RTL Group lowers full-year outlook following continued French, German ad market weakness

Revenue at RTL Group’s content business Fremantle decreased by 5.1% to €1.3bn (US$1.5bn) compared to the same period (Jan-Sep) last year, contributing to an overall drop in revenue at its parent company.

Thomas Rabe

RTL Group said the drop was mainly due to lower revenue from the US and phasing effects, partly offset by the acquisition of Asacha Media Group in March last year, when Fremantle made €1.42bn between January and September.

RTL Group added the revenue decrease in the US was “largely expected” as the first nine months of 2024 benefited from America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League, a spin-off to the hit talent show format.

Having once tipped Fremantle to be making full-year revenue of €3bn in 2025, RTL Group has been managing expectations more recently, pushing that financial goal to a non-specific date in the “mid-term.”

As part of this plan, RTL Group said it will continue to “invest significantly in IP development, acquisitions and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) across the company’s value chain.”

The company was boosted in September, following the greenlight of a 12-episode Baywatch reboot by Fox in the US, which will be coproduced by Fremantle North America.

Fremantle’s revenue in the third quarter of 2025 was down 4.5% to €447m (Q3/2024: €468m), mainly due to lower contributions from Asacha Media Group, which is made up of eight labels across scripted, unscripted and feature films in France, Italy and the UK.

The revenue dip at Fremantle contributed to an overall drop at RTL Group in the first nine months of the year, with group revenue down 2.2% to €4.1bn, due to lower TV advertising revenue and lower content revenue from Fremantle.

The European media giant pointed to a slump in the German and French advertising markets, which has decreased its expected full-year revenue from around €6.45bn to between €6bn and €6.1bn.

RTL Group recently restructured its leadership team with long-time Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) executive Clément Schwebig set to succeed Thomas Rabe as CEO of the Cologne-based company next May.

Outgoing RTL Group CEO Rabe, said: “The market environment remains challenging, with a reduction of TV advertising revenue in our core markets and an accelerated shift from linear TV to streaming.

“All streaming performance indicators – revenue, paying subscribers and viewing time – continue to point in the right direction. With 7.6 million paying subscribers at the end of September, we are confident to pass the 8 million mark by the end of this year. In 2025, we will reduce streaming start-up losses by more than half to around €50 million and thus remain firmly on track for a profitable streaming business in 2026.

“The German and French TV advertising markets have not gained momentum in the second half of the year as expected. For this reason, and despite additional gains in TV advertising market share in Germany and strict cost management, we are revising our adjusted EBITA guidance for 2025 from around €780m to €650m.

“Short-term challenges do not change our medium-term adjusted EBITA target of €1bn. This is based on our strong market positions, streaming profitability from 2026 onwards, synergies from the acquisition of Sky Deutschland of €250m, significant cost reductions and AI benefits.

“We are well positioned when the markets regain momentum. And once we have received

regulatory approvals for the acquisition of Sky Deutschland, we will integrate the business with RTL, realise the targeted synergies and further boost our streaming business.”