24 September 2009

week 39

What women want RTL Nederland’s new special-interest channel

Luxembourg United States The value of TV advertising Kevin Skinner wins America’s Got Talent

Germany Russia Online commercial breaks Ren TV presents accepted new season COVER: Montage with different formats of RTL Lounge hat women want derland’s new special-interest channel

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Drama and Lifestyle A new digital special-interest channel is going on air just in time for RTL Nederland’s 20th anniversary on 2 October: RTL Lounge. Backstage spoke with Nicolas Eglau who spearheaded the project.

The Netherlands - 24 September 2009

The Netherlands has traditionally been a very cable-dominated country. However, due to the low penetration of digital homes in the past, it has been relatively unattractive so far for commercial TV groups to launch their own special-interest channels. The significant increase in digital households over the past two years has changed the situation, so RTL Nederland has now come to an agreement with the two biggest cable operators in the country – UPC and Ziggo – to run RTL Lounge. The new channel goes on air on 2 October as part of the “Royaal” package for UPC subscribers and in Ziggo’s Film & Entertainment package for its customers. In this way, RTL Lounge will reach 15 to 20 per cent of Dutch households in future.

At the RTL Nederland programme presentation on 24 August, RTL Nederland CEO Bert Habets said: “RTL is tracking viewers on all platforms. Digital television is becoming increasingly more Nicolas Eglau important. Our aim is to latch onto this trend as best we can by offering distinctive, high-quality programmes. Consequently, the launch of RTL Lounge is extremely important for our company.”

The new channel will be financed by a small fee RTL Nederland receives from the cable operators for each subscriber to the corresponding premium package. “This makes it possible for RTL Lounge programmes to be shown without commercial breaks,” explains Nicolas Eglau, Senior Vice President Business Development & Strategy, and now additionally responsible for RTL Lounge. However, there will be advertising between programmes.

The new channel is aimed primarily at young women 25 to 35 years old: “We want a concept that interests the audience, comprises high-

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quality programmes and of course is relevant to Dutch viewers,” said Eglau. “We looked closely at the existing special-interest channels market. There are already plenty of male-oriented channels, but no high-quality special-interest channel for women with local programme brands. That’s how we came up with the idea.”

During the development process, RTL Nederland has been sounding out ideas with Klaus Holtmann’s team at Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, which had already launched three digital pay-TV channels two years ago. “Forms of financing were the main topic under discussion. Special-interest channels (still) lack the necessary reach to rely entirely on advertising,” says Eglau. “Every trip to our colleagues in Germany was worth it. We especially looked at the day to day business of a thematic channel.” Like the existing RTL Nederland channels, RTL Lounge will broadcast under a Luxembourg licence. The Broadcasting Center Europe in Jamie Oliver Luxembourg is responsible for the playout.

RTL Lounge’s programming is based on two pillars: drama and lifestyle. The lifestyle section is divided into five major thematic blocks: Koken (cooking), Beauty & Fashion, Wonen (Living), Reizen (Travel) and Love & Life. On each weekday, prime time is dedicated to a different theme block. “Especially for small channels, it is important to establish firm rules in the programme schedule. The audience wants to know what to expect and when. That’s why we developed this clear programme structure,” explains Eglau. “Furthermore, our programmes always begin on the hour or the half hour. That way, audiences don’t have to get used to odd start times.” The Koken section includes formats such as Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares and Wie is de chef. In the area of Fashion & Beauty RTL Lounge offers Gooische Vrouwen

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The cast of Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden programmes like Project Catwalk, How to look good naked and Holland’s Next Top Model. The Wonen thematic block offers Design Inc., House and Property Ladder, while the Reizen block has formats such as Rough Guides and RTL Travel. Love & Life includes formats like Wife Swap, Rich bride, poor bride and Hoe wordt ik een new.

Outside of these thematic blocks – in the drama section – the channel primarily relies on domestic and international series. RTL Lounge viewers have the exclusive option of watching the latest episode of the popular soap Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden, which is shown on RTL 4 at 20:00, on the morning of that day. RTL Lounge also repeats the previous day’s episode at 19:30 so that viewers who want to enjoy the new episode in the evening can watch the previous episode again. At weekends, RTL Lounge consecutively repeats all the episodes from the past week. Besides the popular daily soap, RTL Lounge also broadcasts series and telenovelas like Lotte (the Dutch version of Ugly Betty), Gooische Vrouwen, Voetbal Vrouwen, Desire and Fashion House.

