week 4 / 22 January 2015
SCAN, INVEST, GROW
How RTL Ventures reacts on international venture capital competition Germany
North America
France
Long-awaited jungle show returns on RTL Television
Celebrity Name Game renewed for a second season
RTL Radio launches campaign for the planet
week 4 / 22 January 2015
SCAN, INVEST, GROW
How RTL Ventures reacts on international venture capital competition Germany
North America
France
Long-awaited jungle show returns on RTL Television
Celebrity Name Game renewed for a second season
RTL Radio launches campaign for the planet
Cover Montage
Publisher RTL Group 45, Bd Pierre Frieden L-1543 Luxembourg
Editor, Design, Production RTL Group Corporate Communications & Marketing
before yo ink up Th
t rin
backstage.rtlgroup.com
backstage.rtlgroup.fr
backstage.rtlgroup.de
QUICK VIEW Of cockroaches, coockie bars and burgers
RTL Television / IP Deutschland
More opportunistic, more international
p.8–9
RTL Ventures
p.4–7
Celebrity Name Game enters the next round FremantleMedia North America
p.10
M6’s talent ‘revisited’
Straight to the point
Groupe M6
RTL-TVI
p.11
p.12
RTL Radio taking action for the planet RTL Radio
p.13
Big Picture
Young and strong
p.15
UFA Fiction
p.14
SHORT NEWS p.16–17
RTL Ventures is actively investing. In recent months, the company increased its shareholdings in Squla and the Dutch Learning Company (DLC) and acquired Dinnersite, the best-known restaurant index site in the Netherlands. Backstage talked to Nicolas Eglau, Managing Director RTL Ventures at RTL Nederland, about the latest deals.
MORE OPPORTUNISTIC, MORE INTERNATIONAL The Netherlands – 22 January 2015
RTL Ventures
Nicolas Eglau (left), Managing Director RTL Ventures, with André Haardt, Founder of Squla
4
In the past 25 years, RTL Nederland has developed from a pure-play broadcaster into an all-media powerhouse. Since 2010, RTL Ventures, headed by Nicolas Eglau is in charge of its diversification activities. “2014 was a good year for RTL Ventures”, Nicolas Eglau says. In April 2014, RTL Ventures completed its first exit by selling its 50 per cent shareholding in the mobile offer Sizz to Vodafone – with a decent return on investment. Just before Christmas, in December 2014, RTL Ventures increased its shareholding in Squla to 37.3 per cent. Squla offers e-learning platforms to elementary school kids aged 12 and under. In the same month, the investment division acquired a majority stake (79 per cent) in the Dutch Learning Company (DLC) which offers a range of blended and certified first aid courses. In early 2015, the company acquired Dinnersite, the most reputable and complete online restaurant guide in the Netherlands. The idea is to bundle the expertise and content of Dinnersite with the booking capabilities of Couverts, another of RTL Ventures companies and market leader in the Netherlands.
In the US, Squla partnered with the education company Kaplan
However, at the same time, the start-up and venture capital world is becoming more challenging. Promising concepts are raising substantial funding at an increasingly early stage. International top-notch venture capital players often buy a shareholding after just 12 months. Venture capital players value the company at a certain price – before they invest in the company. This valuation is called pre-money valuation. Afterwards, growth is jointly managed and synergies with other portfolio companies are leveraged. Eglau explains: “Traditional multiples and even aggressive cash flow models do not justify the high pre-money valuations being paid in the market. The
venture capital giants of this world couldn’t care less. Competition is getting fierce and has led to the current price dynamics. If a model is both innovative and scalable, the founder convincing, and new markets are discernible, there is a high willingness to step in early. International roll-out ambitions ask for significant funding amounts.” Quandoo, another European reservation player similar to Couverts, closed a US-$25 million funding round in July 2014. “Against this background, a certain premium is granted to companies’ pre-money valuations. In this way, investors avoid too much dilution of the management. There is nothing more important than an incentivised founder to run the company,” says Eglau.
