact in Belgium started the support week on Monday 28 September, kicking it off with the Good Morning Show and explaining the Radio Everyone initiative. Editorial mornings will then be broadcast twice a day for the whole week, and listeners will interact on different programmes to discuss the goals and the concert in Central Park. To stay updated, all news and information on the coverage will be posted on Radio Contact Belgium social networks. 16 A NIGHT AT THE OLYMPIA FOR RTL2’S 20TH BIRTHDAY RTL 2

It’s not every day that you turn 20! To celebrate the event, the radio station hold a “very, very private concert” on the Olympia’s legendary stage in Paris on Wednesday 30 September. France – 30 September 2015

Five major artists from the rock/pop scene played at the event: Calegro, Selah Sue, Zazie, Raphaël and Cats on Trees. As with all of the events organised for its 20th anniversary, RTL2 did not sell any tickets for this unique concert. Instead, all of the seats were given away to listeners. 2,000 places were available to win on RTL2 and RTL2.fr.

For the occasion, RTL2 put together a special day of programming from the legendary stage at the Olympia with Stéphanie Renouvin and Grégory Ascher. From 16:30, RTL2 was broadcasting from the Olympia with live coverage of the event and from behind the scenes. Until 19:30, Grégory Ascher reported on the preparations and rehearsals, then during the concert (from 20:00 to 23:00), Carole Vega shared her experiences backstage with listeners.

Alongside this, RTL2.fr broadcast the concert both live and through images, gave the internet audience an immersive experience with access to exclusive content. Louise Ekland presented an exclusive follow-up from behind the scenes. In addition to the video, the RTL2.fr timeline gave its users, listeners and viewers the opportunity to leave their commentary on the evening with the hash-tag #OlympiaRTL2, to contribute to the rich experience of the live performance, to post and/ or view photos from the event or even access articles about the artists.

RTL2 continued to pursue its innovative strategy in the universe of music radio with this truly three-dimensional event launched on the occasion of its 20th anniversary.

17 The king of soaps is a quarter of a century old

On 1 October 2015, Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden (Good times, bad times) celebrates its 25th birthday. RTL 4 will celebrate this special milestone in Dutch television history with a double episode produced in Ireland. SHORT NEWS 1/1

More entertainment Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland

Die Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland teams up with Eventim, Europe’s market leader in the live entertainment and ticketing: RTL Interactive offers its users the chance to purchase tickets of all Eventim-Live-Events directly in the online shop of RTL Tickets. Germany – 28 September 2015

An interesting read SpotX

SpotX’s latest white paper is the third in a series that examines programmatic TV and how industry stakeholders can position themselves to reap the benefits of this emerging technology. It can be downloaded here for free. North America – 29 September 2015

Welcome! N-TV

N-TV launches its new Arabic video offer Marhaba – Ankommen in Deutschland. Presenter Constantin Schreiber speaks in Arabic to the refugees and immigrants. He explains the life in Germany and gives practical advice. Germany – 29 September 2015

Cooperation in e-health RTL Ventures

RTL Ventures and KPN Ventures join forces to fund start-ups in the field of e-health. Both parties aim to jointly accelerate and increase the growth of e-health products, services and applications. The Netherlands – 30 September 2015

19 PEOPLE BUILDING FURTHER EXPERTISE FremantleMedia International

United kingdom – 29 September 2015

To provide senior business support and expertise to the global sales operation, strengthen sales in the emerging markets and ramp up scripted and non-scripted acquisitions in the US and internationally, Jens Richter, CEO of FremantleMedia International (FMI) has confirmed a number of new appointments.

Jennifer Barrett joins the business as SVP, Legal and Business Affairs. She will report jointly to FMI’s COO, Bob McCourt and FremantleMedia’s General Counsel, Robin Chalmers and will lead and manage FMI’s legal and business affairs team, overseeing the acquisition of rights for FremantleMedia’s in-house teams and those of third party producers, as well as overseeing matters of corporate governance, risk management and compliance with law, policy and regulation. Barrett joins FMI from the BBC where she most recently held the post of Head of L&BA, Factual and Daytime. She has extensive Natalia Sterlikova experience in international distribution, co-production and co-financing, having worked at Universal Pictures International Entertainment, Australia’s ABC, the UK Film Council, BBC Films and Zenith Media, amongst others.

