strategic realignment at rtl interactive

Strategic realignmentat RTL InteractiveJohannes Zülltalks aboutselling RTL Shopand buyingWer-kennt-wen.de

Croatia

A Good Cause:RTL Televizija Helps Children In NeedUnited States

FremantleMedia is going to Disney WorldGermany

RTL School of Journalism welcomes applicantsFrance

Nouvelle Star:One programme, four platformsPeopleJean-Marc Dorangeon, RTL Radio France

the RTL Group intranetweek 8

Newsletter

COVER: Johannes Züll, CEO of RTL Interactive

Strategic realignmentat RTL InteractiveBackstage spoke to RTL Interactive CEOJohannes Züll and Matthias Büchs, head of theOnline department, about the sale of RTL Shopand the acquisition of the social communityWer-kennt-wen.de.Germany - 20 February 2008

RTL Interactive has spent the past few weeksand months analysing its portfolio. JohannesZüll and his team thoroughly reviewed thequestion of which activities should be part ofRTL Interactive’s core business in the future.What lines of business should be pursued withinvestments because they promise futuregrowth? And what lines of business should begiven a critical review because they are notliving up to expectations?

The result of the revision: RTL Interactive willdispose of RTL Shop. An investment bank hasalready been commissioned to find a suitablebuyer for the business. At the same time, RTLInteractive decided to step up its engagementin the burgeoning “Communities” sector. Tothis end, RTL Interactive has acquired a 49 per-cent stake in the platform Wer-kennt-wen.de.

Why is RTL Interactive selling RTL Shop?Johannes Züll: About a year ago, RTLInteractive initiated a restructuring process atRTL Shop, with a new strategy, new target cus-tomers, and a new range policy. And yet ouranalyses show that home shopping is more ofa core competency for retailers than for TVexperts, and that Germany – unlike places likeFrance – is not a good “windows market” fordirect-response television (DRTV). So we arelooking for a strategic lead investor with a retailbackground to take on the management of RTLShop. In our analysis of core competencies, wewere able to show very clearly that a strategicpartner in the retail sector would be able tocreate much greater added value for RTL Shop

than we here at Mediengruppe RTLDeutschland. Naturally, we wish to participatein this value creation when we sell it.

Will RTL divest itself completely ofRTL Shop?Johannes Züll: RTL will definitely hand over themanagement of its operations. Depending onthe buyer, we can imagine holding a minoritystake. Our aim here is to ensure a successfulevolution of the business, and to participate inthe value created by selling all or part of it.

How would you describe RTL Shop’sperformance?Johannes Züll: We firmly believe that we crea-ted value with the RTL Shop team. A good yearago, we changed the strategy, increasing theproduct range from 2,000 to around 7,000items and increasing the number of customers.Nonetheless, the restructuring process waspainful, and the losses for 2007 – not surprisin-gly for a massive restructuring – were in the loweight-digit range. We had to acknowledge thatits performance didn't match our expectations.

RTL Interactive has just bought a 49-percentstake in the social community Wer-kennt-wen.de. How did this collaboration comeabout?Johannes Züll: We met its two founders PatrickOhler and Fabian Jager a few months ago andat first mainly provided technical support fortheir project. Since then, we’ve signed a per-manent collaboration.


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Matthias Büchs (left) and Johannes Züll (right)


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Why is Mediengruppe RTL Deutschlandbuying a stake in Wer-kennt-wen.de?Johannes Züll: Wer-kennt-wen.de is one of thethree fastest-growing social communities inGermany. With its broad target audience focus,Wer-kennt-wen.de caters to similar viewer seg-ments as, for instance, RTL Television or Vox.Besides, we were and continue to be veryimpressed with the two young founders andtheir management skills and innovative ability.Wer-kennt-wen.de is a good match for thestrong channel homepages in our portfolio hol-dings and Clipfish.de, Wetter.de, Sport.de andVip.de.

