Facts, Facts, Facts - RTL Group · Britons wanted to watch British series, Germans German series,...

Facts, Facts, FactsThomas Kirsch explains the latest international TV survey

Germany

IP presents its new sales offerNew structure at RTL InteractiveFrance

RTL Radio France champions environmental protection Spain

Antena 3 buys raft of Disney seriesPeople

Remko van Westerloo, RTL NederlandAlex Menzies, FiveAnnie Gourion, M6 PublicitéStephan Schmitter, Radiocenter BerlinFive’s Colin Campbell retires

the RTL Group intranetweek 43

Newsletter


A real mine of informationThe new Key Facts proove: TV remains the mostpopular and widely used medium.Germany - 25 October 2007

Since the Television – International Key Facts sur-vey published annually by IP and RTL Groupcontains such detailed information on the TV mar-kets in 36 European countries, the USA and Japan,it's hardly surprising that in-house it's often referredto as 'the Bible'. After all, the 486-page workcontains facts and trends on over 900 TV channels.

The findings of this year's Key Facts suggest thefollowing three main trends:

Firstly, in a cross-media comparison, TV remainsthe most widely used medium. The watching dura-tion of adult viewers in Western Europe is stable ata high level, averaging a total of 221 minutes perperson per day.

Secondly, watching TV remains people's favouriteleisure pursuit, as has been the case since the veryfirst Key Facts survey in 1994. The most success-ful TV programmes worldwide are US series andinternational show formats.

Thirdly, digital TV is making inroads in Europe. Ahigh proportion of the growth it is enjoying can beattributed to the terrestrial distribution of digital freeTV channels.

Backstage spoke to Thomas Kirsch, Senior ProjectManager, IP Network, and the man behind KeyFacts, about how the extensive publication is pro-duced.

Mr Kirsch, we can imagine that the publicationof such a survey entails a great deal of work.Where do the data come from and how exactlyare they collected and processed?Yes, it's true to say that the survey is only possiblethanks to an extensive network of correspondentsin the 38 countries - 36 in Europe, plus the USAand Japan - whose findings we use. The roughly90 correspondents involved include firstly collea-gues from IP and RTL companies in Austria,Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary,Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerlandand the United Kingdom. In many other countries,we have managed to build up contacts with TVresearch institutes, which collect the ratings in therespective countries, and with advertising researchcompanies that gather data on advertising expen-diture. On top of that, we fall back on data collec-ted by media agencies, TV channels and marketersas well as public institutions, such as broadcastingcouncils and statistical offices. Since the surveycovers a very wide range of aspects of television,in many countries we don't just have one, butrather several, correspondents. For instance, inone country a first correspondent could provide theratings and details of market shares, whereas asecond might source data on the advertising mar-ket and a third might collect information about therespective channels and the TV scene in general.We first check the consistency of the data provi-ded, compare the findings with those of the pre-vious year, look into any discrepancies, carry outthe research required to fill any gaps in our data,and standardise certain aspects, such as program-me genres or the media mix.

What's the main finding this year?Of course the TV world hardly reinvents itself everyyear. Nonetheless, in the medium term an interes-ting trend is emerging at the programme level: At

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Thomas Kirsch


the start of the present millennium Europeanscreens were still dominated by national series –Britons wanted to watch British series, GermansGerman series, Italians Italian series, and so on, butat the very latest since the international success ofseries like CSI, imported US drama series haveinexorably conquered the fiercely contested prime-time broadcasting slots in many countries. Thus,the return of American series to European sittingrooms and viewers' favour may well be the clearestdiscernible trend over the past two or three years.Another trend, which again naturally didn't just startthis year, is the increasing digitisation of Europe'svarious TV landscapes, which is prompting theestablishment of an ever increasing number of spe-cial-interest and niche channels.

