week 8 the RTL Group intranet

Newsletter

Strategic realignment at RTL Interactive Johannes Züll talks about selling RTL Shop and buying Wer-kennt-wen.de

Croatia A Good Cause: RTL Televizija Helps Children In Need United States FremantleMedia is going to Disney World Germany RTL School of Journalism welcomes applicants France Nouvelle Star: One programme, four platforms

People Jean-Marc Dorangeon, RTL Radio France COVER: Johannes Züll, CEO of RTL Interactive week 8 the RTL Group intranet

Strategic realignment at RTL Interactive Backstage spoke to RTL Interactive CEO Johannes Züll and Matthias Büchs, head of the Online department, about the sale of RTL Shop and the acquisition of the social community Wer-kennt-wen.de. Matthias Büchs (left) and Johannes Züll (right) Germany - 20 February 2008

RTL Interactive has spent the past few weeks than we here at Mediengruppe RTL and months analysing its portfolio. Johannes Deutschland. Naturally, we wish to participate Züll and his team thoroughly reviewed the in this value creation when we sell it. question of which activities should be part of RTL Interactive’s core business in the future. Will RTL divest itself completely of What lines of business should be pursued with RTL Shop? investments because they promise future Johannes Züll: RTL will definitely hand over the growth? And what lines of business should be management of its operations. Depending on given a critical review because they are not the buyer, we can imagine holding a minority living up to expectations? stake. Our aim here is to ensure a successful evolution of the business, and to participate in The result of the revision: RTL Interactive will the value created by selling all or part of it. dispose of RTL Shop. An investment bank has already been commissioned to find a suitable How would you describe RTL Shop’s buyer for the business. At the same time, RTL performance? Interactive decided to step up its engagement Johannes Züll: We firmly believe that we crea- in the burgeoning “Communities” sector. To ted value with the RTL Shop team. A good year this end, RTL Interactive has acquired a 49 per- ago, we changed the strategy, increasing the cent stake in the platform Wer-kennt-wen.de. product range from 2,000 to around 7,000 items and increasing the number of customers. Why is RTL Interactive selling RTL Shop? Nonetheless, the restructuring process was Johannes Züll: About a year ago, RTL painful, and the losses for 2007 – not surprisin- Interactive initiated a restructuring process at gly for a massive restructuring – were in the low RTL Shop, with a new strategy, new target cus- eight-digit range. We had to acknowledge that tomers, and a new range policy. And yet our its performance didn't match our expectations. analyses show that home shopping is more of a core competency for retailers than for TV RTL Interactive has just bought a 49-percent experts, and that Germany – unlike places like stake in the social community Wer-kennt- France – is not a good “windows market” for wen.de. How did this collaboration come direct-response television (DRTV). So we are about? looking for a strategic lead investor with a retail Johannes Züll: We met its two founders Patrick background to take on the management of RTL Ohler and Fabian Jager a few months ago and Shop. In our analysis of core competencies, we at first mainly provided technical support for were able to show very clearly that a strategic their project. Since then, we’ve signed a per- partner in the retail sector would be able to manent collaboration. create much greater added value for RTL Shop

