Key Figures 2008 – 2012 shAre PriCe PerFormanCe 2008 – 2012 – 6.5 % (2012: – 1.9 %) INDEX = 100 rTl group dJ sToXX – 16.1 % (2012: + 17.5 %) r evenue (€ million) e quiTy (€ million) 12 5,998 12 4,858 11 5,765 11 5,093 10 5,532 10 5,597 09 5,156 09 5,530 08 5,774 08 5,871 e BiTA (€ million) M ArKeT Capitalisation (€ billion)* 12 1,078 12 11.7 11 1,134 11 11.9 10 1,132 10 11.9 09 796 09 7.3 08 916 08 6.6 *Asof31December n eT ProFiT AttriButaBle To rTl grouP shAreholders (€ million) To tal dividend Per shAre (€ ) 12 597 12 10.50 11 696 11 5.10 10 611 10 5.00 09 205 09 3.50 08 194 08 3.50 Dividend payout 2008− 2012: € 4.2 billion 2012 A nnuAl rePorT T he leAding euro PeAn en TerTAinMenT n eTworK RTL Television’s AlarmfürCobra11, Germany’s most popular action series, has become a hit format in some 140 countries around the globe. Since 2012, it has been one of the signature series of the newly launched action channel, Big RTL Thrill, in India ConTenTs Corporate information 6 Chairman’s statement 8 Chief executives’ report 14 Profit centres at a glance 16 The year in review 16 Broadcast 34 Content 60 Digital 72 Red Carpet 76 Corporate responsibility 92 Operations 94 How we work 96 The Board / executive Committee Financial information 104 directors’ report 110 Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland 114 Groupe M6 117 FremantleMedia 120 RTL Nederland 123 RTL Belgium 126 RTL Radio (France) 128 Other segments 143 Management responsibility statement 144 Consolidated financial statements 149 Notes 210 Auditors’ report 212 RTl group overview 214 Credits 215 Fully consolidated profit centres at a glance 217 Five-year summary irman’s ChA enT stateM Thomas rabe ChairmaN of The board of DiRectors In 2012, RTL Group delivered solid financial results. Revenue grew by 4.0 per cent to almost €6 billion and EBITA again exceeded €1 billion. RTL Group achieved these results despite increasingly challenging conditions in some of the core European TV advertising markets. 6 r TL GrouP AnnuAl rePorT 2012 ChAirman’s staTeMenT The Board focused on discussing the transformation “in particular we reviewed the of the TV industry, the opportunities and challenges arising from the growing non-linear TV consumption, opportunities and challenges multiscreen services for deeper audience engagement, arising from the growing and technology-driven services for advertising clients. This was in addition to its ongoing responsibilities, such non-linear Tv consumption, as reviewing financial and operating performance multiscreen services for deeper budgets, investment proposals, and the Group’s audience engagement, and strategy. RTL Group’s new Executive Committee – consisting of Co-CEOs Anke Schäferkordt and technology-driven services for Guillaume de Posch, and CFO Elmar Heggen – has advertising clients.” defined, together with the management teams in the various profit centres, a clear strategy for RTL Group. We see significant growth potential in three areas: broadcast, content, and di gital. First: we will optimise and develop our existing TV and radio broadcast businesses. Investing in our broadcast business is investing in growth. That’s why, in 2012, RTL Group launched five new TV channels. The Big RTL Thrill channel launch in India is RTL Group’s first broad- My sincere gratitude also goes to Siegfried Luther, my casting venture outside of Europe. predecessor as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Secondly: we will develop and acquire intellectual prop- RTL Group. Siegfried Luther is one of the founding erty, and expand capabilities in our existing content fathers of today’s RTL Group. And finally, I would like business. Creativity remains key in the TV business. to thank Günther Grüger, who stepped down from RTL Group’s production arm, FremantleMedia, is one RTL Group’s Board of Directors following his retire- of the largest global producers of content, and repre- ment from Bertelsmann. sents one of the most important growth platforms for On 31 January 2013, the Board of Directors of the entire Group. FremantleMedia has a global and RTL Group was informed that Bertelsmann is consid- scalable business model, and its new management ering a reduction of its shareholding in RTL Group team has placed a clear emphasis on fuelling its crea- through a capital market transaction, while maintain- tive pipeline, developing new formats and building ing a qualified majority of approximately 75 per cent. brands, across a range of genres. The Board of Directors understands that a final deci- Thirdly: we will build sustainable new digital business sion will depend on a number of conditions, including models with a strong cross-platform presence on all a favourable capital market environment. There can devices and screens. Further expansion of