As well as the convenience, the channel of course also wants to offer added value to attract viewers. In contrast to RTL 8, which is also aimed at women, RTL Lounge serves a much younger audience. Additionally, the focus of RTL Lounge is clearly on lifestyle formats, and less on movies, as is the case at RTL 8. Nicolas Eglau: “In this way, RTL Lounge offers real added value and is positioned as a complement to the existing channels.” Lotte

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The value of TV advertising No other medium fans the emotions as strongly and reaches as many customers in as short a time as television. In a new brochure, RTL Group elaborates on the value of television in building brands. Cover of the new brochure Luxembourg - 24 September 2009

Developments on the European TV advertising possible in no small part by the special markets have been anything but gratifying in effectiveness of TV advertising: “Efficient TV recent months – double-digit declines in advertising is often excellent entertainment. advertising income, strong pressure on spot Commercials work when they tell interesting prices and discount levels. As Europe’s biggest stories, appeal to our emotions, inform and broadcaster, RTL Group drew attention to the surprise – in short: when they are just good new market realities early on. At the same time, television,” Zeiler continues. The brochure uses RTL Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler was always examples like the British confectioner careful to emphasise the industry’s flexibility Cadbury’s drumming gorilla to show how and TV’s undiminished strength as the leading advertising spots can entertain viewers and be medium.

All this was reason enough for RTL Group to take a closer look at TV advertising: what are the particular strengths of TV advertising? Does television compete with the Internet, or do they complement each other? What new forms of advertising exist beyond the traditional 30-second commercial? RTL Group’s new brochure The Inconvenient Truth About TV Commercials provides answers and food for thought in response to these questions.

But above all, the publication serves to remind readers of a free-TV channel’s basic business model – and provides an engaging illustration of how such a channel finances high-quality content, which unlike on pay-TV and public- service channels are free for viewers, through TV advertising: free-TV could not be financed without advertising.

“Each day, our channels air more than 11,000 commercials, booked and paid for by hundreds of different advertisers,” writes RTL Group CEO

Gerhard Zeiler in his editorial. This is made Advertising is often excellent entertainment 6 week 39 the RTL Group intranet

effective even without making direct reference they give rise to, the brochure finally gives an to the product. entertaining presentation of TV advertising facts and figures – for example about what The publication also touches the issue of viewers really do during commercial breaks, advertising regulations, on the one hand new advertising formats with astonishing outlining major directives at European level and names like ‘Skyscraper’ and ‘Crawl’, and the on the other quoting critical voices which make world’s most expensive or longest commercial. it clear that more and more detailed The new brochure The Inconvenient Truth regulations, let alone advertising bans, do not About TV Commercials is published – as were constitute effective consumer protection. Quite the brochures RTL Group At a glance and How the opposite: viewers can use the remote RTL Group Pays Back to Society – in a handy control or computer mouse to decide in size. Its development was lead-managed by fractions of a second whether they like a RTL Group Corporate Communications. It has programme or an ad. Therefore, more been available for download from advertising freedom ultimately leads to a RTLGroup.com since 24 September. Printed greater variety of programmes. copies are displayed in the lobby of the Corporate Centre in Luxembourg and may also After explaining how new technologies – such be ordered using the ‘Order Documents’ on the as catch-up TV services on the Internet – are website. changing TV advertising and what possibilities

New platforms bring new advertising opportunities

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Awards for the 2008 Annual Report RTL Group has been granted numerous awards in international competitions for the 2008 Annual Report. Annual Report 2008 cover Luxembourg - 23 September 2009

At this year’s “ARC Awards” – the “Academy The LACP jury – consisting of public relations Awards of annual reports” – RTL Group won a experts from leading US companies – awarded gold medal in the “Interior Design” category for the RTL Group Annual Report the highest media companies, as it has in the past two possible score in six of the eight evaluation years. In addition, the RTL Group report was categories. The experts were won over by the the overall winner in this category, and thus narrative of the content, its creativity and the received the coveted “2009 Best of Class cover of the report, as well as the clarity of the Grand Award”. statements and accessibility of information in the financial section. The RTL Group Annual Report also won a gold medal in the American League of American The RTL Group’s Annual Report is jointly Communications Professionals (LACP) “Vision produced by the Corporate Centre Awards”. The report received 98 out of 100 departments and the profit centres’ finance and points in the overall scoring, moving it into the communications departments. The Hamburg top 100 of the world’s best annual reports at agency Ringzwei is responsible for the report’s number 23 – its best-ever overall ranking after design. RTL Group Corporate Communications coming in at 32 and 25 in the previous two had overall responsibility for the project. years. In addition, the RTL Group Annual Report was awarded a silver medal in the “Most Creative” category and a gold medal in the same category for companies from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. A total of 3,500 annual reports were entered in the LACP competition, to be judged by a jury of professionals.

“The Annual Report is the company’s ‘business card’,” says Oliver Herrgesell, RTL Group Executive Vice President Corporate Communications & Marketing. “That RTL Group has won the highest awards for the third year in a row – 18 awards in ten international competitions – is compelling evidence of our Group’s creative energy.”

