Powerful start

Transcription

Powerful start

15 January 2009
week
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
retrospect
W9 measuring audience
figures
Germany
United States
Journalistic expertise
pays off
American Idol returns
03
week
COVER:
Anke Schäferkordt, CEO of RTL Television
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the RTL Group intranet
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“RTL Television will still
be the first port of call”
The start into a new quarter century was successful. Recently RTL Television launched a new season 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
cent in the target group of 14 to 49 year olds.
Next highlight in line is the Handball World Cup.
From 17 January on, RTL Television is going to
broadcast all games of the German National
Team live. On 21 January a new season of
Deutschland sucht den Superstar is going to be
launched. From September to November 2008,
31,098 candidates auditioned in 15 German
cities. The first six episodes of Deutschland
sucht den Superstar, to be shown every
Wednesday and Saturday at 20:15 from 21
January, will feature the highlights from these
auditions.
All this happens during the celebration of RTL
Television’s 25th anniversary in Germany. On 2
January 1984 at 17:27, the channel RTLplus –
now known as RTL Television – was born.
Backstage took the opportunity
to speak to Anke Schäferkordt,
CEO of RTL Television, about
past and future projects.
I see Ich bin ein Star… more as a comedy format. Those who take the show too seriously
don’t really ‘get’ it.
The Handball World Cup starts tomorrow,
and RTL is broadcasting from it for the first
time. What are your expectations?
The Handball World Cup of two years ago,
which Germany ended up winning, was afterwards referred to by everyone here as the “winter wonderland.” The country was in an upbeat
mood and it felt like the sport of handball was
being newly discovered. Handball is powerful,
fast and emotional. That’s what we want to
communicate, along with a few new ideas for
the implementation. I’m keeping my fingers
crossed for our team to go far, and wish all our
colleagues in Croatia as well as here in Cologne
lots of fun and success in the process.
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 moderators 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 !
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It’s probably difficult to sum up in a few
words, but we’d like to try: how has RTL
Television changed Germany in 25 years?
Commercial television has dramatically enriched and influenced the German TV landscape.
And there’s bound to be some truth to something that’s been written about repeatedly in
recent days: commercial television and RTL in
particular have made the country somewhat
more relaxed. Programming became more
colourful, more surprising, and entertainment
became acceptable. Even news anchors were
allowed to smile every once in a while – an
absolute novelty at the time. RTL put viewers at
the heart of its efforts. Though at first they
weren’t taken seriously, the commercial broadcasters quickly turned into serious competition
for the then-top dogs, ARD and ZDF. Here as
elsewhere, competition breathed new life into
the business, and viewers were the main beneficiaries. Today’s TV audiences have an incredible range of programming to choose from. RTL
Television is the clear market leader among
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 broadcaster launched simultaneously with RTL Television in
Germany. Why did RTL
Television emerge as the number one?
As long as I’ve known the company, RTL Television has always
been distinguished by the special passion that its programming
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
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not to expect – at what times. To this day it is
this blend of reliability, surprise – and sometimes provocation – that makes RTL so special.
What is the first RTL programme you can
remember?
We weren’t able to receive RTL plus at my
home at first, so the early days of the programming passed me by. Of course from later I
remember programmes like Tutti frutti and Der
heisse Stuhl, Gute Zeiten – Schlechte Zeiten,
and Wimbledon.
Do you have any favourite shows on RTL
Television apart from the most popular
ones?
My personal favourite shows are based on my
personal tastes. However, some of them are
among RTL Television’s most successful programmes, such as Dr. House or Deutschland
sucht den Superstar. I also regularly watch RTL
Aktuell, and love to tune in to Doctor’s Diary
and Rach, der Restauranttester.
Doctor’s Diary
Shooting a trailer for the handball world cup
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People in Germany are quick to criticise
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 raised over EUR 70 million for children in
need in Germany and all over the world
since it began, are a couple of examples. 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 criticism 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 television, 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 particular – moves and provokes people, is
an object of conversations and discussions, is relevant. When people no longer get into discussions about us,
that’s when we should start worrying.
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Anke Schäferkordt and Wolfram Kons at the Spendenmarathon 2008
How can RTL Television continue to attract
the whole family to the TV screen in future?
By continuing to search for the best ideas day
by day, and by keeping a very attentive eye and
ear on our viewers. By identifying social changes and dealing with them in appropriate formats. By being faster than the others. And by
continuing to bring passion to our programming. Because beyond all technological progress, it is the ideas and the relevance of the
topics we choose to cover in entertainment and
information that determine whether our viewers
will remain loyal to us or not.
How important is informational programming to RTL Television’s success?
Information in all its many facets is a very
important element in our programming – and
plays an accordingly large part in our success.
Viewers expect us, as the number one, to offer
both: top entertainment and well-researched,
relevant information. The popularity of our
news programmes, as well as our magazine
and tabloid formats speaks for itself. For instance, in 2008 RTL Aktuell was slightly ahead of
ZDF’s Heute news, even in total audience. In
the US elections, our coverage pushed us
clearly ahead of ARD. So viewers have long
since started turning to RTL Television for information as well, no longer limiting themselves to
the public broadcasters, who felt unassailable
in what they felt to be their domain.
Compared with international peers, the
regulation of the German TV landscape is
progressing very slowly. Do you sometimes
wish you worked under different conditions
in Germany’s ‘dual system’?