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Why is Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland Do you believe that it is possible to make buying a stake in Wer-kennt-wen.de? money with social communities? Johannes Züll: Wer-kennt-wen.de is one of the Matthias Büchs: Social communities are cur- three fastest-growing social communities in rently regarded as one of the major trends on Germany. With its broad target audience focus, the Net. Although we feel the valuations and Wer-kennt-wen.de caters to similar viewer seg- hype are vastly exaggerated, as in the case of ments as, for instance, RTL Television or Vox. Facebook, we do believe that we can operate Besides, we were and continue to be very social communities at a profit, given a sensible impressed with the two young founders and business plan and mainly based on advertising. their management skills and innovative ability. The management of Wer-kennt-wen.de will Wer-kennt-wen.de is a good match for the have agencies pitch for handling its ad sales, strong channel homepages in our portfolio hol- and IP Deutschland is bound to be one of them. dings and Clipfish.de, Wetter.de, Sport.de and We would be delighted if IP were put in charge Vip.de. of marketing, as this would push the company to No.5 in the ranking of Germany's online ad Do you think that Wer-kennt-wen.de can sales agents. survive the tough competition in the social communities sector? Matthias Büchs: Yes, and the growth figures bear out this opinion. StudiVZ and SchülerVZ Wer-kennt-wen.de are focused on very specific demographics, and in the case of Myspace and Facebook it The site’s users can send and receive remains to be seen whether their American messages, set up photo albums, and par- offshoots will succeed in Germany – ticipate in chats, blogs, forums and dis- Facebook’s target demographic is very similar cussion groups. Registration is free of to that of StudiVZ. Wer-kennt-wen.de has lear- charge. The Wer-kennt-wen.de communi- ned from the mistakes made by Facebook, ty currently has around 1.5 million registe- StudiVZ and Xing, e.g. in the area of privacy red users, and records 250,000 new protection. The registration process shows registrations per month. 40 percent of how carefully Wer-kennt-wen.de deals with this users log in daily. A 23 percent increase in issue. And thanks to its partnership with RTL Unique Clients in a single month (1.336 Interactive, the site doesn’t need to charge million in January 2008 vs. 1.090 million in users. Wer-kennt-wen.de has since surpassed December 2007 according to Nielsen) sites like Lokalisten and Xing; the number of makes Wer-kennt-wen.de the fastest- Page Impressions currently roughly corres- growing German social network at this ponds to the sum of all sites currently publi- point in time. shed by Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland.

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A Good Cause: RTL Televizija Helps Children In Need RTL poma e djeci – the charity association set up by RTL Group’s Croatian channel RTL Televizija – looks back at a fruitful first year. Croatia - 18 February 2008

In December 2006, RTL Group’s Croatian sub- and creative platform to communicate social sidiary RTL Televizija set out to put a smile back projects and raise funds. And our partnership on children’s faces by setting up a charity cal- has proven extremely successful,” says led RTL poma e djeci (RTL helps children) in Mainusch. partnership with the Croatian daily newspaper Vecernji list. The initiative primarily aims to The initiative started with a lottery organised by contribute to the well-being of Croatian chil- the Croatian channel’s own employees. dren and give them a better future. RTL Proceeds went to buy a laptop and special poma e djeci provides support to existing software for children with communication organisations that take care of ill, disabled or disorders in Zadar/Dalmatia. A “bicycle day” poor children, focusing on organizations that organized by the Vecernji list newspaper and lack the funds to reach the public and need several calls for donations by well-known TV financial assistance for implementing specific figures ensured that many children in Croatia projects. The initiative has amassed considera- received much-needed funds in 2007. ble achievements in the year that has passed since its establishment.

“As the leading TV Station in Croatia, it was a priority for us to embrace our responsibility towards the Croatian society and to give back to the communities,” says Christoph Mainusch, CEO RTL Televizija and President of RTL poma e djeci. “It was important for us to demonstrate the sustainability of our commitment and to build our action on our business expertise and core competencies.” To this end, RTL Televizija not only reports on deplorable social circumstances to build viewers’ awareness for the children’s needs, but also raises donations for children’s relief organi- zations with quick, straight-forward fund drives. “The idea of co-foun- ding the association with Vecernji list was to build the most efficient

Christoph Mainusch, CEO RTL Televizija 4 week 8 the RTL Group intranet

In under a year, RTL poma e djeci managed to set up Croatia’s first charity fund and organize the most successful campaign of the year. In December 2007, with the support of Deutsche Telekom, RTL Televizija initiated the Budi mi pri- jatelj (Be my friend) campaign: five children’s relief projects were advertised in TV commer- cials and print ads for a whole month. Celebrity project sponsors told TV audiences about the initiatives and asked for their support. Budi mi prijatelj culminated in a three-hour live show starring the singer and RTL poma e djeci ambassador Sanja Dole al and numerous other celebrities. In all, the campaign raised around €354,000 – an impressive tally for a country as small as Croatia. For comparison: its popula- tion is just 5.4 percent of the German popula- tion, and per-capita income is 25.6 percent of the German figure.