RTL Group’s consequently be no assurance as to if, when, or on digital businesses, from catch-up TV services, mobile what conditions Bertelsmann will offer part of its applications, online video advertising and thematic shareholding in RTL Group. websites, to the first Youtube-funded niche channels, RTL Group’s solid operational performance and its all play a major role here. Professionally produced video clear-cut strategy provide us with the necessary tail- content is, and remains, the major driver for new digital wind to further develop RTL Group as Europe’s lead- services, devices and screens – and this is RTL Group’s ing entertainment network. But ultimately, it’s our core competence. people who inspire and inform our viewers, and who 2012 also saw several changes to the composition of create meaningful and professional content – day the Board of Directors. Gerhard Zeiler decided to leave after day. My thanks go to everyone who contributed the company, effective 18 April 2012. On behalf of the to a successful 2012 – I’m looking forward to contin- Board, I would like to thank him for his great achieve- uing RTL Group’s unique success story in this spirit ments over the years, and for the smooth handover of and invite you to accompany us on this journey. responsibilities to the new Executive Committee. In April 2012, the Annual General Meeting of RTL Group elected Bernd Kundrun and Rolf Schmidt-Holtz as new members of the Board of Directors. Both have exten- sive experience in the media industry. Thomas RaBe ChairmaN of The BOard of DiRectors r TL grouP AnnuAl rePorT 2012 7 ChieF s’ eCuTive eX T rePor AnKe sChäFerKordT co-CeO of RTL grOup 8 r Tl grouP AnnuAl rePorT 2012 ChieF ExeCuTives’ rePorT guillAuMe de PosCh co-CeO of RTL grOup On 19 April 2012, Anke Schäferkordt and Guillaume de Posch took over as Co-CEOs of RTL Group. In a message to all RTL Group employees, they wrote on that day: “Our Group is in great shape, and we can rely on highly creative, skilled and motivated employees. We all share the same passion: we love television, production and radio. And we know that this passion will help to lead our strong, creative and diverse entertainment network into the next phase of its development.” We met the Co-CEOs to review RTL Group’s performance in 2012, and to discuss the Group’s strategy. r Tl grouP AnnuAl rePorT 2012 9 ChieF ExeCuTives’ rePorT ChieF s’ eCuTive eX T rePor How did RTL Group perform in 2012? Anke schäferkordt: That’s why it’s so important to have diversi- Anke schäferkordt: RTL Group has once again demonstrated fied revenue streams and geographic footprint. 43 per cent of that it can operate successfully even in a very challenging eco- RTL Group’s revenue originates from a broad range of non- nomic environment. For the third consecutive year, our EBITA advertising activities such as content production, rights trading, exceeded € 1 billion. Our EBITA margin was very healthy at 18.0 teleshopping, e-commerce, and merchandising. This adds a lot per cent, with all of our main broadcast operations reporting of stability to our Group. strong double-digit margins, of between 16.1 and 29.3 per cent. In our most important markets, Germany and France, our fami- Let’s have a closer look at RTL Group’s main operations. lies of TV channels continued to gain advertising market share. How did the German TV business, the Group’s largest This ongoing success is based on RTL Group’s unique set-up: profit centre, perform in 2012? we are the only pan-European free-TV group with a worldwide Anke schäferkordt: In 2012, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland content production powerhouse. We have leading market posi- continued to outperform the German TV advertising market and tions in the countries we operate in, strong brands, and a increased its combined net share – including RTL II – to 44.4 healthy financial position. RTL Group has generated close to € 1 per cent. Overall revenue of the profit centre grew by 3.7 per billion of cash flow almost every year since 2007. cent, mainly driven by higher TV advertising revenue from our guillaume de Posch: Based on our strong financials, we stepped two main channels, RTL Television and Vox. Due to ongoing up our investments and initiatives in our three strategic fields of cost control measures, EBITA increased strongly by 9.8 per broadcast, content and digital. During 2012, RTL Group suc- cent to € 581 million – this was the unit’s best ever full-year cessfully launched five new TV channels in five countries. We are operating profit. also building a strong and rapidly growing presence in non- linear TV and exploring the field of online video networks, with our first Did it also continue to gain audience share? Youtube-funded channels, produced by FremantleMedia.