In principle I endorse the dual system, but the
public broadcasters have long since lost all
sense of proportionality. In times like these,
annual income of currently around EUR 8 billion, guaranteed to increase, for one of the
most expensive public broadcasting systems in
the world with more than 20 public channels
appear incredible, but are a reality that was
designed that way by politicians. Apart from
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The jury of Deutschland sucht den Superstar: Volker Neumüller, Nina Eichinger and Dieter Bohlen
striving for halfway-fair rules for old and new
players in our market, we have to watch out
that future growth areas such as the online
realm are not tipped into imbalance from the
start through fee-financed activities by ARD
and ZDF. And of course I would like to see a
extensive deregulation of commercial broadcasting. (Some of the) rules that still apply
today have not kept pace with developments in
our own medium nor with that of the market in
general.
In the year ahead, Mediengruppe RTL
Deutschland is merging all of its operations
in Cologne under a shared roof. What
advantages do you expect this to bring for
the day-to-day business?
It will be a tour de force, alone the challenge of
moving four channels without interrupting their
broadcasting operations. But I am confident
that being united under a single roof will serve
to even further intensify cooperation within our
media group, increase the flow of ideas and
information, and make us cooperate even more
on new ideas. All of us will not only know, as we
do today, that we are a group, we will be living
it first-hand on a daily basis.
What are the advantages of being part of a
major European TV group?
We practice a brisk exchange of skills and
know-how in many areas. We benefit from
experiences gained through success. We share
learnings, thereby eliminating the need to
repeat mistakes. Today more than ever, colleagues in the various markets are searching for
new lines of business and sustainable business
models to complement our core business of
Free TV. Digitisation has turned areas like online or mobile into growth sectors. The kind of
intense networking that we practice and cultivate, is of incalculable value in this context.
What will RTL Television look like 25 years
from now?
In 25 years RTL Television will still be the first
port of call for top entertainment and information. RTL Television will be a brand that can be
accessed on all platforms and viewed on all
screens. Viewers themselves will decide when
and where they watch us. The devices will have
changed, TV and Internet will have converged
very closely. RTL Television will be available
everywhere at all times. But there will still be a
TV set in front of the living-room sofa. It will
most likely be capable of more than today’s
TVs, but will still show programming that RTL
Television’s programme makers have put together with dedication and passion.
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RTL Television Anniversary Specials
On screen, RTL Television is celebrating its anniversary with two big
shows. One was already broadcast during prime time on 10 January.
www.
As many as 6.56 million viewers watched Part 1 of 25 Jahre – Die
große RTL-Jubiläumsshow from 20:15. An average 5.50 million viewers over the age of 3 years, or 17.3 per cent of the market, watched
.de
as Oliver Geissen presented highlights from RTL Television’s history to
mark the channel’s anniversary. RTL Television will air Part 2 of the
show on Saturday 17 January, at 20:15. Guests include Günther Jauch,
Dieter Bohlen, Oliver Pocher, Inka Bause as well as the new married farmers Anja and Bruno, Hans Meiser, Peter Kloeppel, Ulrike von der Groeben,
Christian Rach and Henry Maske – all together teaming up to prepare a special
surprise for the audience in the studio.
ision
v
e
l
e
t
l
t
-r
25jahre
RTL Television is also running a special trailer and logo to promote the anniversary.
In addition, the channel has set up
an
anniversary
portal
at
www.25jahre-rtl-television.de, featuring an extensive chronicle, trailers, tributes from famous media personalities and lots of other fun stuff
tying in to the anniversary.
Peter Kloeppel at the anniversary show
www.25jahre-rtl-television.de
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The year 2008 in retrospect
Virtually all RTL Group’s television channels achieved good results in 2008.
Luxembourg - 15 January 2009
GERMANY
Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s channels
attracted an average 32.9 per cent of
Germany’s young TV audiences in 2008, putting them more than three percentage points
ahead of the ProSiebenSat.1 group, which scored a 29.3 per cent market share. In 2008, a big
year in sports, RTL Television continued to be
the number one among young viewers (14 to
49) by a large margin, attracting 15.7 per cent
of the market. The runners-up were ProSieben
(11.8 per cent), Sat.1 (10.8 per cent), Vox (7.5
per cent), ARD (7.5 per cent) and ZDF (7.0 per
cent). In total audience, RTL’s market share of
11.7 per cent puts it behind ARD (13.4 per cent)
and ZDF (13.1 per cent), which broadcast both
the European football championships and the
Olympic Games.
Vox closed the year 2008 with a 7.5 per cent
market share in the 14 to 49 adult demographic. Its ‘Starkino’ movies on Thursdays were
especially popular again in 2008. RTL II averaged 6.1 per cent of the 14- to 49-year-old viewer market in 2008, a slight year-on-year decline of 0.2 percentage points. 2008 went down
as the most successful year to date in the history of N-TV: in a year with plenty of news, the
broadcaster scored its highest TV annual market shares since it first went on air. The news
channel closed the year with a 0.9 per cent
audience share in both its target demographics
– adults over the age of 14, and viewers 14 to
49 – which translates to a year-on-year increase of 0.2 percentage points in each case.
Video and social networks were the hot topics
on the internet in 2008. The RTL.de, Vox.de,
Clipfish.de and RTLnow.de portals scored
several hundred million video views. In particular, the share of marketable video views of professionally produced content more than doubled on the Clipfish video clip portal in 2008,
and now accounts for nearly half of all views.
The infotainment portal RTL.de continued growing as well, averaging 40 million visits a
month according to the IVW: a 27 per cent
year-on-year increase. AGOF’s internet Facts
study reports that RTL.de is also the leading
professionally edited content site on the
German Web, with 6.6 million Unique Users per
month. RTL’s mobile internet portal mobil.rtl.de
also continued its strong growth and now gets
1.9 million page views per month.