RTL poma e djeci has big plans for 2008 as Sanja Osijek together with handicapped kids well. It intends to remain a major protagonist in Croatia’s humanitarian aid sector, ensuring that the aid provided is both effective and lasting, and hopefully increasing the volume of dona- tions even further. And of course, it aims to put a smile back on the faces of as many Croatian children as possible.

A very active call center collecting viewers’ donations

The final show with celebrities and RTL Televizija’s staff

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FremantleMedia is going to Disney World In a landmark agreement between FremantleMedia and Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, two juggernauts in American entertainment will combine forces to create one of the most attractive theme park destinations in the world. United States - 19 February 2008

Slated to debut in late 2008, an American Idol daily winners of that honour will receive an themed attraction will take centre stage at the automatic reservation, putting them in line for Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, offering the actual auditions for the TV show. visitors a small taste of the American Idol expe- rience. Located at Disney’s Hollywood Studios “The brand is owned by us, so we can extend theme park, the American Idol attraction will it in the off-air space however we want to,” said follow the model of the high-energy show allo- Keith Hindle, FremantleMedia's vice president wing Disney guests and prospective superstars of licensing. “It’s a very collaborative process, of all ages to take the stage, audition in front of Disney knows more about live stage produc- judges and then compete against others in a tions than we ever will, and we know more daily recreation of the show itself. As the per- about our TV show than Disney ever will. formers advance through successive rounds, Exactly how this will manifest itself is some- they will progress to hair and make-up, much thing that will be mutually agreed by all parties. like the true Idols on TV, all the while setting We’re looking to Disney to see how their guests their sights on capturing the Idol crown. The like to be entertained”, Hindle said.

Application procedure under way for a new intake of aspiring TV editors The window for applications to the highly regarded RTL School of Journalism in Germany for a coveted place on its TV editing course opened on 15 January and will close on 1 March. Germany - 15 February 2008

Just a few weeks into the application period, Television, RTL II and N-TV, and on-the-job trai- 600 enthusiasts have already registered on the ning in editing departments selected by the school’s website. Applicants are required to students, e.g. in the print sector, at public-ser- send in a report along with a storyboard. The vice channels or in production companies. top 100 candidates will be invited to Cologne in Participation in a workshop in New York under June to take part in the application days in an arrangement with the Columbia University Cologne. The final choice of budding journa- Graduate School of Journalism will also give lists to be admitted to the school will be made the aspiring journalists a fascinating insight into by a jury comprised of representatives from the the workings of television in the USA. TV channel RTL Television, appropriate staff from other media companies and a number of When the RTL School of Journalism for TV and media training experts. Multimedia was set up in 2000, it was the first training establishment of its kind. On 2 January The two-year course in TV editing will start in 2001, the school opened its doors to students. January 2009 and will entail modules taught at It has already established a solid reputation the school, numerous practical stints with the among a very wide range of media companies. news and magazine editing teams at RTL 6 week 8 the RTL Group intranet

Successful debut for Five News presenter Natasha Kaplinsky This week, Natasha Kaplinsky joined Five News to anchor the 17.00 and 19.00 bulletins and immediately achieved a market share of 7.5 per cent for the teatime news broadcast. Natasha Kaplinsky United Kingdom - 21 February 2008