Advertising motif of Couverts
The problem: with an accelerating global ventures market, RTL Ventures may come to the table too late if it waits for a brilliant idea to meet the two- to three-million-Euro revenue threshold it has set itself. In that case someone else may have already struck the deal. “In 2015 we will be embracing disruptive models at an earlier stage,” says Eglau. “We will extend our scouting team and shift more of a focus to slightly younger start-ups.” There is a broad range of businesses that RTL Ventures is willing to look into: “Basically, I can image any idea that involves transferring from offline into online and even more, into mobile – just like we did with Couverts or Squla,” Eglau says. Arriving in this new online world, the businesses have to have Next >
5
Squla makes learning fun
a new twist or disruptive factor; they should work at a small level, but have the potential for future growth and need to be easily adaptable for other countries. In brief: to be interesting for RTL Ventures, a business has to be innovative, scalable and have international roll-out potential. Eglau currently sees big trends ahead in the fields of e-learning and e-health. “We have already gained experience and built a network in both these fields with some of our existing investments,” he says. The buzz is significant. Google Ventures just announced that it will allocate a growing share of its yearly US-$425 million investment budget to healthrelated businesses. Households are becoming more and more connected and with budget cuts rampant in the public-health sector, private companies offering help will become ever more attractive. With DLC and its course offering Iedereen EHBO, RTL Ventures is selling first-aid courses online and has already inked a partnership with Dutch Red Cross. “We have already taken first steps. In the future, I can imagine transferring the Couverts business model to the e-health sector,” explains Eglau. “But instead of booking a table at a restaurant, you book an appointment with a doctor.”
Next >
bo.nl
reeneh
Iede ot from
sh
Screen
Squla is a classic example for e-learning. The company helps elementary school kids improve their grades by making learning fun and leveraging the time the kids are going to spend on the computer in any case. RTL Ventures first invested in Squla in 2010. André Haardt, Founder and CEO of Squla, explains his experience with RTL Ventures: “We have benefited in multiple ways. First of all, we ran some joint media activities, but we also receive strategic advice from RTL Nederland. And last but not least, RTL Concepts developed the commercials that are shown on Dutch TV.” Anyhow, Squla is an independent company that makes its own decisions. Says Eglau: “I think Squla has found a great way to use the possibilities offered by RTL Nederland, RTL Group and even Bertelsmann, where and when it is needed. This opportunistic mindset is the key to fully benefitting from our network and expertise.”
6
“Squla was a first-mover in this growing market and has become an authority in the field of e-learning for children,” says Eglau. “Our initial investment demonstrated our belief in this innovative concept and we see great potential for further growth, both in the Netherlands and beyond. With the increased shareholding, we will also increase our return on investment,” he adds. Squla’s concept works: since April 2013, Squla has more than doubled its subscriber numbers from 33,000 to 82,000 today. Besides the Netherlands the brand is also present in the United States and in Poland. The business model remains the same, as kids worldwide like the same kind of elements, but of course, content has to be localised. A logical next step is to roll-out the business model even further. “We are continuously evaluating potential markets,” says Eglau.
In 2015, the international aspect at RTL Ventures will become more of a priority. “I believe we need to highlight and leverage the RTL Group network even more,” Elgau remarks. “If a start-up is aiming for a fast roll-out in Germany and France, we should be able to structure deals that also include airtime on RTL Television or M6. This will enable us to strike more deals and compete with global venture capital firms that already offer cross-border support.”
Squla uses playful ways to teach children
About RTL Ventures: RTL Ventures is the investment division of the media and entertainment company RTL Nederland, the Dutch arm of RTL Group. RTL Ventures takes advantage of new business opportunities in a range of consumer markets by developing and investing in fast-growing companies with a proven concept, allowing them to quicken their growth by drawing on the funding, support and expertise of RTL Nederland. The RTL Ventures portfolio includes the dating site Pepper, Couverts restaurant-booking system, online fashion platform Miinto (joint venture with Miinto International), online educational programme Squla, and Dutch Learning Company, an online education provider well known for its first-aid course Iedereen EHBO.
7
OF COCKROACHES, COOKIE BARS AND BURGERS
© RTL / Stefan Gregorowius
RTL Television / IP Deutschland
Germany – 16 January 2015
© IP Deutschland
Jungle show 2015 celebrities
On 16 January 2015, the long-awaited ninth season of the jungle show Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus! (I’m A Celebrity – Get Me Out Of Here!) kicked off on German flagship channel RTL Television. Famous brands like to associate their name with the show, which lets them reach out to their target groups in very creative ways.
Lars-Eric Mann, Director of Sales Solutions at Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s advertising sales house IP Deutschland
In addition to the adventures of the celebrities that await dedicated fans, McDonald’s and Bahlsen’s cookie bars are also ‘part’ of the jungle show experience. “When the format first launched in 2004, the media still got very excited,” recalls Lars-Eric Mann, Director of Sales Solutions at Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s advertising sales house IP Deutschland. “There was talk of ‘nausea-TV’ and it was accordingly difficult to fill the commercial breaks.” However, public perception has since turned to the positive and the German advertising industry’s interest in the jungle show has increased steadily since its launch. This can be seen from the level of bookings in both traditional advertising, which has never been higher before a season start, as well as in special forms of advertising: “For the current season we were booked up faster than ever before,” Mann remarks.
