RTL said its revenue declined by 4.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter ending in March to EUR 1.40 billion mainly due to negative exchange rate effects and scope effects resulting from the disposals of BroadbandTV and Groupe M6 businesses Home Shopping Service and iGraal. Lower TV advertising revenue in Germany and the Netherlands was compensated by increasing content, streaming and ad-tech revenue. Revenues at group level were up 3.9 percent organically.
Advertising revenue declined to EUR 745 million in Q1 from EUR 796 million the prior year, including EUR 587 million TV advertising revenue, EUR 78 million digital advertising revenue and EUR 48 million radio advertising revenues. Streaming revenue from TV Now and Videoland was up 40.5 percent year-on-year to EUR 52 million, thanks to the growing number of subscribers. RTL Group’s platform revenue was up 7.1 per cent to EUR 106 million in Q1 this year from EUR 99 million one year ago.
RTL Group confirms its outlook for 2021, with revenues set to increase to approximately EUR 6.2 billion and adjusted EBITA to grow to approximately EUR 975 million.
RTL recorded 2.72 million paying subscribers for its streaming services TV Now in Germany and Videoland in the Netherlands in Q1, up 71 per cent year-on-year. Paying subscribers for TV Now doubled year-on-year to 1.71 million, compared with 857,000 the prior year. The strategic partnership signed with Deutsche Telekom to bundle TV Now Premium in Magenta TV contributed significantly to the growth. The number of paying subscribers for Videoland grew 38 percent in Q1 to 1.0 million compared wit 728,000 in March last year.