Before her move to Five, Kaplinsky had a suc- want people to feel uplifted after watching the cessful five-year stint at the BBC, hosting news”, said the Strictly Come Dancing winner. Breakfast and the Six O'Clock News. Her debut Kaplinsky said she likes presenting the news on Five almost doubled the audience for the because it’s highly addictive and she loves channel's flagship news programme, with 1 mil- being part of what is happening in the world. lion viewers tuning in at 17.00 and 400,000 at “News presenting, however, is not just about 19.00. reading from an autocue. You get involved in all kinds of aspects, such as the writing, style and Natasha Kaplinsky said she joined Five News the way stories are told. It’s an incredibly hard because it gave her an opportunity to present job. You have people shouting in your ear and the news on her own. “A new show and team things going on around you, yet you have to be was being put together and the opportunity to as serene and calm as possible. It’s tough, but I be in a studio on my own was really exciting. love the adrenaline”, she added. The team at Five had so many great ideas. It was a big decision for me”, she said. Kaplinsky also conceded that she’d love to front other programmes for Five in the future, though The new show was split into two bulletins, each for the time being she just wants to “concentra- lasting 30 minutes. “We’ll be offering something te on making sure the news goes well”. different to other channels’ news bulletins. We

Natasha Kaplinsky 7 week 8 the RTL Group intranet

One programme, four platforms Some rather eloquently call it the ‘strategy of the cat with nine lives’. What the approach boils down to is optimising the exploitation of content by distributing it on several platforms. The way in which the sixth season of Nouvelle Star is being handled in France is a copybook example. France - 21 February 2008

Nouvelle Star, the French version of Idols, is a Secondly, the show is broadcast on the Web, major highlight every Thursday at 20.50 on M6, where the channel’s official website prominent- but the programme is also aired on W9 (M6's ly features videos from the programme and ‘little sister’, a DTT channel), and broadcast on offers opportunities for user interaction. For the Internet (www.m6.fr) and to mobile phones instance, as soon as the broadcast is over, visi- (M6 Mobile by Orange). So fans of the show tors to the site can watch the highlights of the can hardly fail to see every episode. programme for free, and the next day they can chat online with the contestant who was elimi- How does this work in practice? nated the day before.

First of all, when the studio lights go off on M6 Thirdly, the show can be watched by mobile at the end of the show, they come on again on phone users subscribing to M6 Mobile by W9 with the live programme Nouvelle Star, ça Orange, giving fans yet another chance to continue, presented by Alexandre Devoise, watch videos taken from the show. which gives fans of the programme a peek behind the scenes. How did the contestants Finally, the icing on the cake is that Plug TV feel the evening went? How did the jury's criti- also airs the show in Belgium. cisms go down with them? Do viewers agree with the final outcome?

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New Top Model for Holland Sweating it out in luxury in the new, fourth season of Holland’s Next Top Model on RTL 5, full of unexpected changes. The Netherlands - 20 February 2008

Nothing will be what it seems in the fourth sea- The winner will be awarded a modelling son of the successful RTL 5 show Holland’s contract worth EUR 75,000 from the renowned Next Top Model. Starting on Monday, 31 modelling agency ModelMasters the Agency. March, 11 pretty young girls will compete for She will also grace the cover of the glossy wee- the much-coveted title of Holland’s Next Top kly magazine Grazia and serve for four months Model. And this time around there’ll be more as the face of the Ici Paris XL Beauty Channel surprises than ever before. Whereas the aspi- at Ici Paris XL. ring young models in the previous series had to go without a lot of things in the remote hangar This season’s show is once again in the capa- that served as their home base, this time the ble hands of former top model and writer young ladies will be steeped in luxury, living in Daphne Deckers, who will also chair the jury. a very comfortable apartment, the Top Model Her fellow jurors will include a number of other Mansion, fitted out with every convenience. well-known faces, including the journalist and Weekly assignments, challenges and photo presenter Rosalie van Breemen, the catwalk shoots will give the girls an idea of what awaits coach and model Mariana Verkerk, and top them as a top model. But behind the apparent photographer Philip Riches. New to the jury is glam and glitter of life on the catwalk, the Hilmar Mulder, editor-in-chief of the weekly unsuspecting girls will have to face up to what fashion glossy Grazia. Another new face this is actually a very tough reality. For the jury will season is that of the Ici Paris XL’s chief beauti- spring a fair few surprises on the young debu- cian and beauty coach Thijs Willekes. Naturally, tante models, sometimes when it suits them style guru and freelance fashion director and sometimes when it doesn’t. So is it all too Bastiaan van Schaik will once again be on hand good to be true? It sure seems that way on an to give the girls some support. evening photo shoot when the scantily clad girls have to pose in outfits in terrible condi- Each week the jury will decide who will stay in tions... with a chance of being crowned Holland’s Next Top Model and who will be sent home. Will the RTL 5 Programming Director Remko van models manage to meet the stiff requirements Westerloo said: “We’re really looking forward to placed on them, or will they wilt under the the new series of Holland's Next Top Model. constant pressures heaped on them? Once again, there’ll be plenty of major surpri- ses in store, both for viewers and for the young Holland’s Next Top Model new season starts lady contestants. In fact, the show’s fourth sea- on Monday 31 March, at 20.30 on RTL 5. son promises to outdo all its predecessors”.