Do you think that Wer-kennt-wen.de cansurvive the tough competition in the socialcommunities sector?Matthias Büchs: Yes, and the growth figuresbear out this opinion. StudiVZ and SchülerVZare focused on very specific demographics,and in the case of Myspace and Facebook itremains to be seen whether their Americanoffshoots will succeed in Germany –Facebook’s target demographic is very similarto that of StudiVZ. Wer-kennt-wen.de has lear-ned from the mistakes made by Facebook,StudiVZ and Xing, e.g. in the area of privacyprotection. The registration process showshow carefully Wer-kennt-wen.de deals with thisissue. And thanks to its partnership with RTLInteractive, the site doesn’t need to chargeusers. Wer-kennt-wen.de has since surpassedsites like Lokalisten and Xing; the number ofPage Impressions currently roughly corres-ponds to the sum of all sites currently publi-shed by Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland.

Do you believe that it is possible to makemoney with social communities?Matthias Büchs: Social communities are cur-rently regarded as one of the major trends onthe Net. Although we feel the valuations andhype are vastly exaggerated, as in the case ofFacebook, we do believe that we can operatesocial communities at a profit, given a sensiblebusiness plan and mainly based on advertising.The management of Wer-kennt-wen.de willhave agencies pitch for handling its ad sales,and IP Deutschland is bound to be one of them.We would be delighted if IP were put in chargeof marketing, as this would push the companyto No.5 in the ranking of Germany's online adsales agents.

Wer-kennt-wen.de

The site’s users can send and receivemessages, set up photo albums, and par-ticipate in chats, blogs, forums and dis-cussion groups. Registration is free ofcharge. The Wer-kennt-wen.de communi-ty currently has around 1.5 million registe-red users, and records 250,000 newregistrations per month. 40 percent ofusers log in daily. A 23 percent increase inUnique Clients in a single month (1.336million in January 2008 vs. 1.090 million inDecember 2007 according to Nielsen)makes Wer-kennt-wen.de the fastest-growing German social network at thispoint in time.


A Good Cause:RTL Televizija HelpsChildren In NeedRTL poma� e djeci – the charity associationset up by RTL Group’s Croatian channel RTLTelevizija – looks back at a fruitful first year.Croatia - 18 February 2008

In December 2006, RTL Group’s Croatian sub-sidiary RTL Televizija set out to put a smile backon children’s faces by setting up a charity cal-led RTL poma�e djeci (RTL helps children) inpartnership with the Croatian daily newspaperVecernji list. The initiative primarily aims tocontribute to the well-being of Croatian chil-dren and give them a better future. RTLpoma�e djeci provides support to existingorganisations that take care of ill, disabled orpoor children, focusing on organizations thatlack the funds to reach the public and needfinancial assistance for implementing specificprojects. The initiative has amassed considera-ble achievements in the year thathas passed since its establishment.

“As the leading TV Station inCroatia, it was a priority for us toembrace our responsibility towardsthe Croatian society and to giveback to the communities,” saysChristoph Mainusch, CEO RTLTelevizija and President of RTLpoma�e djeci. “It was important forus to demonstrate the sustainabilityof our commitment and to build ouraction on our business expertiseand core competencies.” To thisend, RTL Televizija not only reportson deplorable social circumstancesto build viewers’ awareness for thechildren’s needs, but also raisesdonations for children’s relief organi-zations with quick, straight-forwardfund drives. “The idea of co-foun-ding the association with Vecernjilist was to build the most efficient

and creative platform to communicate socialprojects and raise funds. And our partnershiphas proven extremely successful,” saysMainusch.

The initiative started with a lottery organised bythe Croatian channel’s own employees.Proceeds went to buy a laptop and specialsoftware for children with communicationdisorders in Zadar/Dalmatia. A “bicycle day”organized by the Vecernji list newspaper andseveral calls for donations by well-known TVfigures ensured that many children in Croatiareceived much-needed funds in 2007.

4Christoph Mainusch, CEO RTL Televizija


In under a year, RTL poma�e djeci managed toset up Croatia’s first charity fund and organizethe most successful campaign of the year. InDecember 2007, with the support of DeutscheTelekom, RTL Televizija initiated the Budi mi pri-jatelj (Be my friend) campaign: five children’srelief projects were advertised in TV commer-cials and print ads for a whole month. Celebrityproject sponsors told TV audiences about theinitiatives and asked for their support. Budi miprijatelj culminated in a three-hour live showstarring the singer and RTL poma�e djeciambassador Sanja Dole�al and numerous othercelebrities. In all, the campaign raised around€354,000 – an impressive tally for a country assmall as Croatia. For comparison: its popula-tion is just 5.4 percent of the German popula-tion, and per-capita income is 25.6 percent ofthe German figure.