FRANCE
The year 2008 marked a turning point in the
history of M6 which, in a competitive context
that is increasingly intense, has demonstrated
its ability to gather all television audiences, reaching the number one position among 2008’s
biggest audiences, all networks combined.
With more than 10 new successful programmes (Un dîner presque parfait, 100% Mag, Bien
dans ma vie, Accès privé, Bon et à savoir, Le
chef contre-attaque, Belle toute nue, Maman
cherche l'amour, 66 Minutes in prime time, Les
Bougon), M6 has shown daring in its programming schedule. Innovation, the key to success,
has allowed M6 to post the best rating among
all the major networks in 2008. Indeed, with an
audience share of 11 per cent in terms of overall audiences, the network has registered the
greatest resistance against the spread of
“other channels”.
On 17 June 2008, M6 recorded the highest
rating for the year among all networks combined thanks to the UEFA Euro 2008 match that
saw “les Bleus” play against Italy. With 13.2
million viewers, this match was also the biggest
audience in the network’s history.
THE NETHERLANDS
RTL Nederland once again defended its lead in
the Dutch TV market in 2008. Together, RTL
Group’s Dutch channels drew 30.5 per cent of
the target demographic, shoppers aged 20 to
49. This represented a year-on-year improvement of 0.8 per cent for RTL Nederland. The
channel strengthened its lead considerably fol-
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lowing the start of the new TV season in
September 2008. Public broadcasters and the
SBS group scored 28.5 per cent and 27.6 per
cent respectively of the Dutch audience in
2008.
RTL 4 was particularly successful during prime
time and access prime time in 2008, drawing
an average market share of 14.9 per cent for
the year. RTL 5 drew an average 9.1 per cent of
its target market – viewers 20 to 34 – in 2008,
an improvement of 0.2 percentage points vs.
the previous year. RTL 7, a channel catering primarily to male viewers, scored a 6.9 per cent
market share among its target demographic of
men 20 to 34, a year-on-year improvement of
0.2 percentage points. Meanwhile, RTL 8,
which caters more to female viewers, scored an
average 3.4 per cent market share among
women 20 to 49 last year.
BELGIUM
RTL-TVI is markedly ahead of its competitors,
notably thanks to its televised news programmes, which regularly beat audience records.
13 heures was the leader every day in 2008,
with an audience share of 41.9 per cent and 19
heures was number one every evening except
for four, with an audience share of 46.7 per
cent.
week 03
HUNGARY
2008 was another successful year in the
history of RTL Klub, Hungary’s market-leading
private broadcaster.
For the first time in its history RTL Klub coorganised and broadcasted the unified Miss
World, Miss Universe and Miss Earth contest in
May, which was celebrated with a spectacular
live programme in prime time. The biggest
audience hit was Celeb vagyok, ments ki innen
(I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here) shot in the
rainforest in Argentina not far from the Iguazu
Falls. The two consecutive seasons of the reality show were one of the biggest challenges in
the history of television in Hungary: a daily live
reality programme from a far-away continent
with spectacular ratings and amazing market
shares. The final episode was watched by 49.8
per cent of the target group.
The RTL Klub online network scored 5 million
Page Impressions in 2008, surpassing last
year’s record of one million PIs.
SPAIN
Antena 3 decreased in viewing figures, ending
the year with the number three position in
Spain. Overall, an average of 16.1 per cent of
viewers watched the channel. The two DTT
channels Antena Neox and Antena Nova achieved a market share of 0.57 per cent (Neox) and
0.47 per cent (Nova), making Neox the most
watched DTT channel in Spain.
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Journalistic expertise
pays off
Peter Kloeppel and GeorgesW. Bush
This puts RTL Television’s main news at number two in the ranking of German news programmes, behind Tagesschau.
With an average 3.74 million viewers, RTL
Television’s news (RTL Aktuell and RTL Aktuell
Weekend) at 18:45 were the most-watched
news programmes on German television
(Monday to Sunday) after the ARD Tagesschau
(5.20 million), which begins at 20.00. For the
first time ever, the heute news at 19:00 had to
settle for No.3 in the news ranking, with an average 3.73 million viewers.
The RTL Aktuell news from Monday to Friday,
moderated by Peter Kloeppel, averaged 3.87
million viewers in 2008, putting them behind
Tagesschau (4.83 million) and ahead of Heute
(3.85 million). With an average total audience
share of 18.8 per cent, RTL Aktuell outperformed the public broadcasters again in 2008, as
it had in 2007. Tagesschau scored 17.6 per
cent, Heute 17.4 per cent.
In 2008, RTL Aktuell surpassed, for the first
time, ZDF’s Heute news in terms of total
audience (3 years and older) from Monday
to Sunday.
A comparison of market shares is especially
important when rating the day’s main news
programmes because they begin at different
times, with later programmes benefiting from
higher TV use in general.
RTL Television’s editor-in-chief Peter Kloeppel
says: “Viewers continued to turn to RTL Aktuell
as one of their most important sources of news
and information in 2008. Beyond the daily TV
news, people’s confidence in our journalistic
expertise and their deliberate choice of RTL’s
news was reflected in the high ratings scored
by our live coverage of the US presidential
elections, clearly the high point of the year in
news. We will build on this in Germany’s big
election year 2009.”
RTL Aktuell was the number-one news choice
among young audiences (14 to 49) for the 16th
consecutive year. RTL Television’s news drew
an average 19.4 per cent of this target demographic, once again putting it well ahead of
Tagesschau (10.3 per cent) and Heute (5.6 per
cent).