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Kids love Ufa Kids German market research company GfK ranks Ufa Kids, the children’s label of Universum Film, as the favourite maker of fiction in the chil- dren’s film market, attributing it a market share of 16 per cent. Germany - 21 February 2008

The Ufa Kids success story began in spring 2004 with its own logo animation and a simul- taneous market offensive. Within just four years, the company managed to raise its 5-per- cent market share in the children's entertain- ment segment by over 10 percentage points.

“Naturally we’re proud at having multiplied our market share and become the clear market lea- der within such a short time”, said Universum Film CEO Tania Reichert-Facilides. “GfK's cur- rent statistics confirm our constant efforts in the children’s segment of the market over the last few years. And these efforts will certainly continue unabated in the future”, she added.

Ufa Kids’ portfolio includes such popular and well-known titles as Pippi Langstrumpf, Michel aus Lönneberga, Heidi, Wickie und die starken Männer, Black Beauty and Nils Holgersson. Over the coming year, too, the company’s port- folio will be expanded further, to include titles like Tao Tao and Alice im Wunderland.

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The 100,000 euro man has been caught The innovative action by Clipfish.de, which linked the Internet to the real world, reached a spectacular climax when the ‘100,000 euro man’ was discovered in a train on the way to Magdeburg. The 100,000 euro man Germany - 15 February 2008

The 100,000 euro man set out on 6 February on out for personal reasons, so a mission to visit the capitals of all 16 German Matthias S. took up the challenge federal states in 21 days and avoid being instead. But travelling through unmasked while completing the challenge. But Germany without being recogni- Check out after just 10 days, would-be ‘invisible man’ sed turned out to be a major www.clipfish.de/ Matthias S. had to concede defeat, after being challenge. photographed by Marcel K., one of more than 100000euromann 8,000 registered Clipfish.de users hot on his The candidate was equipped with for further information trail. A delighted Marcel K. will now receive the a mobile navigation and communi- prize money of EUR 100,000. cation device. His GPS coordinates were regularly updated and posted on a Clipfish.de project manager Mathias Blüm said: map on Clipfish.de. That way, after just a “We’re very happy with the action, which pro- short time lapse, anyone playing the game ved that we are capable of meeting our target could see where he was on the Internet or on group’s expectations. We, an online platform, their mobile phone and take up the chase. The made a foray into the real world, captured peo- hunters were given additional help in the form ple’s imagination and attracted their attention”. of riddles providing clues about the 100,000 euro man’s next destination. The action was launched by Clipfish.de, and within a few hours of the start on 6 February several thousand bounty hun- ters had registered on Clipfish.de and formed the first posses to hunt down the 100,000 euro man, whose des- tinations and puzzles were the subject of lively discussion on various forums. Unfortunately the first candidate had to pull

Marcel K. (on the left) caught the 100,000 euro man (on the right)

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France bemoans the loss of Henri Salvador When it was announced on Wednesday, 13 February that the celebrated singer had died in Paris at the age of 90, RTL Radio turned its programme schedule upside down and contacted various artists who had been friends with Henri Salvador to pay final homage to this exceptional master crooner. Henri Salvador France - 15 February 2008