What other information does the survey include?The survey comprises some 100,000 different pie-ces of information, which between them cover vir-tually every aspect of television, be it technical,economic or to do with programming. The separa-te chapters on each country start off with generaldata on the economic situation, the extent to whichhouseholds are equipped with communicationstechnology and audiovisual appliances, the availa-ble TV reception possibilities and how they arefinanced. That's followed by an overview of themost important channels and digital programmepackages on offer in the country in question. Thencomes a section summing up how television isconsumed, with an overview of viewing duration,plus a presentation of the market shares of themain channels per target group and part of the day.After extensive information on programmes, i.e. themost successful TV programmes overall, per genre(sport, series, films) and per channel, each chapterthen ends with an overview of key data regardingthe advertising market.

But the data are also complemented byessays.Yes, in addition to the articles offering a generaloverview of digital TV, trends in TV viewing habitsand television research, this year's edition of thesurvey contains a fair number of very interestingessays. Colleagues from RTL Group's StrategyDepartment spotlight the development potentialof new technological platforms for TV, like mobileTV and online video. Douglas Wood fromFremantle reports on the latest trends in entertain-ment formats on core markets in both Europe andthe USA. And a representative of egta, theEuropean Association of Television and RadioSales Houses, analyses the new EU Directive onaudiovisual media services. Another section of the

survey that's bound to be of interest to advertisersis the study conducted by the British initiative cal-led Thinkbox on viewers' 'commitment' when wat-ching ads. Finally, Jan Isenbart presents the mainfindings of the latest, methodologically innovativestudy of daily routine entitled MindSet, which IPDeutschland carried out together with the mediaagency Mindshare.

Who is Key Facts aimed at and how is it used?The study is aimed primarily at the advertising cus-tomers of RTL channels' marketing companies inthe countries in question. In an increasingly globa-lised world, international data on TV markets andadvertising markets are becoming increasinglyimportant to advertisers and media agencies. Theinformation contained in Television Key Facts ser-ves as a comprehensive introduction to 'foreign' TVmarkets and helps to pinpoint multinational trends.But as well as advertising customers and mediaagencies, great interest in the findings of TelevisionKey Facts is being shown more and more by pro-duction companies, TV channels and numerousuniversities and other research establishmentsaround the world.

What are you currently working on, or are thepreparations for Television Key Facts 2008already in full swing?I'm currently working together with colleagues fromIP Network Paris on a presentation of the core fin-dings of the survey, which will be given to theadvertising customers of IP companiesover the next few weeks by oursales teams in various countries.And then of course work willbegin on the next edition ofTelevision Key Facts.

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Copies of the survey

can be ordered directly from

[email protected]

at a cost of 250 euro each.

For customers booking ads with

IP companies, the survey is available

free of charge.


RTL Germany looksback contentedly atthe Formula 1 seasonIn spite of Michael Schumacher's departurefrom Formula 1, RTL Germany succeeded inattracting audiences averaging 5.9 million overits 17 broadcasts this season.Germany - 23 October 2007

RTL Sport Director Manfred Loppe, said: "Byattracting audiences of just under 6 million,Formula 1 showed that it's the second mostpopular sport in Germany, after football, evenfollowing Michael Schumacher's retirement.For 2007, we'd set ourselves a target marketshare of roughly 40 per cent, but we evenmanaged to do slightly better than that".

The overall market share in 2007 among all vie-wers was 40.4 per cent, and even 40.7 per cent

in the target group of 14 to 49-year-olds favou-red by advertisers.

The final race of the season held at the week-end, which could hardly have been any moreexciting, was watched by up to 12.95 millionviewers. On average, 11.13 million viewers, amarket share of 39.8 per cent (42.5 per centamong 14 to 49-year-olds) tuned in to RTL'sbroadcast. These were the highest ratingsattained by RTL for Formula 1 this year.

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Lewis Hamilton driving his Mc Laren-Mercedes

Teamworx productionwins Prix Europa 2007Die Mauer – Berlin '61 has won the Prix Europa2007 in Berlin.Germany - 23 October 2007

The winning category was “TV Fiction, PrixEuropa – TV Programme of the Year 2007”. Thefilm's director, Hartmut Schoen, accepted theprize at the gala award ceremony of Europe'sbiggest media competition for TV, radio andInternet productions, held at the Berlin head-quarters of Deutsche Telekom.