RTL poma�e djeci has big plans for 2008 aswell. It intends to remain a major protagonist inCroatia’s humanitarian aid sector, ensuring thatthe aid provided is both effective and lasting,and hopefully increasing the volume of dona-tions even further. And of course, it aims to puta smile back on the faces of as many Croatianchildren as possible.

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The final show with celebrities and RTL Televizija’s staff

A very active call center collecting viewers’ donations

Sanja Osijek together with handicapped kids


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FremantleMedia is going to Disney WorldIn a landmark agreement between FremantleMedia and Walt Disney Parks & Resorts,two juggernauts in American entertainment will combine forces to create one of themost attractive theme park destinations in the world.United States - 19 February 2008

Slated to debut in late 2008, an American Idolthemed attraction will take centre stage at theWalt Disney World Resort in Florida, offeringvisitors a small taste of the American Idol expe-rience. Located at Disney’s Hollywood Studiostheme park, the American Idol attraction willfollow the model of the high-energy show allo-wing Disney guests and prospective superstarsof all ages to take the stage, audition in front ofjudges and then compete against others in adaily recreation of the show itself. As the per-formers advance through successive rounds,they will progress to hair and make-up, muchlike the true Idols on TV, all the while settingtheir sights on capturing the Idol crown. The

daily winners of that honour will receive anautomatic reservation, putting them in line forthe actual auditions for the TV show.

“The brand is owned by us, so we can extendit in the off-air space however we want to,” saidKeith Hindle, FremantleMedia's vice presidentof licensing. “It’s a very collaborative process,Disney knows more about live stage produc-tions than we ever will, and we know moreabout our TV show than Disney ever will.Exactly how this will manifest itself is some-thing that will be mutually agreed by all parties.We’re looking to Disney to see how their guestslike to be entertained”, Hindle said.

Application procedure under way for a newintake of aspiring TV editorsThe window for applications to the highly regarded RTL School of Journalism inGermany for a coveted place on its TV editing course opened on 15 January andwill close on 1 March.Germany - 15 February 2008

Just a few weeks into the application period,600 enthusiasts have already registered on theschool’s website. Applicants are required tosend in a report along with a storyboard. Thetop 100 candidates will be invited to Cologne inJune to take part in the application days inCologne. The final choice of budding journa-lists to be admitted to the school will be madeby a jury comprised of representatives from theTV channel RTL Television, appropriate stafffrom other media companies and a number ofmedia training experts.

The two-year course in TV editing will start inJanuary 2009 and will entail modules taught atthe school, numerous practical stints with thenews and magazine editing teams at RTL

Television, RTL II and N-TV, and on-the-job trai-ning in editing departments selected by thestudents, e.g. in the print sector, at public-ser-vice channels or in production companies.Participation in a workshop in New York underan arrangement with the Columbia UniversityGraduate School of Journalism will also givethe aspiring journalists a fascinating insight intothe workings of television in the USA.

When the RTL School of Journalism for TV andMultimedia was set up in 2000, it was the firsttraining establishment of its kind. On 2 January2001, the school opened its doors to students.It has already established a solid reputationamong a very wide range of media companies.


Successful debut forFive News presenterNatasha KaplinskyThis week, Natasha Kaplinsky joined Five Newsto anchor the 17.00 and 19.00 bulletins andimmediately achieved a market share of 7.5 percent for the teatime news broadcast.United Kingdom - 21 February 2008

Before her move to Five, Kaplinsky had a suc-cessful five-year stint at the BBC, hostingBreakfast and the Six O'Clock News. Her debuton Five almost doubled the audience for thechannel's flagship news programme, with 1 mil-lion viewers tuning in at 17.00 and 400,000 at19.00.

Natasha Kaplinsky said she joined Five Newsbecause it gave her an opportunity to presentthe news on her own. “A new show and teamwas being put together and the opportunity tobe in a studio on my own was really exciting.The team at Five had so many great ideas. Itwas a big decision for me”, she said.