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week 03
Vox viewers give
EUR 259,777
Judith Adlhoch with children in Ethiopia
Vox viewers made it happen again in 2008,
donating EUR 259,777 during the “Machen Sie
Schule” fund drive. The money raised makes it
possible to build two school centres complete
with desks, chairs, teaching and lesson materials and sanitary facilities in Ethiopia, and to
equip the children with school materials and
uniforms.
In 2008, Vox and the World Vision relief organisation hosted the “Machen Sie Schule” fundraiser for the third time, with the aim of enabling
children in developing countries to get a formal
education. Thanks to the generosity of Vox viewers, some thirty schools have already been
built in Swaziland and Mali, and hundreds of
children have been equipped with classroom
materials. The money from the 2008 fund drive
will go to school projects in Ethiopia. With
annual per capita income at around USD 160,
Ethiopia is one of the world’s poorest countries.
It costs just under EUR 10 a year to supply a
child with books, notebooks and pens and
pencils for school – money many families simply don’t have. As a result, their children never
get a chance to go to school.
The money raised during the “Machen Sie
Schule” fund drive will support the building of
schools in Ethiopia.
Judith Adlhoch, presenter of Voxtours, says:
“On my trip through Ethiopia I saw the children’s amazing will to learn. Thanks to Vox’s
viewers, many children are now being given the
chance to do so – and it will open up a whole
new world for them. Going to school is the first
step into a better future, as education means a
chance at change and development.”
Children in Ethopia benefit from Vox’s approach
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Commercial broadcasters make for
better programming
January 1984 marked the dawn of a new era of programming diversity and freedom
of choice for Germany’s TV viewers – and for public broadcasters, it marked the
beginning of a tough battle for the audience’s favour.
When the first commercial broadcasters, RTL
Television (at the time broadcasting as RTLplus)
and Sat.1 (then known as PKS), went on air,
ARD and ZDF still had a monopoly on viewers,
day after day and night after night. A few years
later, the wild young things had caught up with
the old bulls.
A representative survey of the younger half of
the population (1,006 adults aged 14 to 49),
commissioned by the airtime marketer IP
Deutschland in December 2008 on the anniversary of RTL & Co., and carried out by the market researchers at Forsa, indicates that commercial television is seen as having created a
much broader offering for viewers (90 per cent
agreed) and breathed fresh air into the TV landscape in general (79 per cent). Viewers are
more critical of ARD and ZDF: 63 per cent feel
that the public broadcasters no longer fulfil
their mandate to educate the public. And over
half of all respondents (53 per cent) feel that the
news broadcast by commercial channels like
RTL Television are now as reliable and reputable as those on public channels.
According to analyses by IP Deutschland,
based on the AGF/GfK TV Panel, overall average daily TV consumption remained constant at
a high level in 2008. In the advertisers’ preferred demographic of 14 to 49 year olds, usage
remained identical to the previous year’s figure
at 178 minutes. Among all viewers aged 3 and
over, usage per person and day decreased
negligibly by one minute from 208 (in 2007) to
207 (in 2008). Meanwhile, contrary to some
negative forecasts, usage among the young
viewers between the ages of 14 and 29 increased by 3 minutes year-on-year (136 vs. 133
min).
For Cologne-based Super RTL, 2008 was another good year, clinching ten years of market
leadership in children’s television. Not only is
Super RTL the best-known TV broadcaster
among children, it is also far and away their
favourite channel according to the ‘iconkids
Trend-Tracking Kids 2008’. However, viewing
minutes among children aged 3 to 13 declined
by one minute year-on-year, from 87 minutes a
day in 2007 to 86 minutes in 2008.
The people surveyed also felt that today’s best
TV programming comes from the leading commercial channels with RTL Television,
ProSieben, Vox, Sat.1, RTL II and Kabel Eins
together garnering 54 per cent of all mentions.
ARD and ZDF, including all their regional channels and Arte scored just 19 per cent of the
mentions (difference to 100: smaller favourite
channels or no answer). Furthermore, the majority of TV viewers dramatically underestimates
the amount generated from TV/Radio license
fees each year – nearly EUR 8 billion in 2009.
Only 28 per cent think that ARD/ZDF get several billion per year in fees.
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week 03
New Vox portals off to a strong start
Launched around the middle of 2008, the Vox portals Frauenzimmer.de and
Kochbar.de have apparently struck a nerve with audiences, as evidenced by
the IVW’s latest online figures.
Frauenzimmer.de
Kochbar.de
864,000 visits were counted for the
Frauenzimmer women’s portal and 1.29 million
visits for the Kochbar cooking portal in
December. Both websites have steadily increased their traffic since launch and have each
gone straight to the top echelons of the rankings in their respective target audiences. The
two specialty-interest portals, produced by RTL
Interactive in close coordination with Vox,
already have over 100,000 registered users in
their community. To meet the Kochbar community’s high demand for ‘mobile’ recipes, a
‘mobiles cookbook’ has now gone online at
Mobil.kochbar.de.
Kochbar.de takes a practical approach in the
New Year with ‘recipes to go’. The mobile and
online team at RTL Interactive worked closely
with Vox to develop a mobile portal that will eliminate the need for writing long lists before
heading for the supermarket. Users can conveniently view their personal cookbook and their
favourite recipes from their mobile phone.
Not even half a year its relaunch in the middle
of last July, the Frauenzimmer.de portal – a site
catering to women between 25 and 45 years
old – is already nearing the million-visit mark,
with 864,000 visits (and some 19.2 million Page
Impressions) in December. The site has thus
quickly risen to an outstanding starting position
in women’s sites.
