{"id":52736,"date":"2025-08-08T13:15:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T13:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/52736\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T13:15:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T13:15:07","slug":"fremantle-h1-revenue-falls-as-rtl-group-boosts-streaming-eyes-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/52736\/","title":{"rendered":"Fremantle H1 Revenue Falls as RTL Group Boosts Streaming, Eyes Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFremantle<\/a>\u2019s revenue fell 5.4% in the first half of 2025 to \u20ac905 million ($1.053 billion), largely due to lower U.S. sales and phasing effects, as parent RTL<\/a> Group accelerated its shift toward streaming and confirmed its acquisition of Sky Deutschland. The decline was partly linked to the first half of 2024 benefiting from a spin-off of \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Friday, Luxembourg-based RTL Group reported group revenue of \u20ac2.781 billion ($3.236 billion) for the six months ended June 30, down 3.2% from \u20ac2.872 billion ($3.343 billion) a year earlier. Adjusted EBITA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, and Amortization) dropped 7% to \u20ac160 million ($186 million), with lower TV advertising revenue partly offset by sharply reduced streaming start-up losses, down 59.5% to \u20ac34 million ($39.6 million). Group profit fell to \u20ac59 million ($68.7 million) from \u20ac173 million ($201.7 million) a year earlier, mainly due to one-time effects and fewer positive fair value adjustments.<\/p>\n

\n\tFremantle\u2019s adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) margin increased to 7.2% in H1\/2025 from 6.6% a year earlier, even as revenue declined. Under its \u201cboost plan,\u201d the global production giant is targeting \u20ac3 billion ($3.493 billion) in annual revenue in the mid-term, supported by significant investment in IP development, acquisitions and the deployment of artificial intelligence across its value chain.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn March, Fremantle struck a first-look and development deal with Emma Stone<\/a> and Dave McCary\u2019s Fruit Tree, following a three-year agreement with newly established Eureka Studios to develop new IP for global sale and production. April saw the launch of Fremantle Sports, a global unit working across entertainment, drama and film, and documentaries to create cross-platform sports formats for worldwide distribution. That month also brought the launch of Imaginae Studios, a stand-alone label dedicated to leveraging AI solutions, technologies and tools for the creative community. In June, Fremantle unveiled Fremantle Global Originals, a new stand-alone creative hub focused on creating original unscripted formats.<\/p>\n

\n\tRTL\u2019s streaming revenue surged 27% to \u20ac235 million ($273.6 million) as paying subscribers rose 15.3% year-on-year to 7.23 million. RTL+ in Germany grew its subscriber base by 13.7% to 6.36 million, while viewing hours jumped 17.5% to 346 million, making it the leading German entertainment streaming service. Top titles included \u201cGute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten,\u201d the 18th season of \u201cIch bin ein Star \u2013 Holt mich hier raus!,\u201d \u201cAlles was z\u00e4hlt,\u201d \u201cAre You The One?,\u201d \u201cEx On The Beach\u201d and \u201cDie Verr\u00e4ter \u2013 Vertraue Niemandem!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tM6+ in France reported 28 million average monthly active users in H1\/2025, up 35% year-on-year, with total viewing hours rising 17%.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe group renewed its distribution partnership with Deutsche Telekom until at least 2030 and, in June, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Sky Deutschland\u2019s operations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland \u2014 including customer bases in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol \u2014 for \u20ac150 million ($174.6 million) in cash plus a variable consideration tied to RTL\u2019s share price. The deal, subject to regulatory approval, would combine Sky\u2019s premium sports rights portfolio, including Bundesliga, DFB Cup, Premier League and Formula 1, with RTL\u2019s entertainment and news brands.<\/p>\n

\n\tRTL Deutschland continued to strengthen its sports offering, securing the DFB Cup highlight rights for men from the 2026\/27 season and extensive rights to the 2025 European Basketball Championship, which will feature all German national team matches, select knockout games and the final live on free TV.<\/p>\n

\n\tOther moves included the March sale of magazine titles \u201cBrigitte,\u201d \u201cGala\u201d and \u201cEltern\u201d to Funke Mediengruppe, and the July closing of the \u20ac1.1 billion ($1.280 billion) sale of RTL Nederland to DPG Media, with an expected \u20ac5 ($5.82) per share dividend to follow in 2026. Following the sale, RTL and DPG Media entered a strategic partnership covering technology services, international advertising sales and first-look rights for new RTL Nederland programs.<\/p>\n

\n\tRTL Group also advanced its tech partnerships, joining a Bertelsmann\u2013OpenAI collaboration in January that gives it early access to AI tools, and seeing RTL Hungary adopt Smartclip\u2019s Smartx ad server and SSP in March. In July, RTL Zwei and Warner Bros. Discovery Germany received regulatory clearance for a joint TV and digital advertising sales house, expected to launch in 2026.<\/p>\n

\n\tNet debt stood at \u20ac1.052 billion ($1.224 billion) at June 30, excluding lease liabilities, but the group received \u20ac1.1 billion ($1.280 billion) in July from the RTL Nederland sale.<\/p>\n

\n\tRTL Group confirmed its 2025 outlook, forecasting revenue of about \u20ac6.45 billion ($7.509 billion) and Adjusted EBITA of around \u20ac780 million ($907.1 million), assuming TV ad sales grow 2-3% in the second half. Streaming profitability is targeted for 2026.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur shareholders will benefit from the sale [of RTL Nederland] via an expected dividend of \u20ac5 per share, payable in 2026,\u201d CEO Thomas Rabe said. \u201cWe are confident to significantly increase our operating profits in the coming years, driven by improved macroeconomic conditions in Germany, streaming profitability and synergies from the Sky Deutschland acquisition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fremantle\u2019s revenue fell 5.4% in the first half of 2025 to \u20ac905 million ($1.053 billion), largely due to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[29142,29143,96,29144,29145,391,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-52736","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-americas-got-talent","9":"tag-emma-stone","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-fremantle","12":"tag-rtl","13":"tag-tv","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}