RTL (German TV channel)

"Rtl.de" redirects here. For other uses, see RTL.

RTL

Country	Germany
Network	Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland
Headquarters	Cologne, Germany
Programming
Language(s)	German
Ownership
Owner	RTL Group

RTL (called RTL plus from 1984–1992 and RTL Television from 1992–2004) is a German free-to-air television channel owned by the RTL Group and is the largest private network in Germany.

History

The channel started broadcasting on 2 January 1984 from VHF channel E7 (system B, colour PAL) in Luxembourg. It only had a theoretical audience of approximately 200,000 until 1988, when it moved its headquarters to Cologne, Germany; prior to this it was considered a Luxembourg-based station.

RTL, which began as the German version of Radio Luxembourg, started with a low budget, and many of the early hosts simply presented versions of their radio formats adapted for television. One early success was the quiz show Ein Tag wie kein anderer (A day like no other), in which contestants competed for a holiday.

RTL plus was famous in its early years for showing low-budget films and American programmes. In 1988, it was the second most-viewed channel.

After reunification in 1990, broadcasting was extended to the entire country. RTL moved to Cologne and received the right to broadcast on free-to-air frequencies. That same year, RTL acquired the first-run rights to the German Football First Division. Deals with Cannon and Universal Studios finally provided more high-profile films for the channel. In 2012, RTL made a deal with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures to air films from its media library until 2016, when it switched to Universal, as Disney Channel was relaunched as a free-to-air channel competing with RTL.

Audience share

Germany

	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	Annual average
1985	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.4%
1986	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.7%
1987	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1.2%
1988	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	4.1%
1989	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	10.0%
1990	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	11.5%
1991	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	14.4%
1992	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	16.7%
1993	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	18.9%
1994	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	17.5%
1995	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	17.6%
1996	16.6%	16.6%	18.2%	18.6%	18.1%	15.5%	15.6%	16.7%	17.2%	16.7%	17.4%	16.5%	17.0%
1997	15.9%	16.0%	16.4%	17.8%	17.0%	15.9%	14.8%	14.7%	16.9%	16.9%	15.7%	14.9%	16.1%
1998	14.2%	14.2%	16.2%	16.2%	15.6%	13.8%	14.4%	15.7%	16.3%	15.1%	15.2%	14.6%	15.1%
1999	13.6%	13.9%	15.0%	15.8%	15.9%	15.3%	14.9%	15.3%	15.5%	15.4%	14.3%	13.6%	14.8%
2000	14.0%	14.0%	13.8%	14.3%	14.4%	13.7%	14.0%	14.2%	14.0%	14.6%	15.1%	14.7%	14.3%
2001	14.3%	13.4%	15.3%	15.9%	16.9%	13.6%	14.3%	13.4%	15.5%	15.4%	14.6%	14.5%	14.8%
2002	15.0%	13.2%	14.9%	16.1%	15.2%	12.6%	14.5%	13.2%	15.4%	15.5%	15.2%	14.4%	14.6%
2003	15.8%	15.7%	16.0%	15.3%	15.5%	14.3%	13.7%	13.5%	15.5%	14.9%	13.9%	13.8%	14.9%
2004	15.2%	13.8%	13.9%	14.1%	14.5%	12.2%	13.1%	12.3%	14.5%	14.4%	14.0%	12.8%	13.8%
2005	13.1%	12.5%	12.9%	13.6%	14.1%	13.1%	12.7%	12.3%	14.0%	13.5%	13.5%	12.9%	13.2%
2006	13.0%	12.3%	13.4%	12.8%	13.7%	12.8%	12.1%	12.7%	13.0%	13.1%	12.6%	11.9%	12.8%
2007	12.6%	12.0%	12.6%	12.8%	12.9%	12.8%	12.4%	11.8%	13.1%	12.9%	12.1%	11.1%	12.4%
2008	11.8%	11.5%	11.7%	12.5%	12.4%	9.8%	11.6%	10.5%	12.5%	12.1%	12.9%	11.5%	11.7%
2009	12.6%	11.8%	12.4%	12.8%	12.4%	11.6%	11.4%	10.9%	13.3%	13.5%	14.0%	12.9%	12.5%
2010	12.7%	12.7%	13.7%	14.0%	13.6%	12.7%	12.5%	12.8%	14.5%	14.8%	15.3%	13.6%	13.6%
2011	15.2%	14.1%	13.7%	14.6%	14.9%	12.5%	13.3%	13.2%	14.8%	14.6%	14.3%	13.3%	14.1%
2012	14.1%	13.1%	13.4%	12.7%	11.9%	10.6%	11.5%	10.5%	12.7%	12.3%	12.7%	10.8%	12.3%
2013	13.1%	11.3%	11.2%	12.1%	11.4%	10.8%	10.9%	10.4%	10.7%	11.7%	11.5%	10.3%	11.3%
2014	12.8%	10.4%	10.6%	10.6%	10.6%	8.4%	9.0%	9.0%	10.0%	11.5%	10.7%	9.5%	10.3%
2015	11.3%	9.6%	9.8%	9.9%	9.9%	9.7%	9.2%	9.0%	10.6%	10.6%	10.1%	9.1%	9.9%
2016	11.7%	10.0%	9.6%	10.0%	9.8%	8.3%	9.0%	8.3%	10.1%	10.4%	10.0%	9.2%	9.7%
2017	11.0%	8.8%	9.3%	9.4%	9.5%	9.0%	8.5%	8.5%	9.0%	9.4%	9.0%	8.1%	9.2%
2018	9.7%	8.4%	8.5%	8.6%	8.3%	7.5%	7.8%

The average age of the viewers is 48.9 years (as of 2016).

External links

• Official website (in German)