The first Prix Europa was awarded back in1987, since then it has become the mostimportant European competition for TV, radioand the Internet. The aim behind the awards isto highlight the wide range of European pro-

ductions under the “Made in Europe” brandlabel, latch on to cross-border programmetrends und provide a forum for high-quality pro-grammes.

The film's producer and Deputy CEO ofTeamworx, Ariane Krampe, said: “It's reallygreat seeing a political film like Die Mauer –Berlin '61 gain such international acclaim. ThePrix Europa and nomination for this year'sInternational Emmy Awards show films aboutGermany's history are also seen as relevantbeyond our country's own borders”.

Die Mauer – Berlin '61


IP Deutschland presentsits new sales offerThe structure of the services offered byIP Deutschland will change as from the 2008booking season.Germany - 23 October 2007

Matthias Dang, IP's sales manager, explainedthe new structure: “In future there will be abasic booking for which we will negotiate cer-tain conditions that will be set out in thecontract concluded with the agency or client.That basic booking will include at most 70 to 80per cent of what the client intends to invest withus over the year as a whole”.

In addition, or as an alternative, clients caninvest flexibly in so-called Max3 booking bud-gets. “The conditions governing these are total-ly independent of the type and scope of thebasic booking, so there will be no volume dis-count on the client's overall volume”, Dangcontinued.

Business relations between the client andadvertising space seller will be governed by aso-called hybrid model, under which IPDeutschland will distinguish between directclients and agency clients. In other words,advertising clients can either become directcontractual partners of IP Deutschland andenjoy full transparency regarding the conditionsapplying to them, or a media agency can enterinto contractual relations with IP on behalf ofagency clients, negotiate the relevant condi-tions and assume the associated risk.

IP Deutschland CEO, Martin Krapf, said: “Ournew marketing structure will give clients bothsecurity and flexibility. They alone will decidewhat role they play in their business relations,determining the extent of conditional securityand the flexibility of their investment, in line withthe objective of their budget. We will strictlyadhere to the framework parameters set bycompetition law, so all services will be purelyvolume-based and there will be no retrospecti-ve discounts. Despite all these changes andthe new 'rules of play', our best sales argumentremains the same: the quality and excellentdevelopment of our brand channels RTL, Vox,Super RTL and N-TV”.

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Martin Krapf

Matthias Dang


RTL Radio Francechampions environmentalprotectionRTL Radio fosters greater awareness ofenvironmental issues in France.France - 19 October 2007

On 22 October, the French radio station willdevote its full day of programmes to environ-mental protection. Numerous reports broad-cast throughout the day during news bulletinswill inform listeners about various aspects ofthe topic. In addition, RTL has called on variouscelebrities to report on how, and in whatdomains, they are endeavouring to do their bitfor the environment. The VIPs in question inclu-de the singer Yannick Noah, the footballerBixente Lizarazu and the film director FrancisFord Coppola.

The special guest on Christophe Hondelatte'sshow will be Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, theFrench Secretary of State for Ecology, who willanswer questions put by both the presenterand listeners.

Other guests during the day will be YannickJadot, the spokesman of the Alliance for thePlanet, and Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, the CEO ofRhodia and man in charge of environmentalprotection at the French employers' federationMEDEF.

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Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, French Secretary of State for Ecology

Antena 3 buys raft of Disney series The Spanish broadcaster will soon treat its viewers to popular U.S. series fromthe Disney studios.Spain - 18 October 2007

Next season, Antena 3 will be able to offer itsviewers in Spain first-class series that havealready proven their popularity in the U.S.: aGrey’s Anatomy spin-off called PrivatePractice, the lawyer series Eli Stone, the familydrama Dirty Sexy Money, and the children’s sit-coms The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Coryin the House. Antena 3 acquired the rights tothese popular series in a deal recently signedwith Disney-ABC International.

