RTL Group estimates that the net TV advertising markets were up in all markets in which the group is active, with the exception of the Netherlands and Hungary.
For the full year 2016, RTL Group continues to expect that TV advertising revenue will be geared towards
the first half of the year.
During the first nine months of 2016, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s EBITA increased by 2.4% to €468 million (January to September 2015: €457 million). This improvement was mainly driven by higher TV and digital advertising and platform revenue.
Groupe M6’s EBITA was up strongly to €173 million (January to September 2015: €136 million), mainly driven by the positive one-off effect from the gradual phase-out of the M6 Mobile contract which more than compensated the impact of the higher programming costs for the Uefa Euro 2016 live broadcasts.
FremantleMedia’s EBITA decreased to €47 million (January to September 2015: €51 million), due to phasing effects and higher investment in the creative pipeline.
RTL Nederland’s EBITA was stable at €52 million (January to September 2015: €52 million).
RTL Group has a strong and rapidly growing presence across all digital platforms. In the first nine months of 2016 RTL Group’s catch-up TV services, websites and MCNs attracted a total 197 billion online video views, up 175% year-on-year (January to September 2015: 71.5 billion)
FremantleMedia’s 260 Youtube channels attracted 14.0 billion views, up 45.8% year-on-year (January to September 2015: 9.6 billion). RTL Group now generates more than 22 billion online video views per month.
Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, Groupe M6 and RTL Nederland reported double-digit online video advertising revenue growth rates. Comparing January to September 2016 with January to September 2015: Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland was up 79%, Groupe M6 was up 35% and RTL Nederland was up 48%.
“During the first nine months of 2016, RTL Group once again demonstrated the sustainable success of its diversified portfolio and growth strategy. Despite two major sport events during the summer, we were able to increase both revenue and EBITA once again. This result was mainly driven by the strong performance of Groupe M6, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland and our rapidly growing digital business,” said Anke Schäferkordt and Guillaume de Posch, Co-Chief Executive Officers of RTL Group, in a joint statement.
“As expected, the results in the third quarter were weaker than the year before. This is the result of the expected front-loading we have experienced this year because of the sport events during the summer – namely the Uefa Euro 2016 and the Olympic Games. Nonetheless, we are in line with guidance for the full-year 2016 and on track for yet another record year.
“At the presentation of the full-year results 2014, we said that we wanted to grow digital into a strong pillar of our company, with revenue reaching 10 per cent of the Group’s total revenue within the next few years. Looking at the 9-month figures 2016, we are happy to say that our digital businesses make up more than 10% of our total revenue. We have reached this milestone much quicker than expected.”