RTL Group’s streaming business turns profitable but Fremantle revenue dips in H1 2026

European media giant RTL Group has hailed a “strong” first-half performance in 2026, driven by streaming growth and the completed acquisition of Sky Deutschland, although subsidiary Fremantle’s revenues were down compared with the first half of 2025.

Clément Schwebig

Sebastian Pfütze

RTL Group unveiled its results for the first six months of 2026 today, which showed group revenue to be up 3.9% to €2.89bn (US$3.33bn), compared with €2.78bn in the first half of 2025.

The growth was mainly driven by a shift towards streaming and the acquisition of Sky Deutschland, which closed on June 1 and was fully consolidated into the group’s accounts for one month.

Group revenue for the second quarter of 2026 was €1.6bn, up from €1.49bn in the same period a year earlier. TV advertising revenue fell 4% to €977m in H1, while digital advertising revenue rose 10.9% to €255m.

RTL Group’s production and distribution group Fremantle generated revenue of €835m in the first half of 2026, down 7.7% year-on-year from €905m in H1/2025.

The company said the decline was mainly due to “timing effects” at Fremantle’s drama and film business, while its entertainment and documentaries units were “broadly stable.”

RTL said the revenue decrease is expected to reverse in the second half of the year, resulting in slightly higher full-year revenue for Fremantle, driven by shows including Baywatch and Kill Jackie.

So far in 2026, Fremantle has expanded American Idol’s reach via a partnership with Disney+, launched a production hub for Holey Moley in Portugal to serve local adaptations for ITV in the UK, Prime Video in Germany and TF1 in France, and made competition format Wonka’s The Golden Ticket for Netflix.

Catherine Zeta-Jones thriller Kill Jackie has also been acquired by Warner Bros Discovery’s HBO Max across key European markets.

RTL Group said Fremantle will continue to invest “significantly” in IP development and in acquisitions of small and medium-sized production companies with a strong IP base, as well as use AI “across the company’s value chain.”

The group’s shift towards streaming is reaping rewards, with revenue up 27.2% to €299m, driven by a higher number of paying subscribers, increased subscription prices in Germany and growing advertising revenue on RTL+ in Germany and M6+ in France.

Paid subscriptions for RTL+ in Germany and Hungary, and M6+ in France, rose 20.7% year-on-year to 8.7 million.

Streaming turned profitable, contributing adjusted EBITA of €31m, up from a loss of €34m in H1/2025, and RTL now expects the business to deliver around €100m in adjusted EBITA for the full year, up from previous guidance of €25m-€50m.

Group adjusted EBITA was up 49.4% to €239m, driven by streaming, the Sky Deutschland acquisition and Fremantle, offset partly by higher FIFA World Cup-related programming costs at M6 Group.

Sky Deutschland contributed €61m to adjusted EBITA in its first month within the group, though RTL cautioned this is not representative of its likely full-year contribution given the absence of fixtures from German top-flight football division the Bundesliga in June.

The group said that while the geopolitical and macroeconomic environment remains “volatile,” and the impact on RTL Group’s businesses continues to be hard to predict, it expects its full-year revenue for 2026 to increase to between €7.1bn and €7.2bn.

It comes after RTL Group last year said it expected its operating profits in the coming years to be “significantly increased” by improved macroeconomic conditions in Germany, streaming profitability and its acquisition of Sky Deutschland.

Clément Schwebig, CEO of RTL Group, said: “RTL Group delivered a strong first-half performance in 2026, driven by rapid streaming growth, gains in both TV audience and TV advertising market shares and the successful completion of the acquisition of Sky Deutschland. We also demonstrated the unique power of our content and brands, as the coverage of the football World Cup on M6 and M6+ attracted 60 million viewers and generated exceptional digital engagement.

“Our streaming businesses deliver strong profitability. Streaming revenue and paid subscriptions continue to grow dynamically. As a result, streaming is now expected to contribute around €100m to our full-year operating profit.”