Growth at RTL Deutschland, RTL Nederland, and production arm Freemantle contributed to strong revenue growth at RTL.
The two broadcasters reported higher audience shares in 2021, increasing their lead over commercial competitors. RTL Deutschland also benefitted from the acquisitions of Gruner + Jahr in 2022 and Super RTL in 2021.
Streaming revenues from RTL+ and Videoland grew by 19.7% to €267 million as subscribers grew rapidly. 5.5 million subscribers are now paying for RTL+ and its Dutch counterpart.
However, advertising revenue across the Group was down 4.4% year-on-year, within a challenging economic environment.
Thomas Rabe, Chief Executive Officer of RTL Group, commented: “2022 was a strong year for RTL Group, although we faced an unprecedented number of external challenges. Revenue reached €7.2 billion, representing the highest revenue in the company’s history. With our families of TV channels in Germany, France and the Netherlands continuing to generate high operating profits, and our global content business Fremantle reporting record results, our Adjusted EBITA before streaming start-up losses remained stable, on the same record level as last year.”
Group profit was €766 million down from €1,454 million in 2021 when the company received capital gains of €717 million from the sale of SpotX.