Furthering Richter’s plans to strengthen the emerging markets, Natalia Sterlikova has been appointed as Director Sales, Central & Eastern Europe, Russia & CIS. Based in Berlin, and reporting to Maximilian Bolenius, Senior VP Sales & Distribution, German speaking Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, Russia & CIS, Sterlikova will be responsible for continuing to grow FMI’s business in the region, maximising sales and pre-sales of all FMI content with traditional broadcasters and emerging platforms and giving additional focus and attention to this territory. A native Russian speaker, she joins FMI from All3Media International where she was Senior Sales Executive, responsible for expanding the business in Central & Eastern Europe. The hire follows the recent announcement of Amaç Erol Us as Sales Director in FMI’s Dubai office Amaç Erol Us where he is responsible for exploring tape distribution and format growth opportunities across the Middle East, Africa, Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Turkey.

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20 As part of his plan to bolster acquisitions for FMI, Jens Richter has separated responsibility for scripted and non-scripted activity in the US, announcing the promotion Sam Harowitz of Sam Harowitz and Hayley Dickson who become VP, Scripted Acquisitions and SVP, Head of Non-Scripted Global Acquisitions and Development respectively. As VP Scripted Acquisitions, Sam Harowitz will work closely with FremantleMedia North America`s (FMNA) scripted department and the UK-based Global Drama team, as well as third party producers in North America, to identify and secure content for distribution or development by the FMI sales teams. As SVP Head of Non-Scripted Global Acquisitions and Development, Hayley Dickson will do the same for non-scripted content and will have an expanded remit, which sees her take a more strategic role overseeing the acquisition and development of non-scripted content globally. She will work closely with London-based Director of Non-Scripted, Angela Neillis, who retains her UK focus in order to assess and exploit opportunities within this highly competitive market.

Speaking of the appointments, Jens Richter says: “Today’s announcement will play a key role in furthering Hayley Dickson FMI’s new strategy. Broadening our capability in co-financing and co-producing sits at the heart of our plans, and Jennifer brings a fantastic combination of senior level expertise and fresh perspective and insight in this area. Natalia and Amaç have both demonstrated strong track records in identifying and capitalising on sales opportunities in the increasingly important emerging markets, while a more strategically-focused remit for Hayley and Sam, combined with their passion and drive for acquisitions, will deliver a diverse and enhanced content catalogue.”

Jens Richter

21 PEOPLE APPOINTMENTS WITHIN THE MANAGEMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND BRANDING RTL Radio

France – 30 September 2015

Florence Jammes Benoît Fitoussi

Florence Jammes, 36, is appointed as Director of Benoît Fitoussi, 39, is becoming the Director of Musical Partnerships and Public Relations at RTL Radio France, Partnerships at the RTL Radio division. Whilst continuing IP France and RTL Net. In addition to her role directing to manage all partnerships for RTL 2 and Fun Radio public relations, which she has held since 2009, she will alongside Marie Fugier, he will also be responsible for the be responsible for the negotiation and the undertaking negotiation and implementation of musical partnerships of culture and sport partnerships for RTL, IP and RTL with RTL Radio. He will exercise this responsibility in Net. She will report to Sophie Déroulède, Director of direct connection with the programming and musical Communication and Branding at RTL Radio in France. management at the three stations. He will report to She is replacing Jacques Benloulou, who is leaving the Christophe Boccard, Director of Communication and group. Branding at Fun Radio and RTL 2.

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22 Yannick Lemaire Camille Moulène

Yannick Lemaire, 45, is appointed Director of the Press Camille Moulène, 35, is joining the new press office at Office and Editorial Partnerships at the RTL Radio division. the Radio division as Radio RTL Press Officer, alongside Director of Press Relations and Media Partnerships at Geneviève Badiou, Gersende Facchini and Marjorie Preux. RTL since 2006, he is expanding his roles within the three She will report to Yannick Lemaire. Camille Moulène will stations (RTL, RTL 2, Fun Radio) as well as with the digital continue to deal more specifically with the activities at Fun activities of the group (RTL Net) and IP France. He will Radio and RTL 2 in the role defined by Tristan Jurgensen, report to Sophie Déroulède. Director General of RTL 2 and Fun Radio.

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