ZDF wins linear ratings battle in Germany as ARD leads in streaming world

Sci-fi TV series Der Schwarm (The Swarm)

ZDF was once again the TV channel with the highest ratings in Germany in 2023, with a market share of 14.6% as of December 20.

Norbert Himmler

The public broadcaster is now unassailably ahead and holds the lead in overall audience for age three and over for the 12th time in a row.

Erste came second with 11.9% (down 0.4%). Third place was RTL, the strongest private channel, with 7.9% (up 0.4%). It was followed by Vox with 4.7% (unchanged), Sat.1 with 4.6% (down 0.5%), Kabel eins with 3.2% (up 0.2%), Pro Sieben with 3.0% (down 0.3%), ZDFneo with 2.6% (unchanged) and RTL Zwei with 2.4% (down 0.2%).

The ZDF family of channels reached an average of 64.87 million people per month this year with its TV and streaming offerings. This corresponds to an average of 82% of the population aged three and over each month.

ZDF director general Norbert Himmler said: “Our success shows that we are at the centre of society with our offering.”

With 32.2 million views and 22.7 million views respectively, the elaborate multi-part programmes Der Schwarm (The Swarm) and Gestern waren wir noch Kinder (Yesterday We Were Still Kids) were the most-viewed videos in the ZDF media library in 2023.

Meanwhile, ARD Mediathek was the most successful streaming service by a German TV channel in 2023, reaching an average of around 2.3 million people every day this year.

The ARD Mediathek is ahead of its competitors such as the ZDF Mediathek (1.9 million), RTL+ (0.8 million) and Joyn (0.4 million).

“With a daily reach of 0.9 million users, the ARD Mediathek is also ahead of the younger user group aged between 20 and 49,” said a report based on measurement data from AGF and GfK video research.

People are particularly interested in documentaries and documentary series as well as fiction in the ARD Mediathek, it was reported. For example, 21 million stream views were registered for the fourth season of hit format Babylon Berlin. Another of the most popular series this year was Tage, die es Nicht Gab (Days that Did Not Exist), whose eight episodes were viewed 13.2 million times. The five episodes of media-centred series Asbest (Asbestors) achieved 9.4 million stream views.

Among the documentary series, the sixth season of Feuer & Flamme (Fire & Flames), about the everyday lives of firefighters in the Ruhr region, achieved almost four million views. Serial formats from the areas of sport and culture were also successful: Unparteiisch – Deutschlands Elite-Schiedsrichter achieved 3.1 million views, while the music biography Echt – Unsere Jugend reached 1.7 million.