“We are very proud of our fantastic ties toDisney-ABC International,” commented MikelLejarza, Director General of Antena 3’s TV unit.“And we’re very happy to be the broadcasterthat gets to air these series in Spain.”

Jim Brehm, Senior Vice President Distributionbei Disney-ABC Television, said: “We look for-ward to continuing our collaboration withAntena 3 and offering Spanish viewers a broaddiversity of content.”


New structure atRTL InteractiveRTL Interactive wants to grow. To that end,CEO Johannes Züll has restructured theRTL Television subsidiary and now put togetherhis new management team.Germany - 23 October 2007

Matthias Büchs, until now Head of Operationsand NewMedia at Super RTL, has been madehead of the Online, Mobile and Teletext divi-sion. Martin Sacht has been promoted fromhead of the Media Services division to themanagement team. Matthias Lindenberger isthe management team's sales manager incharge of Finance, Controlling, Legal andPersonal.

New recruits to RTL Interactive are the seaso-ned experts Frank Müller and Michael Heise.Müller has been in charge of Portals & LatestInformation within the Online division sinceOctober. Heise will start work on 1 Novemberas Head of Product Management. Both menwill report to Matthias Büchs, as will RobertFahle, the future Head of Mobile. RTLInteractive's marketing, which was centrally

managed in the past, will become the respon-sibility of the Online division, whereas presswork will be included in the management'sduties. Marcus Dimpfel is being placed in char-ge of corporate development at RTL Interactiveand will report directly to CEO Johannes Züll.

As Züll explained: “We want to achieve growthin our online, mobile and games-related busi-ness and are in a great position to do just that.In this connection, hopefully by the end of theyear, we plan to start offering some new pro-ducts and services associated with our group'sstrong programme and channel brands. What'smore, we're working on the development ofsome independent new topics. I'm very happyto welcome the new members of our team andwish them plenty of exciting projects and everysuccess”.

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Johannes Züll

Martin SachtMatthias LindenbergerMatthias Büchs


A new managementteam for RadiocenterBerlinAs from 1 November, the entrepreneurialmanagement of Radiocenter Berlin will be in thehands of a joint team, led by Stephan Schmitterfrom 105.5 Spreeradio.Germany - 24 October 2007

The remaining members of the managementteam will be Thomas Kabke from RTL's radiomarketing arm RTL Radiovermarktung andArno Müller from 104.6 RTL Berlins Hit-Radio.

Radiocenter Berlin is where RTL RadioDeutschland GmbH combines its radio activi-ties in the German federal states of Berlin andBrandenburg. In addition to the radio stations104.6 RTL Berlins Hit-Radio and 105.5Spreeradio – with their independent editorialteams – these activities include the business ofRTL Radiovermarktung and RCB Radio CenterBerlin GmbH.

In addition to being CEO of 105.5 Spreeradio,Stephan Schmitter will also be in charge of104.6 RTL Berlins Hit-Radio and RCB RadioCenter Berlin GmbH. He will thus be steppinginto the shoes of Hans Kuchenreuther, who willbe leaving the company at the end of themonth to become CEO of TV Berlin.

Gert Zimmer, the CEO of RTLRadio Deutschland GmbH,said: "I'm very sad to see HansKuchenreuther go, but canunderstand why he wants totake on such a challenging job.I would like to thank him for hissuccessful past efforts andwish him all the best in his new

post. In Stephan Schmitter, Thomas Kabke andArno Müller we have three proven managerswho have already been very successful withtheir respective companies over the past fewyears in the Berlin and Brandenburg market. Assuch, they will serve as guarantors of the conti-nuing development of our radio activities in anarea of Germany that we deem very important".

Also effective from 1 November, MatthiasMontag will become the deputy programmingdirector of 105.5 Spreeradio, sharing the res-ponsibility for the radio station's programmeschedule along with programming director andmorning presenter Jochen Trus.

The responsibility for the programmes of 104.6RTL Berlins Hit-Radio will remain in the handsof the radio station's programming director andmorning presenter Arno Müller and his deputyprogramming director, Sebastian Fitzek.