Community members can log in to Mobil.kochbar.de via their mobile to access their user
information, including all stored recipes. And
even non-registered users can have the convenience of accessing the extensive recipe database on Mobil.kochbar.de and searching it for
key words and ingredients. The Kochbar.de
mobile cookbook is a helpful companion both
at the supermarket and in the kitchen.
The Kochbar.de community, which launched in
mid-May 2008, generated 1.29 million Visits
(and some 12.1 million Page Impressions) in
December under the motto “Cooking with
Friends”. Its cooking community has been very
active from the beginning.
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week 03
Playing with the big boys
The first DTT channel to measure audience
ratings through Médiamat, Médiamétrie’s
audience measuring device, W9 has shown its
first success on its first score. On 5 January,
900,000 viewers stayed tuned to the channel
during its prime time programming.
France - 7 January 2009
With the broadcast of the American film Les
Evadés (The Shawshank Redemption) with Tim
Robbins and Morgan Freeman W9 attained a
3.6 per cent total audience share. It was an
even bigger hit among viewers in the under-50
target group with an audience rating of an even
5 per cent. For the entire day W9 proudly posted a 2.5 per cent total audience share.
Les Evadés with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman
By subscribing to Médiamat national, W9 is
sending a strong signal to advertisers. “The
advertisers will have the exact audience numbers for their advertising broadcast the previous day,” explains Ronan de Fressenel, director of marketing and studies for Groupe M6.
After that, W9 will align itself with the example
of the so-called historical channels that report
their previous days’ audience numbers every
morning, calculated by Médiamétrie.
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week 03
American Idol is back
Season 8 of American Idol premiered on
13 January with a few changes to the format
including new judge, Kara DioGuardi, and
the return of the Wildcard.
American idol
North America - 15 January 2009
The launch was a success as the television juggernaut returned to US TV screens with a twohour episode that garnered 30.1 million total
viewers – approximately 12 million ahead of its
closest competitor. The search for a new
superstar will continue over the next five
months.
Songwriter and producer Kara DioGuardi now
joins Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy
Jackson as a fourth member on the judging
panel. The recall in Hollywood has been expanded, giving viewers more time to see the
contestants. The Wildcard has also returned,
allowing the judges to keep individual contestants on the show even if the audience has
voted them off.
Randy Jackson, the new judge Kara DioGuardi, Simon Cowell,
Paula Abdul and presenter Ryan Seacrest (from left to right)
In Season 7, American Idol was watched by an
average of 28 million viewers per episode.
Since the show first debuted in 2002, the formidable talent show has spawned such mega
recording stars like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie
Underwood. The format is successful worldwide and local adaptations or recordings are
broadcast in more than 100 countries. Next
month, “The American Idol Experience” will
launch at Walt Disney World in Florida.
15
week 03
Hole in the Wall
conquers China
Dong Dong Qiang
Since its premiere on 15 December 2008, Dong
Dong Qiang, as it is called in the local language, has aired Mondays to Fridays at 18.00. The
Chinese edition of Hole in the Wall follows the
same model as the other 30 versions of this format aired around the world. Two teams of
contestants compete by twisting their bodies
into crazy shapes as they try to fit through
holes crafted into a fast-approaching
Styrofoam wall. If they are unsuccessful, a pool
of water and a big splash awaits. Dressed in
tight-fitting spandex suits, celebrities as well as
normal people will compete for bragging rights
and cash prizes, but more importantly, for lots
of fun and great television entertainment.
Broadcast daily on the Shanghai Media Group
Entertainment Channel, the show provides a
whole new type of entertainment to millions of
Chinese audiences.
China - 6 January 2009
FremantleMedia Asia commented: “Fremantle
looks forward to strengthening its relationship
with SMG on the back of this successful coproduction.”
The special shape of Chinese characters will
also be fully integrated throughout the show.
The joint production team has already reviewed
hundreds of wall shapes, and with some local
ingenuity, audiences will be treated to their
favorite celebrities running into Chinese
“words” familiar from everyday life. These special Chinese walls will present even more of a
challenge for contestants and of course more
fun for viewers as well.
The name Dong Dong Qiang is a clever adaptation derived from sounds of joy and celebration in Chinese. It contains the essence of the
original title, and vividly demonstrates the
intensity and excitement of the show.
FremantleMedia’s China team and its international consultants worked closely with the SMG
New Entertainment Group to bring this show to
China.
Wenning
Xing,
Chief
Representative,
FremantleMedia China said: “I am extremely
proud to bring this format to China, and it is
even more gratifying to see how well
FremantleMedia has worked with Shanghai
Media Group (SMG) on this show. From start to
finish, we co-managed the production; this
show is a co-production in the truest sense.”
Patrick
Schult,
Managing
Director,
16
week 03
The most popular German TV movie of 2008
On 27 January 2009, the 19th ‘Diva’ awards will be presented in Munich. In addition to
a Diva judges’ award, the year’s most successful movie/video, music and television
productions will be honoured with the Diva audience award.
Die Gustloff
The audience award goes to the year’s biggest
box-office and ratings successes.
In ‘TV Movies’, UFA Filmproduktion’s event
production Die Gustloff was the undisputed
ratings champion of the year. 8.45 million viewers and a 23.5 per cent total audience share
on ZDF put it in first place, ahead of The
Miracle of Berlin (2nd place, 8 million viewers)
and Mogadishu (7.34 million viewers), both of
which were produced by Teamworx.