On Wednesday, between 14.30 and 16.00, La The mention of Henri Salvador’s name brings tête dans les étoiles, the programme presented many things to mind. First and foremost a sin- by Laurent Boyer, was devoted entirely to Henri ger with a voice as sweet as honey, but also an Salvador and featured tributes paid to him by inimitable laugh, cream-coloured suits and a Parisians and people in the music business. certain natural elegance and joking and horsing Culture and Communication Minister Christine around on TV, e.g. dressed up as Cleopatra or Albanel told RTL Radio: “I found him a very a Juanita complete with braided hair. Once, endearing person and champion of the French referring to a French version of the game of chanson. (…) He was with us for a very long bowls, he subtly and rather poetically summed time. I’m deeply saddened, because I was a up old age by saying: “When you play pétan- great admirer.” que, the balls get heavier.”

Henri Salvador led an exceptional life for a nati- Henri Salvador issued his album Révérence in ve of Cayenne in French Guiana. He arrived in 2006 and bade his farewell to the music scene Paris in 1928 at the tender age of 11, finding a in December 2007. France will remember him metropolis alive with the sound of popular walt- for classics like Syracuse, Une chanson douce, zes, dotted with open-air cafés, dance halls Zorro est arrivé, Le lion est mort ce soir, Juanita and variety theatres: the home of the unforget- Banana, Le travail c’est la santé and many, table Mistinguett and Maurice Chevalier. There many more great songs. he soon joined the orchestra of American jazz violinist Eddie South. “I played with all the- greats. The Mills Brothers wanted to take me back to America, Duke Ellington too, but I was still a minor,” Henri once said.

Juanita Banana 12 week 8 the RTL Group intranet

Awards for Antena 3 Antena 3 won four TP de Oros at the 36th prestigious TP de Oro television awards in Madrid on Wednesday, 13 February. Spain - 15 February 2008

In with the new in Luxembourg RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg’s second channel sports a new logo and offers viewers a whole new programme schedule. Luxembourg - 18 February 2008

Prize awarded to Deutschland sucht den Superstar Winner RTL music artist Mark Medlock walked away with the Newcomer prize at the Echo Awards on Friday 15 February. Up to 5.83 million viewers watched the ceremony live on RTL Television. Germany - 18 February 2008

Enjoying a high rate among opinion leaders According to the well-known study by international agency network Edelman, N-TV is the third most consulted news source behind Spiegel and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Germany - 18 February 2008

Breaking Into Tesco Five recently announced that it has commissioned Ricochet Productions to make a brand new six-part feature series called Breaking Into Tesco. United Kingdom - 19 February 2008

Gay community honours Alles was zählt Over 5,000 readers of the nationwide gay magazine Blu voted RTL Television’s daily soap Alles was zählt Best National TV Format. Germany - 20 February 2008

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Bravo Supershow back on RTL II RTL II will be screening this year’s Bravo Supershow in Nuremberg on 3 May. It will be the annual music event's first visit to the city. The chosen venue, the Arena Nürnberger Versicherung, promises to be a great backdrop for the presentation of this year’s main chart toppers and winning recipients of Bravo Otto awards. Germany - 20 February 2008

The search for France’s sixth Nouvelle Star begins Long lines of waiting, eager-faced young people. The excitement in the air is palpable as they await their first big performance. And then, the panel of judges who will either listen intently or shake their heads – that is Nouvelle Star. France - 20 February 2008

People Jean-Marc Dorangeon appointed manage- ment representative for entertainment programmes on RTL Radio France France - 15 February 2008

Jean-Marc Dorangeon’s appointment to this He was previously a representative of the gene- post was based on a recommendation by ral programme management team at RTL 2 and Director of Entertainment Programmes Frédéric Fun Radio. In 1996 he was involved in setting Jouve. up the research department of RTL Group’s radio arm in France. Jean-Marc Dorangeon’s main job will be to develop the radio station’s marketing activities and programmes, collaborating closely with the respective teams of staff.

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