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Stephan Schmitter

Arno MüllerThomas Kabke


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Remko van Westerloo has been appointed thenew programming director of RTL5 and RTL8.

The 40-year-old Remko van Westerloo will takeup his new post on 1 November. Van Westerloois an experienced TV man, having previouslyworked for SBS Group, Net 5 and most recent-ly Talpa/Tien.

The reaction of RTL Nederland ProgrammingDirector Bart in t’Hout was as follows: “I'veknown Remko for many years now. He's a veryexperienced man with a wonderful sense ofvision for television. I have every reason to feel

confident that this same vision will now beapplied to two of our channels. I'm delightedhe's been appointed and look forward to wor-king alongside with him on a day-to-day basis”.

Remko van Westerloo said: “In recent yearsRTL 5 has developed into a successful channel.I look forward to strengthening it further. At thesame time, it's a tremendous challenge to givea face to the latest member of the RTL family. Ilook forward to working with the rest of theteam, both those I already know well and anynew colleagues”.

People

Remko van Westerloo,RTL NederlandThe Netherlands - 24 October 2007

Remko van Westerloo

Annie Gourion has been nominated to be incharge for special projects and management inthe Internet division at M6 Publicité.

This is a position that M6 Publicité has newlycreated. Her responsibility is to create newadvertising formats for the Internet. AnnieGourion reports directly to Claude Nahon,Director of the Internet division at M6 Publicité.

Prior Annie Gourion was Director of SearchMarketing at the agency Netbooster andDirector of Advertisement Activities at LycosFrance (1998 – 2003).

People

Annie Gourion, M6 PublicitéFrance - 23 October 2007


People

Five namesAlex Menzies asNew Head of FeaturesUnited Kingdom - 22 October 2007

Five has named Alex Menzies, currently DeputyController of Features, as the channel’s newHead of Features.

Alex Menzies joined Five in July 2005 after 10years working in production. His appointmentis one of several changes in the broadcaster'sprogramming department.

Head of Factual Entertainment Steve Gowanswill also become responsible for exploiting themain channel’s content across its digital offs-hoots, Five Life and Five US, acting in his capa-city as Multi-Channel Commissioner.

Robi Dutta, currently Deputy Controller ofFactual, will be named Commissioning Editor inthe Factual Entertainment and Features depart-ments.

All these changes will take effect early nextmonth.

Meanwhile Kim Peat, the channel’s Controllerof Daytime, Arts and Religion, is leaving Fiveafter nine years. She will work with the channelin a consultancy role over the coming months.

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Alex Menzies


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Five’s Director of Legal and Business Affairs isto retire at the end of the year.

Colin Campbell areas of responsibility will bedivided between the channel's Head of Legaland Regulatory Compliance, Paul Chinnery,who will be promoted to Head of Legal Affairsand Company Secretary, and Five's ManagingDirector, Content, Lisa Opie.

Campbell said: “A decade at Five has been awonderful way to end my career in television. Inow want to give myself the time and freedomI need to pursue the many very different ambi-tions I still have to fulfil in life”.

“I'm very excited by the new challenges facingme in 2008 and beyond, but will neverthelessreally miss Five and my colleagues, who havedone so much to make it both a successfulcompany and a great place to work”, he added.

Five's Chief Executive, Jane Lighting, said: “I'dlike to thank Colin for his tremendous service toFive over the past 10 years. While it's very sadthat he's leaving us, we wish him all the best inhis richly deserved retirement”.

“I will always be personally indebted to Colin forhis wise counsel and good humour, both ofwhich I have found invaluable. He will be great-ly missed by everyone at Five and within theindustry”, Lighting continued.

Campbell joined Five, formerly Channel 5, in1997 from BBC Broadcast where he was Headof Business Affairs. He is a solicitor who left pri-vate practice to become a legal adviser in thelate Lord Lew Grade's ACC Media Empire andlater became Group Director of Legal Affairs atCentral Television.

People

Colin Campbell, FiveUnited Kingdom - 19 October 2007

Colin Campbell

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