“One good example is the sweets manufacturer Bahlsen,” explains the IP Deutschland expert. “As with each of our other customers, we repeatedly discussed different ways of trying out new TV and advertising formats with Bahlsen. And in 2009 we were able to advertise a Bahlsen product for the first time as part of a product placement in the show: for ‘Pick Up’ cookie bars.” To achieve this, Lars-Eric Mann says RTL Television’s editorial team, IP Deutschland and Bahlsen jointly came up with a scene in which the food-deprived camp residents find a cookie bar in a treasure chest – and greet the find with according enthusiasm while the cameras are running. “The jungle celebs were so genuinely delighted that our market researchers were able to record an excellent advertising effect for the product,” Mann reports. This opened the door for other customers to try the jungle for themselves.
Next >
8
© RTL Television © RTL Television © RTL Television / Stefqn Menne © RTL Television / Stefqn Menne
As a loyal advertiser on the TV show, Bahlsen has agreed to try out a special advertising format for the new season. The time difference between Germany and jungle’s location in Australia creates a unique opportunity to produce spots related to that very day’s events at the camp. Here’s how it works: The editorial team in Australia contacts colleagues in Cologne and briefs them on the highlights from the bushtucker trials. Following the briefing, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s creative subsidiary produces a version of the commercial which is filmed that same morning and is aligned with the look and feel of Bahlsen’s spots. The freshly-made spot is aired the same evening during the show’s commercial breaks. The spots are also available online on RTL Now and RTL.de, and on mobile apps, such as the RTL Now and RTL Inside apps. Moreover, Bahlsen is pulling out all the stops to promote its association with the show, including specially branded displays in supermarkets. A total of eight spots have been scheduled for the two weeks during which the jungle show will be broadcast. “I know of no other TV advertising format that picks up on events in such near-time,” says Lars-Eric Mann, who also confesses that he has been a dedicated fan of Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus! from the very beginning. For the first time, McDonald’s is also associating its brand with the popular show. The Director of Sales Solutions at IP Deutschland explains: “Once again, we wanted to try out something special here and therefore agreed a specific product placement with the customer.” He explains that when the celebs leave the show, the first thing they want – usually while they are still in the presence of a camera crew – is something to eat, so the logical step would be to film one of the outgoing participants visiting a McDonald’s restaurant and capturing their ecstatic face in close-up as they bite into their burger. Commenting on the partnership, McDonald’s Germany Deputy Spokesman Nicolas von Sobbe says: “The jungle show with its enormous reach is a great environment for McDonald’s. With a little tongue-in-cheek humor, it even fits thematically.” After all, he asks, “who couldn’t imagine craving a Big Mac after a few days in the jungle camp?” Source: Benet
9
CELEBRITY NAME GAME ENTERS THE NEXT ROUND FremantleMedia North America
FremantleMedia North America’s (FMNA) game show Celebrity Name Game has been renewed for a second season. The show, which is syndicated to networks across the USA, has been picked up by stations including Tribune Broadcasting, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Cox Broadcasting. North America – 16 January 2015
Celebrity Name Game hosted by Craig Ferguson
Watch a clip from Celebrity Name Game
Hosted by the Emmy-nominated Craig Ferguson, the Celebrity Name Game puts contestants and their celebrity teammates on the spot as they compete in four rounds of fast-paced gameplay to identify famous names – actors, singers, athletes, pop culture figures, politicians, even cartoon characters – based on improvised clues. The winning team has a chance to walk away with up to $20,000. The first season premiered in the USA in September 2014 and its syndicated, half-hour weekday strip currently airs in more than 93 per cent of the US, including the top 50 US markets. Thom Beers, CEO of FMNA, and an executive producer of the game show, says: “Celebrity Name Game came out of the gate with an impressive start, building its audience each week, and showing itself to be a strong contender in syndication. We’re looking forward to producing another season with the comedic genius that is Craig Ferguson, and inviting many more of our celebrity friends to join in on the fun.”
