15 January 2009 week 03 Powerful start Anke Schäferkordt on RTL Television’s role in the German society and a good start to the new year Luxembourg France The year 2008 in W9 measuring audience retrospect figures Germany United States Journalistic expertise American Idol returns pays off week COVER: Anke Schäferkordt, CEO of RTL Television 2 week 03 the RTL Group intranet “RTL Television will still be the first port of call” The start into a new quarter century was success- ful. Recently RTL Television launched a new sea- son of Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus!. Up to 5.87 million viewers tuned in late on 9 January to see ten celebrity participants move into their new accommodation in the Australian bush. Anke Schäferkordt Germany - 15 January 2009 That corresponds to a market share of 31.6 per I see Ich bin ein Star… more as a comedy for- cent in the target group of 14 to 49 year olds. mat. Those who take the show too seriously Next highlight in line is the Handball World Cup. don’t really ‘get’ it. From 17 January on, RTL Television is going to broadcast all games of the German National The Handball World Cup starts tomorrow, Team live. On 21 January a new season of and RTL is broadcasting from it for the first Deutschland sucht den Superstar is going to be time. What are your expectations? launched. From September to November 2008, The Handball World Cup of two years ago, 31,098 candidates auditioned in 15 German which Germany ended up winning, was after- cities. The first six episodes of Deutschland wards referred to by everyone here as the “win- sucht den Superstar, to be shown every ter wonderland.” The country was in an upbeat Wednesday and Saturday at 20:15 from 21 mood and it felt like the sport of handball was January, will feature the highlights from these being newly discovered. Handball is powerful, auditions. fast and emotional. That’s what we want to communicate, along with a few new ideas for All this happens during the celebration of RTL the implementation. I’m keeping my fingers Television’s 25th anniversary in Germany. On 2 crossed for our team to go far, and wish all our January 1984 at 17:27, the channel RTLplus – colleagues in Croatia as well as here in Cologne now known as RTL Television – was born. lots of fun and success in the process. Backstage took the opportunity to speak to Anke Schäferkordt, CEO of RTL Television, about past and future projects. Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus! got off to a better start this season than last time around. Why is that? The format is outstandingly and lovingly produced and offers the best in entertainment. Its mode- rators Dirk Bach and Sonja Zietlow are an ideal match for the show, and the viewers seem to be delighted with the casting of the jungle camp residents, too. Peter Bond (left) and Michael Meziani in Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus ! 3 week 03 the RTL Group intranet It’s probably difficult to sum up in a few not to expect – at what times. To this day it is words, but we’d like to try: how has RTL this blend of reliability, surprise – and someti- Television changed Germany in 25 years? mes provocation – that makes RTL so special. Commercial television has dramatically enri- ched and influenced the German TV landscape. What is the first RTL programme you can And there’s bound to be some truth to some- remember? thing that’s been written about repeatedly in We weren’t able to receive RTL plus at my recent days: commercial television and RTL in home at first, so the early days of the program- particular have made the country somewhat ming passed me by. Of course from later I more relaxed. Programming became more remember programmes like Tutti frutti and Der colourful, more surprising, and entertainment heisse Stuhl, Gute Zeiten – Schlechte Zeiten, became acceptable. Even news anchors were and Wimbledon. allowed to smile every once in a while – an absolute novelty at the time. RTL put viewers at Do you have any favourite shows on RTL the heart of its efforts. Though at first they Television apart from the most popular weren’t taken seriously, the commercial broad- ones? casters quickly turned into serious competition My personal favourite shows are based on my for the then-top dogs, ARD and ZDF. Here as personal tastes. However, some of them are elsewhere, competition breathed new life into among RTL Television’s most successful pro- the business, and viewers were the main bene- grammes, such as Dr. House or Deutschland ficiaries. Today’s TV audiences have an incredi- sucht den Superstar. I also regularly watch RTL ble range of programming to choose from. RTL Aktuell, and love to tune in to Doctor’s Diary Television is the clear market leader among and Rach, der Restauranttester. young audiences, and our entertainment shows set standards – but we have long since drawn even with the public broadcasters when it comes to information as well. All modesty aside: it’s hard to imagine our media landscape without RTL Television. Another commercial broad- caster launched simultaneous- ly with RTL Television in Germany. Why did RTL Television emerge as the num- ber one? As long as I’ve known the com- pany, RTL Television has always been distinguished by the spe- cial passion that its programming Doctor’s Diary professionals bring to their work. Add to that the high level of expertise throughout the team, and the experience to create hits paired with an ability to learn from flops. RTL Television has often been a trendsetter, across all genres. And RTL Television quickly became a reliable partner to viewers, with programming that allowed viewers to gather very soon, even without a TV guide, what to expect – and what Shooting a trailer for the handball world cup 4 week 03 the RTL Group intranet People in Germany are quick to cri- ticise commercial television’s contribution to society. How do you respond to this criticism? We take our responsibility to society seriously, and we act on it. Activities like the RTL School of Journalism and our Spendenmarathon, which has rai- sed over EUR 70 million for children in need in Germany and all over the world since it began, are a couple of exam- ples. We also show responsibility in our programming, by tackling socially relevant, critical societal issues. We realise that we trigger some discussion with this. We take seriously any criti- cism that is factual, discerning and searches for solutions. But there are some that criticise us without really knowing our programming. So-called ‘quality debates’, for instance, which for all their heatedness manage to avoid actually defining quality in televi- sion, tend to be less productive. It could be that people simply like to spar with RTL Television. For me, that shows just one thing: television in general – and RTL Television in parti- cular – moves and provokes people, is an object of conversations and discus- Anke Schäferkordt and Wolfram Kons at the Spendenmarathon 2008 sions, is relevant. When people no lon- ger get into discussions about us, news programmes, as well as our magazine that’s when we should start worrying. and tabloid formats speaks for itself. For ins- tance, in 2008 RTL Aktuell was slightly ahead of How can RTL Television continue to attract ZDF’s Heute news, even in total audience. In the whole family to the TV screen in future? the US elections, our coverage pushed us By continuing to search for the best ideas day clearly ahead of ARD. So viewers have long by day, and by keeping a very attentive eye and since started turning to RTL Television for infor- ear on our viewers. By identifying social chan- mation as well, no longer limiting themselves to ges and dealing with them in appropriate for- the public broadcasters, who felt unassailable mats. By being faster than the others. And by in what they felt to be their domain. continuing to bring passion to our program- ming. Because beyond all technological pro- Compared with international peers, the gress, it is the ideas and the relevance of the regulation of the German TV landscape is topics we choose to cover in entertainment and progressing very slowly. Do you sometimes information that determine whether our viewers wish you worked under different conditions will remain loyal to us or not. in Germany’s ‘dual system’? In principle I endorse the dual system, but the How important is informational program- public broadcasters have long since lost all ming to RTL Television’s success? sense of proportionality. In times like these, Information in all its many facets is a very annual income of currently around EUR 8 bil- important element in our programming – and lion, guaranteed to increase, for one of the plays an accordingly large part in our success. most expensive public broadcasting systems in Viewers expect us, as the number one, to offer the world with more than 20 public channels both: top entertainment and well-researched, appear incredible, but are a reality that was relevant information. The popularity of our designed that way by politicians. Apart from 5 week 03 the RTL Group intranet The jury of Deutschland sucht den Superstar: Volker Neumüller, Nina Eichinger and Dieter Bohlen striving for halfway-fair rules for old and new What are the advantages of being part of a players in our market, we have to watch out major European TV group? that future growth areas such as the online We practice a brisk exchange of skills and realm are not tipped into imbalance from the know-how in many areas.