The new show was split into two bulletins, eachlasting 30 minutes. “We’ll be offering somethingdifferent to other channels’ news bulletins. We

want people to feel uplifted after watching thenews”, said the Strictly Come Dancing winner.Kaplinsky said she likes presenting the newsbecause it’s highly addictive and she lovesbeing part of what is happening in the world.“News presenting, however, is not just aboutreading from an autocue. You get involved in allkinds of aspects, such as the writing, style andthe way stories are told. It’s an incredibly hardjob. You have people shouting in your ear andthings going on around you, yet you have to beas serene and calm as possible. It’s tough, but Ilove the adrenaline”, she added.

Kaplinsky also conceded that she’d love to frontother programmes for Five in the future, thoughfor the time being she just wants to “concentra-te on making sure the news goes well”.

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Natasha Kaplinsky

Natasha Kaplinsky


One programme,four platformsSome rather eloquently call it the ‘strategy ofthe cat with nine lives’. What the approach boilsdown to is optimising the exploitation of contentby distributing it on several platforms. The wayin which the sixth season of Nouvelle Star isbeing handled in France is a copybook example.France - 21 February 2008

Nouvelle Star, the French version of Idols, is amajor highlight every Thursday at 20.50 on M6,but the programme is also aired on W9 (M6's‘little sister’, a DTT channel), and broadcast onthe Internet (www.m6.fr) and to mobile phones(M6 Mobile by Orange). So fans of the showcan hardly fail to see every episode.

How does this work in practice?

First of all, when the studio lights go off on M6at the end of the show, they come on again onW9 with the live programme Nouvelle Star, çacontinue, presented by Alexandre Devoise,which gives fans of the programme a peekbehind the scenes. How did the contestantsfeel the evening went? How did the jury's criti-cisms go down with them? Do viewers agreewith the final outcome?

Secondly, the show is broadcast on the Web,where the channel’s official website prominent-ly features videos from the programme andoffers opportunities for user interaction. Forinstance, as soon as the broadcast is over, visi-tors to the site can watch the highlights of theprogramme for free, and the next day they canchat online with the contestant who was elimi-nated the day before.

Thirdly, the show can be watched by mobilephone users subscribing to M6 Mobile byOrange, giving fans yet another chance towatch videos taken from the show.

Finally, the icing on the cake is that Plug TValso airs the show in Belgium.

8www.nouvellestar.fr


New Top Model forHollandSweating it out in luxury in the new, fourthseason of Holland’s Next Top Model on RTL 5,full of unexpected changes.The Netherlands - 20 February 2008

Nothing will be what it seems in the fourth sea-son of the successful RTL 5 show Holland’sNext Top Model. Starting on Monday, 31March, 11 pretty young girls will compete forthe much-coveted title of Holland’s Next TopModel. And this time around there’ll be moresurprises than ever before. Whereas the aspi-ring young models in the previous series had togo without a lot of things in the remote hangarthat served as their home base, this time theyoung ladies will be steeped in luxury, living ina very comfortable apartment, the Top ModelMansion, fitted out with every convenience.Weekly assignments, challenges and photoshoots will give the girls an idea of what awaitsthem as a top model. But behind the apparentglam and glitter of life on the catwalk, theunsuspecting girls will have to face up to whatis actually a very tough reality. For the jury willspring a fair few surprises on the young debu-tante models, sometimes when it suits themand sometimes when it doesn’t. So is it all toogood to be true? It sure seems that way on anevening photo shoot when the scantily cladgirls have to pose in outfits in terrible condi-tions...

RTL 5 Programming Director Remko vanWesterloo said: “We’re really looking forward tothe new series of Holland's Next Top Model.Once again, there’ll be plenty of major surpri-ses in store, both for viewers and for the younglady contestants. In fact, the show’s fourth sea-son promises to outdo all its predecessors”.

The winner will be awarded a modellingcontract worth EUR 75,000 from the renownedmodelling agency ModelMasters the Agency.She will also grace the cover of the glossy wee-kly magazine Grazia and serve for four monthsas the face of the Ici Paris XL Beauty Channelat Ici Paris XL.

