Ad Markets: Last News

RTL Group, Europe's largest commercial television group, is on track to bounce back faster than expected from the downturn triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. In preliminary, unaudited figures released Wednesday, RTL said it booked adjusted operating profits (EBITA) of $1.032 billion (€850 million) last year, well below the $1.4 billion (€1.156 billion) the group earned in 2019, but significantly better than RTL's original forecast, which had predicted adjusted EBITA of around $875 million (€720 million).

Ellise Shafer RTL Group, the European broadcasting company that owns Fremantle, reported a 6.9% drop in revenue from January to September, due in part to the “persistent weakness” of TV advertising markets. In Q3 alone, group revenue was down 10.3% to €1.6 billion, with the company saying 9.2% of this happened organically due to “timing effects at Fremantle and lower TV advertising revenue.” Due to the current advertising landscape, particularly in Germany, RTL expects that TV ad revenue will decline by a “mid-single-digit percentage” in the second half of the year, with Fremantle’s yearly revenue also tracking lower than expected because of a decrease in buyer activity.