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Online commercial breaks are perfectly acceptable A new IP Deutschland study shows that TV-style commercial breaks are accepted by viewers of

RTLNow.de online video content – and they work. Germany - 23 September 2009

Catch-up TV services such as RTL Now and The new IP Deutschland study M6 Replay now offer viewers full TV tested commercials that were not programmes over the Internet at the click of a aired on TV at all, or only a few mouse, and usually free of charge within a times. During the study, the certain period after they are broadcast on spots were integrated in the More info on television. Because, like free-to-air TV, these video-on-demand portal RTL www.ip-deutschland.de offerings are mainly financed through Now. During the time of the advertising revenues, it is important for media study, from June to August 2009, marketers like IP Deutschland to know whether approximately 1,000 randomly and in what form viewers will accept selected users were interviewed in commercial breaks on the Internet. nine test groups and one control group. In the control group no commercials were played, A new study comes to a clear conclusion: while in the other nine groups an ad break was commercial breaks during TV programmes on inserted about 10 minutes into the daily soap the Internet have a high advertising impact and Alles was zählt. The break consisted of either do not affect how the user rates content. On one or more spots shown singly – known as the contrary, nine out of ten respondents mid-rolls due to their positioning – or one or recognise the advantage of having free content two commercial breaks. This approach allowed thanks to advertising. More than half (56 per examining whether the number of ads cent) do not regard ad breaks as unusual influenced how well each one was remembered because they are already used to them from the and how acceptable this form of advertising is TV. “Pre-rolls” – commercials shown before the to users. start of the programme itself – in particular have become established and are accepted. The study showed that the pre-rolls and ad Earlier this year, in April, a study in France had breaks had an equal impact. Nor was the revealed that M6 Replay users had a good impact of the pre-rolls affected by multiple ad recall of the ad messages. breaks. Having several commercials lumped together in a break was not found to be a problem. So TV content on the Internet offers multiple placement possibilities for brand building – with guaranteed equal impact.

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A new name in lights Kevin Skinner, a singing chicken farmer from Kentucky, received the most viewer votes on the season finale of America’s Got Talent. Susan Boyle, star of this year’s Britain’s Got Talent, made her first US appearance during the show. United States - 18 September 2009

Kevin Skinner, winner of America’s Got Talent

An average 15.8 million viewers tuned in to America’s Got Talent on the US network NBC, making the two-hour season finale the night’s most-watched show. The 35-year-old Kevin Skinner was awarded the USD 1 million grand prize and a headlining spot at the America’s Got Talent Live show at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, hosted by Jerry Springer in October. Skinner received the most viewer votes, prevailing over runner-up Barbara Padilla, an opera singer from Houston, and eight other finalists. “I’ve always loved to perform,” he said. “I want to go out there and give them the best show I can.”

Before Skinner was announced the winner, Susan Boyle made her US TV singing debut with a cover of the Rolling Stones ballad Wild Horses. The Scottish sensation had surprised viewers of Britain’s Got Talent earlier this year with her soaring rendition of I Dreamed a Dream. The clip of her first appearance on that Susan Boyle show was watched millions of times on YouTube.

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New Idols format A Czecho-Slovak version of the Idols format, Cesko Slovenska SuperStar, was launched on leading networks in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia. United Kingdom - 21 September 2009

Andrea Gavacova, Regional Manager of FremantleMedia Central and Eastern Europe says: “Whilst the older generation has never stopped feeling Czechoslovakian, the younger generation is losing touch and has not grown up bi-lingual like their parents. Programmes like The jury of Cesko Slovenska SuperStar Cesko Slovenska SuperStar will ensure that The programme is the first to span both both languages and cultures are kept in the countries since their peaceful split in 1993, and mainstream of both countries.” the first show to include Czech- and Slovakian- speaking presenters since Czecho-Slovak The show was launched on 6 September and Television went off-air in 1992. Cesko proved to be a huge success for both Slovenska SuperStar is hugely significant for broadcasters, with the first programme winning FremantleMedia Central and Eastern Europe, a 51 per cent audience share on TV Nova and who have been negotiating a bi-lingual 45 per cent of total audience on TV Markiza. entertainment format with a variety of Czech The bilingual programme will reach its finale and Slovakian broadcasters since 2007. Finally, just before Christmas and is expected to Czech broadcaster TV Nova and Slovakian achieve record-breaking results. broadcaster TV Markiza won the contract for a Czecho-Slovak version of Idols at Mip TV in Cannes last April.