10
M6’S TALENT ‘REVISITED’
Groupe M6
M6 Événements, Groupe M6’s events and show production company, is spotlighting the culinary talents of Top Chef Norbert by staging an innovative one-man show at the La Nouvelle Eve theatre in Paris, as of 8 January 2015. France – 20 January 2015
Norbert, the M6 chef known for his jovial eccentricities and contagious good humour on the M6 programme Top Chef and on 6ter’s Norbert et Jean, le défi, is now taking up the fresh challenge of trying to cook up a storm at the La Nouvelle Eve theatre in a one-man production dished up by Arnaud Gidoin and entitled One-man show patate!. The menu will feature its fair share of surprises, a decent portion of audience participation and pot loads of culinary creativity– ingredients combined to guarantee a bellyful of laughs.
Poster of One-man show patate!
Watch the trailer
Norbert explains: “It has not been planned in advance or carefully calculated, and never would I have imagined that I might end up on stage! I definitely make no pretensions about being an actor, but I work like crazy to give my best, talking about food in a humorous way and telling people about all the mad things I’ve experienced comes naturally to me.” To pull off this ambitious project, the M6 Événements team joined forces with a number of other departments of Groupe M6, seeking the assistance of M6 Créations to produce web teasers, trailers and ads and take care of the quest for financial partners and of any merchandising. On the planning front, the project is being co-managed by Studio 89, the company producing the new programme featuring Norbert, entitled Norbert commis d’office, which is due to start airing on 6ter on 30 January 2015. Meanwhile, the website was created by M6 Web.
11
STRAIGHT TO THE POINT
RTL-TVI
RTL-TVI is airing Dossiers tabous, a new prime-time investigative reporting magazine. The 20 January 2015 episode attracted 33.3 per cent of the target group, shoppers 18to 54-year-old (2014 average: 25.5 per cent). Belgium – 21 January 2015
© RTL Belgium
© RTL Belgium – O. Pirard
The 50-minute show focusing on social issues that are still taboo in Belgian society is presented by Jean-Claude Defossé. He and his team tackle controversial issues: nothing is off limits and there is no beating about the bush. “We gave Jean-Claude Defossé carte blanche to look at subjects through the eyes of an investigative reporter,” explains Stéphane Rosenblatt, Director of Television and News at RTL Belgium.
Jean-Claude Defossé, presenter of the magazine Dossiers tabous
Most people spoke to Jean-Claude Defossé under cover of anonymity
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Turkish and Moroccan immigration to Belgium, for the first show Jean-Claude Defossé and his team went out and talked to numerous members of various communities to find out more about the integration of the Muslim population in Belgium. The presenter examined the issue from all angles: education, unemployment and crime. The numbers are worrying and the topics covered are upsetting; in fact, many people would only speak under cover of anonymity. 12
RTL RADIO TAKING ACTION FOR THE PLANET RTL Radio
On 21 January 2015, RTL Radio devoted a special day to the issue of global warming with a view to the Paris 2015 UN Climate Change Conference to be held in France late this year. The event will launch a year-long campaign. France – 21 January 2015
The special programme on 21 January marked the on-air kick-off of the RTL Radio campaign on climate change and the challenges it poses in 2015:
© Gilles Cenazandotti / François Caillon
On the morning programme RTL Petit Matin (4:30) and throughout the day, newscasts included reports and eyewitness accounts on this issue. On RTL Matin (7:50), Jean-Michel Apathie received Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who is in charge of organising the Paris 2015 UN Climate Change Conference. In addition, French explorers Nicolas Hulot and Jean-Louis Etienne, who is sponsoring the first climate day on RTL Radio, were guests on RTL Midi (13:00) and RTL Soir (18:20). Late in the day, on RTL Grand Soir, Bénédicte Tassard devoted her column L’ECO 2.0 to the development of waste recycling methods for professionals. The RTL Radio campaign will run up to day of the conference and will include the network’s monthly programme RTL bouge pour la planète.
To mark the occasion, the reception hall at RTL Radio is exhibiting The Bear, an artwork by Corsican artist Gilles Cenazandotti made by plastic objects thrown away along the coast
ABOUT THE PARIS 2015 UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE The Paris 2015 UN Climate Change Conference will be the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. From 30 November to 11 December 2015, more than 20,000 delegates and observers are expected to discuss and debate a major challenge: containing the climate change that threatens our societies and our economies. The conference will be a decisive phase in the negotiation of the future international agreement setting out the framework for a transition to resilient, low-carbon societies and economies.