This season’s show is once again in the capa-ble hands of former top model and writerDaphne Deckers, who will also chair the jury.Her fellow jurors will include a number of otherwell-known faces, including the journalist andpresenter Rosalie van Breemen, the catwalkcoach and model Mariana Verkerk, and topphotographer Philip Riches. New to the jury isHilmar Mulder, editor-in-chief of the weeklyfashion glossy Grazia. Another new face thisseason is that of the Ici Paris XL’s chief beauti-cian and beauty coach Thijs Willekes. Naturally,style guru and freelance fashion directorBastiaan van Schaik will once again be on handto give the girls some support.

Each week the jury will decide who will stay inwith a chance of being crowned Holland’s NextTop Model and who will be sent home. Will themodels manage to meet the stiff requirementsplaced on them, or will they wilt under theconstant pressures heaped on them?

Holland’s Next Top Model new season startson Monday 31 March, at 20.30 on RTL 5.

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Kids love Ufa KidsGerman market research company GfK ranksUfa Kids, the children’s label of Universum Film,as the favourite maker of fiction in the chil-dren’s film market, attributing it a market shareof 16 per cent.Germany - 21 February 2008

The Ufa Kids success story began in spring2004 with its own logo animation and a simul-taneous market offensive. Within just fouryears, the company managed to raise its 5-per-cent market share in the children's entertain-ment segment by over 10 percentage points.

“Naturally we’re proud at having multiplied ourmarket share and become the clear market lea-der within such a short time”, said UniversumFilm CEO Tania Reichert-Facilides. “GfK's cur-rent statistics confirm our constant efforts inthe children’s segment of the market over thelast few years. And these efforts will certainlycontinue unabated in the future”, she added.

Ufa Kids’ portfolio includes such popular andwell-known titles as Pippi Langstrumpf, Michelaus Lönneberga, Heidi, Wickie und die starkenMänner, Black Beauty and Nils Holgersson.Over the coming year, too, the company’s port-folio will be expanded further, to include titleslike Tao Tao and Alice im Wunderland.


The 100,000 euro manhas been caughtThe innovative action by Clipfish.de, whichlinked the Internet to the real world, reacheda spectacular climax when the ‘100,000 euroman’ was discovered in a train on the way toMagdeburg.Germany - 15 February 2008

The 100,000 euro man set out on 6 February ona mission to visit the capitals of all 16 Germanfederal states in 21 days and avoid beingunmasked while completing the challenge. Butafter just 10 days, would-be ‘invisible man’Matthias S. had to concede defeat, after beingphotographed by Marcel K., one of more than8,000 registered Clipfish.de users hot on histrail. A delighted Marcel K. will now receive theprize money of EUR 100,000.

Clipfish.de project manager Mathias Blüm said:“We’re very happy with the action, which pro-ved that we are capable of meeting our targetgroup’s expectations. We, an online platform,made a foray into the real world, captured peo-ple’s imagination and attracted their attention”.

The action was launched byClipfish.de, and within a fewhours of the start on 6 Februaryseveral thousand bounty hun-ters had registered onClipfish.de and formed the firstposses to hunt down the100,000 euro man, whose des-tinations and puzzles were thesubject of lively discussion onvarious forums. Unfortunatelythe first candidate had to pull

out for personal reasons, soMatthias S. took up the challengeinstead. But travelling throughGermany without being recogni-sed turned out to be a majorchallenge.

The candidate was equipped witha mobile navigation and communi-cation device. His GPS coordinateswere regularly updated and posted on amap on Clipfish.de. That way, after just ashort time lapse, anyone playing the gamecould see where he was on the Internet or ontheir mobile phone and take up the chase. Thehunters were given additional help in the formof riddles providing clues about the 100,000euro man’s next destination.