An anti-war drama directed by Joseph
Vilsmaier and starring Kai Wiesinger, Valerie
Niehaus, Heiner Lauterbach and Dana Vávrová,
Die Gustloff tells the story of Hellmut Kehding,
a young shipping merchant ordered to bring
some 1,500 members of the armed forces and
as many refugees as possible to Kiel on board
the ‘Wilhelm Gustloff’. The film is based on the
historical facts and events surrounding the sinking of the ‘Wilhelm Gustloff’ on 30 January
1945, when the ship left Gdynia (Gotenhafen)
with more than 10,000 people on board and
without an appropriate security escort. After
being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, the
ship sank in just over an hour. More than 9,000
people lost their lives in the icy waters of the
Baltic, with only approximately 1,000 surviving
the incident. It was the deadliest shipping
disaster in the history of shipping.
17
week 03
Making winners
Idolos Brasil
A number of winners were crowned in various
FremantleMedia talent shows around the world.
United Kingdom - 22 December 2008
On 13 and 14 December two Idols series came
to an end in Sweden and Finland. The winner of
Idol 2008 in Sweden was Kevin Borg, a Maltese
singer who moved to Sweden a year ago. Idol
2008 was the highest-rated show on TV4 for
young adults, with 1.4 million viewers watching
the finale.
Over one-fourth of all viewers in Finland tuned
in to watch as Koop Arponen was crowned the
Idol for 2008. Koop beat rival Anna with over
70 per cent of the votes. Like the Swedish winner, Koop only recently moved to Finland.
Idolos Brasil concluded its third season last
week crowning Rafael Barreto as the winner.
Idolos Brasil, on Rede Redords for the first time
this season, achieved a 27 per cent share. As
well as ranking number one in its timeslot,
Idolos Brasil had a lead of 77 per cent ahead of
its nearest competitor SBT.
The first series of Got Talent in Argentina
(Talento Argentino) ended on 14 December,
with comedian Martin Bustos emerging as the
winner.
The final show in the second series of
Belgium’s The X Factor took place a week before Christmas; Dirk De Smet was crowned the
winner.
18
week 03
From shows to events
Grundy Light Entertainment, producer of popular TV and online formats, now enters
the event industry.
As an expert in the development and production of entertainment formats, Grundy Light
Entertainment wants to use its entertainment
expertise to design and stage corporate and
charity events, incentives, conferences and
galas. Possible content includes formats such
as Familienduell (Family Duel) or Geh aufs
Ganze (Go the Whole Hog), precisely tailored to
the customer’s event, as well as concepts individually developed for the customer. The producer has access not just to a large repertoire
of shows, but also to an excellent network of
presenters, actors, comedians, singers and
dancers.
Ute Biernat, CEO of Grundy Light
Entertainment: “Creative content is in demand
in the event industry. We are the right partner
for companies wanting to produce an entertaining and exciting event. In addition to our core
business of producing TV formats, we would
like to use our know-how to position ourselves
more broadly in future, although our core competence remains the development and production of good entertainment.”
The company will present itself for the first time
with a stand at the “World of Events” tradeshow on 21 and 22 January in Wiesbaden
(Hall 4, Stand 425).
Barely broadcast-able
Fiver has commissioned Celador Productions to produce a six-part series, The Sexy
Ad Show, which showcases some of the raciest, most politically incorrect and barely
broadcast-able adverts to have emerged from ad-land.
United Kingdom - 14 January 2009
Presented by one of Britain’s biggest rising
female comedy stars, Olivia Lee (Balls of Steel,
The Law of the Playground), the show takes TV
commercials to a new level of rudeness never
before seen on British TV. The series will be
transmitted first on Fiver and later on Five.
The Sexy Ad Show will uncover an array of
controversial commercial messages including
an ejaculating Action Man, an Optician who
uses sadomasochistic sex to sell spectacles, a
Granny using a dildo to advertise a bank, a
family blowing each other up to sell beer, and a
canine gang bang encouraging you to take a
holiday.
Hannah Barnes, Director of Programmes for
Fiver and Five US, said: “I am thrilled to have
The Sexy Ad Show for Fiver. The series is very
risqué and funny, and perfectly illustrates the
unconventional views of the Advertising world.
I am delighted to have Olivia Lee as the presenter; her irreverent style will ensure that the
series has a strong appeal for the discerning
Fiver viewer.”
19
week 03
India under waste:
L’Expédition RTL
enquires
After Alaska, where it looked at the effects of
global warming, then Mali, where it observed
those of desertification, L’Expédition RTL went
to India last month.
Maya sorts the copper wire in scrap motors
On location, reporter Anne-Claire Danel studied
the waste management of this country with the
second highest population in the world. With
1.1 billion inhabitants and a growth of 7.5 per
cent in 2008, India produces some 200 million
tons of waste each year. And then there is also
the waste that Europe and France send to India
to be treated; for example, the notorious ship
Le France, said to be full of asbestos, is stripped in Alang, where the largest scrap yard in
the world for the dismantling of boats is located.
The objective of Anne-Claire’s reports is to
raise listeners’ awareness of the extent of the
situation, while considering alternatives and
solutions. India, dust bin of wealthy countries
for electronic waste: for this day of reports,
Anne-Claire Danel went to the Mayapuri neighbourhood in Delhi, where thousands of tons of
computers, television sets and telephones are
stripped. There are waste heaps containing
heavy metals, chemical substances and plastic
components that are harmful to the environment and to workers.