More information about the conference
13
YOUNG AND STRONG
UFA Fiction
On 22 January 2015, a new UFA Fiction production opens at German cinemas. Wir sind jung, wir sind stark (We are young, we are strong) is a social drama that narrates the story of the events surrounding the riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen, known as the ‘Night of Fire’. Germany – 22 January 2015
The cast and producers at the film’s international premiere in Rome
Watch the trailer
Wir sind jung, wir sind stark has already received much praise and numerous awards – including at the International Rome Film Festival and the Hof Film Festival. The film sees teenagers hanging around a deserted housing estate in Rostock-Lichtenhagen with nothing to do and no idea what they want from their lives. Their daily lives revolve around boredom, cluelessness and clashes with the police. In midst of it all are Stefan and his friends, angry, unemployed, living for the moment with no future prospects, and Lien, a young Vietnamese woman with her brother and his wife. While Lien believes she has found a new home in Rostock, her brother wants to take his family and leave Germany in view of the growing anti-immigrant hostility. On 24 August 1992, the fates of these young people intersect: Stefan and his group lead the riots, which culminate in Molotov cocktails being thrown and a crowd standing idly by, watching as the settlement burns.
14
Season nine of Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus! (I’m A Celebrity – Get Me Out Of Here!) has got off to a fantastic start on RTL Television, attracting 28.7 per cent of the total audience (7.5 million viewers), and 5.65 million (36.9 per cent) of Germany’s 14- to 59-year-old viewers.
SHORT NEWS
1/2
Welcome to a new fashion expert StyleHaul Actress and model Molly Sims has joined StyleHaul network and will be creating content on a weekly basis. She will also collaborate with StyleHaul digital beauty and style experts on her channel. North America – 16 January 2015
Cold war, hot drama FremantleMedia International On 15 January 2015, FremantleMedia International announced its acquisition of the global distribution rights to UFA Fiction’s major new eight-part drama, Deutschland 83. Drama series has been commissioned by RTL Television. United Kingdom – 16 January 2015
Record breaker! RTL 2 According to Médiamétrie for the period from November to December 2014, French radio station RTL 2 has recorded its best cumulative audience performance since its creation 20 years ago (2,830,000 listeners) and has achieved its best audience share ever in this time period (3.2 per cent of the French radio market). France – 19 January 2015
Top-notch entertainment for Latin America FremantleMedia International In view of upcoming Natpe 2015, FremantleMedia International (FMI) announced that it has recently sold over 200 hours of premium programming across all genres that will bring world class entertainment throughout the Latin America region. United Kingdom – 19 January 2015
A feel for trends IP Deutschland Paris, Milan, London, New York, Berlin – these are the international venues frequented by NY-Pamilo TV. The new TV lifestyle magazine in the IP Deutschland portfolio offers online and mobile insights into the world of all things fashionable and beautiful. Germany – 19 January 2015
16
SHORT NEWS
2/2
Fancy a sneak peek? FremantleMedia North America In view of the premiere of the new scripted drama series The Returned, co-produced by A&E Studios and FremantleMedia North America and set to kick off on 9 March on A&E network in the US, a sneak preview has been released. Watch the trailer here (http://bit.ly/1DXwPDh) North America – 20 January 2015
Tribute to the security forces RTL Radio On 20 January 2015, in a special edition of RTL Soir, RTL Radio (France) brought together the chiefs of the French security forces GIGN and RAID, whose actions helped put an end to the recent hostage-taking incidents in France. France – 21 January 2015
Congratulations to our colleagues in Cologne! Vox The Vox shows Die Höhle der Löwen and Sing meinen Song – Das Tauschkonzert have been nominated for this year’s Grimme Prize in the Entertainment category. The 51st Grimme Prizes will be presented on March 27, 2015 in Marl. Germany – 22 January 2015
The ‘connection’ is made FremantleMedia International FremantleMedia International (FMI) has announced the company’s partnership with AOL to bring their first long-form video series Connected to the international market. The series chronicles the lives of five seemingly disconnected New Yorkers as they explore the concept of family in New York City. United Kingdom – 22 January 2015
17
More about Backstage BACKSTAGE IS AVAILABLE IN THREE LANGUAGES
DAILY NEWS FROM ACROSS THE GROUP – DIRECTLY IN YOUR INBOX
‘AT RTL GROUP, WE CARE’
You can read Backstage in your preferred language – in English, German or French.
In addition to the weekly newsletter we offer to registered users a daily newsletter available in three languages.
RTL Group is committed to effectively combine business success with socially responsible actions towards local communities and to protect the environment. Visit the Corporate Responsibility news section on Backstage (CR news) and find out how RTL Group aims to improve the societies in which we operate.
backstage.rtlgroup.com
backstage.rtlgroup.fr
backstage.rtlgroup.de
For more information, don’t hesitate to contact the editorial team:
[email protected]