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The 100,000 euro man

Marcel K. (on the left) caught the 100,000 euro man (on the right)

Check out

www.clipfish.de/

100000euromann

for further information


France bemoans theloss of Henri SalvadorWhen it was announced on Wednesday, 13February that the celebrated singer had died inParis at the age of 90, RTL Radio turned itsprogramme schedule upside down andcontacted various artists who had been friendswith Henri Salvador to pay final homage to thisexceptional master crooner.France - 15 February 2008

On Wednesday, between 14.30 and 16.00, Latête dans les étoiles, the programme presentedby Laurent Boyer, was devoted entirely to HenriSalvador and featured tributes paid to him byParisians and people in the music business.Culture and Communication Minister ChristineAlbanel told RTL Radio: “I found him a veryendearing person and champion of the Frenchchanson. (…) He was with us for a very longtime. I’m deeply saddened, because I was agreat admirer.”

Henri Salvador led an exceptional life for a nati-ve of Cayenne in French Guiana. He arrived inParis in 1928 at the tender age of 11, finding ametropolis alive with the sound of popular walt-zes, dotted with open-air cafés, dance hallsand variety theatres: the home of the unforget-table Mistinguett and Maurice Chevalier. Therehe soon joined the orchestra of American jazzviolinist Eddie South. “I played with all the-greats. The Mills Brothers wanted to take meback to America, Duke Ellington too, but I wasstill a minor,” Henri once said.

The mention of Henri Salvador’s name bringsmany things to mind. First and foremost a sin-ger with a voice as sweet as honey, but also aninimitable laugh, cream-coloured suits and acertain natural elegance and joking and horsingaround on TV, e.g. dressed up as Cleopatra ora Juanita complete with braided hair. Once,referring to a French version of the game ofbowls, he subtly and rather poetically summedup old age by saying: “When you play pétan-que, the balls get heavier.”

Henri Salvador issued his album Révérence in2006 and bade his farewell to the music scenein December 2007. France will remember himfor classics like Syracuse, Une chanson douce,Zorro est arrivé, Le lion est mort ce soir, JuanitaBanana, Le travail c’est la santé and many,many more great songs.

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Henri Salvador

Juanita Banana


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In with the new in LuxembourgRTL Télé Lëtzebuerg’s second channel sports a new logo and offers viewers a whole newprogramme schedule.Luxembourg - 18 February 2008

Awards for Antena 3Antena 3 won four TP de Oros at the 36th prestigious TP de Oro television awards inMadrid on Wednesday, 13 February. Spain - 15 February 2008

Prize awarded to Deutschland sucht den Superstar WinnerRTL music artist Mark Medlock walked away with the Newcomer prize at the Echo Awardson Friday 15 February. Up to 5.83 million viewers watched the ceremony live onRTL Television.Germany - 18 February 2008

Enjoying a high rate among opinion leadersAccording to the well-known study by international agency network Edelman, N-TV is thethird most consulted news source behind Spiegel and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.Germany - 18 February 2008

Breaking Into TescoFive recently announced that it has commissioned Ricochet Productions to make a brandnew six-part feature series called Breaking Into Tesco.United Kingdom - 19 February 2008

Gay community honours Alles was zähltOver 5,000 readers of the nationwide gay magazine Blu voted RTL Television’s daily soapAlles was zählt Best National TV Format.Germany - 20 February 2008


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Bravo Supershow back on RTL II RTL II will be screening this year’s Bravo Supershow in Nuremberg on 3 May. It will be theannual music event's first visit to the city. The chosen venue, the Arena NürnbergerVersicherung, promises to be a great backdrop for the presentation of this year’s mainchart toppers and winning recipients of Bravo Otto awards.Germany - 20 February 2008

The search for France’s sixth Nouvelle Star beginsLong lines of waiting, eager-faced young people. The excitement in the air is palpable asthey await their first big performance. And then, the panel of judges who will either listenintently or shake their heads – that is Nouvelle Star.France - 20 February 2008

People

Jean-Marc Dorangeon appointed manage-ment representative for entertainmentprogrammes on RTL Radio FranceFrance - 15 February 2008

Jean-Marc Dorangeon’s appointment to thispost was based on a recommendation byDirector of Entertainment Programmes FrédéricJouve.

Jean-Marc Dorangeon’s main job will be todevelop the radio station’s marketing activitiesand programmes, collaborating closely with therespective teams of staff.

He was previously a representative of the gene-ral programme management team at RTL 2 andFun Radio. In 1996 he was involved in settingup the research department of RTL Group’sradio arm in France.

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