For five days, Anne-Claire Danel filed one
report after another, stories that were both eyewitness accounts and appeals for action. She
kept an audio logbook where she could talk
about her travel conditions, the people she met
and what she discovered. Last 15 December,
RTL Radio devoted an entire broadcasting day
to this burning environmental issue featuring
live interviews with Anne-Claire Danel starting
at 4.30.
At 8.35, RTL opened the debate with its listeners who could speak with international journalist and writer Dominique Lapierre, the patron of
L’Expédition RTL in India. A “great witness” of
his times, Dominique Lapierre is notably the
author of the bestseller The City of Joy, which
sold millions of copies and was made into a film
of the same name. Last year, the Indian government awarded Lapierre the prestigious Padma
Bhushan medal for his efforts to help the most
destitute people – for many years Lapierre has
been donating half of his royalties to charitable
works.
On the air, Dominique Lapierre described the
lives of the little rag pickers of the shantytowns.
Each of them has their speciality – glass, steel,
wood, plastic – and for them the recycling of
rubbish is a vital source of revenue. The few
rupees collected every day under harsh conditions make a difference. They’re the rupees of
survival that make it possible to feed a family.
But where Dominique Lapierre rises up and
militates against the Indian authorities is on the
subject of toxic waste. He calls for the protection of the small rag pickers so that they no longer sort this waste with their bare hands.
An example among many other subjects that
RTL Radio listeners could discover throughout
this special broadcast day. When people are
informed, they can act.
20
week 03
Putting a smile
on a troubled face
Mrs Chirac at RTL Radio
Pièces Jaunes is a widescale
gesture of solidarity to help
improve the quality of life for
sick children, adolescents and
the elderly in hospitals
For 19 years, France’s number
one radio station has been a
faithful partner in the operation,
informing and sensitising its
seven million daily listeners
through its news and entertainment programming. In addition, RTL Radio is
airing the operation’s major advertising campaign, free of charge, which runs from
December through February 2009.
The operation, whose patrons include two-time
Olympic medal winner in judo David Douillet
and the singer Lorie, makes miracles every year
by mobilising French children who try to outdo
one another collecting coins to give to the
Fondation Hôpitaux de Paris – Hôpitaux de
France, which is recognised for its public service and is chaired by Mrs Chirac. As the saying
goes, little streams make big rivers.
On 7 January, Bernadette Chirac launched the
20th edition of Pièces Jaunes.
Seven million moneyboxes
have been put into circulation,
and the challenge is to fill them
and bring them to the post office before 7 February. The
money collected will help finance the creation of housing for
parents as well as mother-andchild rooms. It will also be used
for game room equipment,
libraries, classrooms and the
redecoration of rooms to help
raise morale and to create spaces especially
reserved for sick adolescents.
Each year, the generosity and actions of everyone involved help to heighten the achievement: EUR 4 million were collected in 2008,
which financed 435 projects (6,000 projects
since the campaign’s inception in 1990) in 236
hospitals and seven facilities for sick adolescents. RTL Radio is proud to be associated
with this gesture of solidarity that each year
helps makes it possible to put a smile on the
faces of sick children in paediatric facilities in
French hospitals.
21
week 03
Media woman of the year
Each year the German media magazine Horizont presents its Horizont Award to
outstanding leaders in the media industry. This time, Anke Schäferkordt was named
media woman of the year.
Germany - 19 December 2008
Anniversary: Unter uns, for the 3500th time
On 28 November 1994, the popular German daily soap Unter uns made its on-air debut.
On 30 December, Grundy UFA and RTL Television celebrate its 3500th episode.
Mogadishu nominated for Golden Camera 2009
The Teamworx production Mogadischu (Mogadishu), which aired on ARD to excellent
ratings on 30 November, has been nominated for Best TV Movie by the nine judges on this
year’s Golden Camera jury.
Special charity version of Got Talent
As part of a joint Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, FremantleMedia and
Talkback Thames held a very special version of Got Talent for the childrens’ charity
Community Links.
United Kingdom - 23 December 2008
Steady expansion of online activities
Users of the German iTunes store can now pay to download select RTL series under the
‘RTL Now’ brand.
22
week 03
A news programme causing a sensation
RTL-TVI’s news programme at 19.00 is beating records and demonstrating once again that
Belgians trust RTL-TVI for its rigorous treatment of the news. Achieving an average
audience share of 46.7 per cent in 2008, RTL-TVI’s news continue to be successful in
2009. On 12 January, 56.5 per cent of the viewers tuned in to the news, making it the best
ratings since January 1997.
Belgium - 6 January 2009
Zone Interdite receives award
One of M6’s flagship information programmes, Zone Interdite was awarded a prize last
month at the Festival international du scoop et du journalisme d’Angers.
Cooperation on online sales
RTL Nederland and Radio538 have entered into an exclusive cooperation agreement regarding online sales. This will strenghten RTL Nederland’s position as online house.
Netherlands - 8 January 2009
Impressive launch
In the second week of 2008, the second series of X Factor kicked off on DR1 in Denmark,
attracting one third of the Danish population.
Denmark - 9 January 2009
Welsh TV Awards
Over the New Year X Factor walked away with two awards when Welsh magazine show
Uned 5 announced the winners of its Gwobrwyo'r Goreuon Awards.
Les Simpson: always a winner
Airing weekly on W9, the famous satirical American series Les Simpson has just scored
a new audience record, attracting more than 1.1 million viewers.
23
week 03
Casting around on the Internet
UFA’s new online casting portal Your Chance goes live in February 2009.
Diva Earth Award goes to Unsere Erde
The first Diva Earth Award will be awarded by the Diva judges at the 19th Diva German
Entertainment Awards on 27 January 2009.
