Advanced Television

RTL Group: Streaming revenues up, Fremantle revenues down

March 12, 2026

RTL Group, the European entertainment network, has announced its audited results for the year ended December 31st 2025.

Group revenue was down 3.8 per cent to €6.01 billion, mainly attributed to lower TV advertising revenue and lower content revenue from Fremantle. Group revenue was down 4.3 per cent organically compared to 2024.

RTL Group’s digital advertising revenue was up 27.7 per cent to €517 million compensating 68 per cent of the decrease in TV advertising revenue.

Revenue at RTL Group’s content business, Fremantle, was down 9.4 per cent to €2.04 billion. This was mainly attributed to lower revenue from the entertainment business, especially in the US and the UK. Fremantle’s revenue decreased 9.1 per cent organically.

Streaming revenue was up 26.3 per cent to €509 million, driven by a significantly higher number of paying subscribers, increased subscription prices in Germany and rapidly growing advertising revenue on RTL+ in Germany and M6+ in France.

Distribution revenue was up 1.1 per cent to €358 million.

Total Group profit was €1.02 billion, mainly driven by the sale of RTL Nederland. Total Group profit was impacted by significant negative special items of €-371 million, mainly relating to RTL Deutschland (€-201 million) and Fremantle (€-125 million).

Thomas Rabe, RTL Group CEO, commented: “The market environment in 2025 remained challenging, with a significant decline of TV advertising and an even faster shift from linear TV to streaming. Against this backdrop, RTL Group further accelerated its transformation by reallocating resources to streaming, combined with comprehensive cost reductions across our main businesses.”

“Our streaming services continued to grow strongly, making RTL Group one of the leading European media companies in streaming. We exceeded 8 million paying subscribers at the end of 2025. Streaming revenue and viewing time continued to grow dynamically, while streaming start-up losses came down significantly and the business was near break-even in the fourth quarter. Our streaming business will be profitable in 2026 – and will become the key driver for sustainable profit growth in the coming years.”

“For 2026, we expect Adjusted EBITA to increase by 10 per cent to around €725 million, depending on the performance of the advertising markets. Beyond 2026, we confirm our medium-term Adjusted EBITA ambition of €1 billion, driven by continuously increasing streaming profits, synergies from the planned acquisition of Sky Deutschland, higher Fremantle profits, AI benefits and continued cost discipline. With the sale of RTL Nederland, we once again secured high cash returns for our shareholders, reflected in the proposed dividend of €5.50 per share,” he concluded.

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