RTL aims for ten million streaming subscribers in five years
RTL Group has raised its targets in the booming streaming market. By the end of 2026, the media group aims to have 10 million paying subscribers for its two streaming platforms, RTL+ in Germany and Videoland in the Netherlands, the group announced on Thursday.
Streaming revenues of one billion euros are also to be achieved by 2026, and the two services are then also to be profitable.
Until now, the goal had been to have between five and seven million paying subscribers by 2025. Sales should be at least 500 million euros and the profit zone should be reached.
RTL+ to become entertainment platform
RTL Group also plans to expand its German streaming platform RTL+, which was previously called TVnow and has had the new name since Thursday, into a cross-media entertainment platform in the first half of 2022. Video/TV, music, podcasts, audio books and e-magazines are to be offered there.
So far, RTL+ has been structured similarly to other streaming portals with a focus on moving image offerings. On the platform, RTL+ mainly shows its own offerings from its own channels with a media library, livestream for TV and streaming content. RTL Group is part of the portfolio of the Bertelsmann Group in Gütersloh, which holds the majority.
According to the company, streaming revenues increased by 30.6 percent to 162 million euros between January and September. In the same period of 2020, it had stood at 124 million euros.
The listed RTL Group had 3.4 million paying subscribers for its two streaming services at the end of September. Of these, RTL+ accounted for around 2.39 million subscribers. The total reportedly represents an increase of around 90 percent compared to September 2020, when there were close to 1.8 million paying subscribers.
At the same time, RTL Group is sticking to its corporate targets for the year, which it announced in the summer. The Group expects to generate revenues of around EUR 6.5 billion in 2021. (SDA)