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Power and complementarity The agency Fuse has orchestrated a special cross-media campaign for HP in RTL Group’s French media: M6, M6.fr, Fun Radio and RTL 2. France - 23 September 2009

To increase the impact of the promotional campaign for the HP Pavilion dv6 and Pavilion Slimline s5000 computers in an ultra- competitive period, the agency Fuse has implemented a special cross-media campaign for HP, choosing to use the power and complementary nature of three media in RTL Group’s French subsidiaries (TV, radio, internet). It is retaining M6 as well as the Groupe M6 websites, Fun Radio and RTL 2 for this operation.

The campaign will unfold in two stages, starting with a 20-second television ad produced by Métropole Productions on M6. As of 23 September the TV spot will be aired before M6’s new evening news programme Le 19.45. The principle: a news flash invites the viewer in a complicit tone to go to the M6.fr website and guess the prices on the HP Pavilion dv6 and HP Pavilion Slimline s5000 – with the possibility of winning a computer.

Then, starting on 28 September, two 30-second radio commercials airing on Fun Radio and RTL 2 will reveal, also in the form of a fake news flash, the special prices on the HP products. All the websites of Groupe M6, including the specialised site Clubic.com, will join in the campaign.

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Ren TV in the next season Having retained stability in its niche in the Russian television market, Ren TV also consolidated its positions in virtually all time slots. For the new 2009/10 season, Ren TV’s content will be based primarily on news and factual programmes. Marianna Maksimovskaya Russia - 21 September 2009

In the first half of 2009, Ren TV achieved an audience share of 6.1 per cent among viewers aged 18 to 54 – an increase of 0.9 per cent compared to the same period in 2008. This is the fastest growth rate of any of Russia’s major television channels. For the new 2009/10 season, Ren TV’s content will be based primarily on news and analytical programmes, new documentaries and special editions of public law programmes, as well as the best of entertainment television, Russian films and the record-breaking television series Soldaty (Soldiers).

Ren TV is the only Russian network channel airing news and analytical programmes which have won the TEFI award, such as the news programme 24, Populyarnaya Economica (Popular Economics) and Nedelya s Mariannoy Soldaty Maksimovskoy (A Week with Marianna Vyzhit v Megapolise (Surviving in a Maksimovskaya). These programmes are Megalopolis) will provide tips on how to survive known for their spicy and open-minded in a major city. In his programme Chas Suda coverage of key news about the nation’s (An Hour in Court), Pavel Astakhov will tell economy, politics and public life. viewers how to protect their rights and avoid violating the law in everyday life. By the same token, Ren TV’s documentaries are famous for their exclusive sources of Sports programmes will be complemented by information and facts, all of which combine to Realny Sport (Real Sport), which will cover the create the channel’s unique documentary and most interesting sports events of the week. public products. The programme Reporterskie Istorii (Reporters’ Stories) will cover the most pertinent topics to have received significant public attention.

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Paris Première for everyone Groupe M6’s pay-DTT channel will broadcast unencrypted for two hours every day – between 18:35 and 20:35. France - 18 September 2009

Partnership agreement RTL Nederland will be in charge of marketing the Netherlands’ foremost restaurant website, Iens.nl. The exclusive agreement was signed for two years. The Netherlands - 18 September 2009

Welcome to Sportzeitung After having launched a weekly Sunday edition (Sonndeszeitung) and a daily edition (Dageszeitung), RTL Lëtzebuerg is expanding its online portfolio with the first edition of the sports journal Sportzeitung. Luxembourg - 18 September 2009

A hit with internet users RTL Belgium’s website RTLinfo.be beat its own audience record and surpassed the 200,000 unique visitors mark for the first time since its launch in June 2007. Belgium - 18 September 2009

Best audience for Le 19.45 With an audience share of 20.5 per cent of viewers under 50, M6’s evening news programme Le 19.45 registered its highest audience figures since its launch on 7 September. France - 21 September 2009

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Relaunch of Toggolino Club Right on cue for its seventh anniversary, Super RTL’s games and learning website for 3- to 6-year-olds Toggolino-club.de, presents a new design and optimised navigation. Germany - 22 September 2009

Top ratings With an excellent market share of 18.1 per cent among the 14 to 49 age group, a new episode of CSI:NY on Vox achieved the best ratings since November 2007. Germany - 23 September 2009

It pays to be daring The 11th annual Festival de la fiction TV (festival for television drama) in La Rochelle awarded two prizes last Saturday to M6. Kaamelott received the prize for best prime-time series and Déformations Professionnelles won for best short programme. France - 24 September 2009

Shooting starts on new thriller UFA Fernsehproduktion is producing The Golgotha File for RTL Television, based on the bestselling thriller by Philipp Vandenberg Germany - 24 September 2009

Jamie Oliver on RTL Living The digital special-interest channel RTL Living has secured an extensive package from FremantleMedia Limited, featuring the British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. Germany - 24 September 2009

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