Britain’s Got Talent signs Kelly Brook to join
Talkback Thames hit entertainment show of 2007 and 2008, Britain's Got Talent, returns
for a third series this Spring, and this year Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan and Amanda
Holden will be joined on the panel by model, actress and TV presenter Kelly Brook.
Number one in its category on the Internet
Just two months after its launch, Deco.fr has become the standard portal for interior
design. The site’s audience has tripled in a month, increasing from 410,000 to 1,415,000
unique visitors, guaranteeing it the number one position in its category.
France- 15 January 2009
Barack Obama’s inauguration live
On Tuesday 20 January 2009 the new president of the United States will be officially
sworn into office. This exceptional historic moment will be covered live by the editorial
staff of RTL-TVI in a special news programme from 17.30 to 18.20.
Belgium - 15 January 2009
24
week 03
People
Arno Otto
Arno Otto appointed
Head of New Media at
RTL Nederland
Netherlands - 19 December 2008
Arno Otto, 35, will join the management of RTL
Nederland as Head of New Media effective
1 March 2009.
Otto joins from AdLink Group, where, as commercial manager for Europe, his responsibilities included sales, product management and product
development. In addition to providing expertise on
international markets, he was responsible for the
launch of DoubleClick in the Netherlands. He is
also the former chairman of the IAB (Internet
Advertising Bureau) in the Netherlands.
Commenting on his appointment as head of new
media at RTL Nederland, Arno Otto said that “RTL
Nederland is a radio and television leader.
Contemporary media consumption trends show
that, in terms of reach, the early morning is controlled by radio and the evening by television. As for
daytime, the internet has been outpacing the other
media for some time now. That is where my expertise lies and I am extremely keen to and confident
that I can build this bridge at RTL Nederland with
the help of RTL Nederland’s power brands and
media professionals.”
According to RTL Nederland CEO Bert Habets,
“Arno Otto will fill an important spot in the management team and I am pleased RTL Nederland was
able to secure and deploy this professional on the
Dutch market. With his relevant and extensive
experience in new media and his strong personality, he can drive the new media branch within RTL
Nederland to a higher level and help us to implement our new strategy. This is an important step in
RTL Nederland’s growth as a powerful all-round
multimedia company.”
25
week 03
People
Antoine Dubois joins RTL Radio France
France - 19 December 2008
Antoine Dubois
Antoine Dubois has been
named Advertising and
Corporate Identity Manager
for RTL Radio France. He
will be working with Sophie
Déroulède, Director of
Communications for RTL
Radio France.
With a degree from ESC Toulouse and an MBA
from ESEC Barcelona, Antoine Dubois, 32, began
his career in January 2000 as a team leader at the
Leo Burnett Paris advertising agency. In April 2003
he joined Disneyland Resort Paris as
Communications Manager for France. In 2005 he
was promoted to Integrated Communications
Manager for Europe.
People
Axel Kühn
Axel Kühn leaves RTL II
Axel Kühn, 40, Director of Programming at RTL II,
left the Munich-based broadcaster as of 31
December 2008, after heading the channel’s programming department since 1 November 2006.
RTL II’s Chief Editor Jürgen Ohls will take on his
duties in the interim, and will report directly to
Managing Director Jochen Starke.
“Axel Kühn developed RTL II’s programming by
adding new international series and docu-soap formats and thus was a formative contributor to its
performance in recent years,” says Jochen Starke.
The broadcaster and Kühn have parted ways amicably.
Jürgen Ohls, a political scientist by training, was
appointed News Chief at RTL II in 1999 and has
served as the channel’s Chief Editor since 1
December 2006. Under his management, the RTL
II News became the most popular prime-time news
programme among young viewers aged 14 to 29 in
2008. Ohls and his team also implement successful popular-science formats and reportages.
26
week 03
People
Paul Chinnery
Starring role for Media
Lawyer
Five has promoted Chief Legal Officer Paul
Chinnery to the position of Director of Legal
Affairs and awarded the lawyer a place on the
Executive Board of the British broadcaster.
The promotion, announced on 13 January, formalises the fact that Chinnery has been unofficially managing the legal department since the
departure of his predecessor, Colin Campbell,
who retired from the company at the end of
2007. Chinnery will report directly to Dawn
Airey, Chairman and CEO of Five. He retains
the post of Company Secretary.
Chinnery joined the company shortly after
launch in 1997, becoming Head of Legal &
Compliance in 2000. He was formerly a solicitor at Stephens Innocent (now Finers Stephens
Innocent) where he specialised in commercial
litigation and media law, in particular freedom
of expression issues. He began his legal career
as a clerk at a legal aid firm in the East End,
assisting in housing, criminal and family cases
before joining McKenna & Co (now CMS
Cameron McKenna) as an articled clerk in
1990.
Dawn Airey said: “I am very pleased that Five
has developed outstanding people in our business to take up such senior positions. The
commercial, regulatory and legislative environment in which media companies operate is
ever-changing and it is important that we are
able to retain the services of executives of the
calibre of Paul Chinnery to deal with these challenges.”
Paul Chinnery said: “I am very proud to continue to be playing a role at Five as it moves to
the next phase of its development in a rapidly
changing media industry. I am also looking forward to the significant new challenges of being
an executive director.”
27
http://backstage.rtlgroup.fr
http://backstage.rtlgroup.com
http://backstage.rtlgroup.de
Publisher
RTL Group
Frieden
45, Bd Pierre
bourg
m
L-1543 Luxe
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Editor, Desig
arketing
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ications and M
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Corpora

Powerful start

Transcription

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