RTL Group launches dedicated team for the development of the Group’s investments in the areas of multi-channel networks (MCNs) and digital advertising sales

Luxembourg, 16-6-2015 — /EuropaWire/ — RTL Group today announced the creation of the RTL Digital Hub, a dedicated team which will develop the Group’s investments in the areas of multi-channel networks (MCNs) and digital advertising sales, in particular BroadbandTV, StyleHaul, SpotXchange and Clypd. The RTL Digital Hub will maximise the value of this highly complementary portfolio of digital video businesses to further strengthen RTL Group’s leadership position in a high growth market.

Effective immediately, the team will be led out of the United States and Europe by Marcel Reichart as Executive Vice President RTL Digital Hub, in addition to his current role at Bertelsmann. Marcel Reichart will execute this mission under the supervision of RTL Group’s Co-CEOs, Anke Schäferkordt and Guillaume de Posch.

The RTL Digital Hub team will manage RTL Group’s portfolio of digital acquisitions and provide support for their further international expansion. In line with RTL Group’s decentralised organisation, the CEOs of BroadbandTV, StyleHaul and SpotXchange will continue to have full responsibility for their operations. The RTL Digital Hub will foster external partnerships, synergies with RTL Group’s broadcasters, its global production arm, FremantleMedia, and with other divisions of Bertelsmann. In addition, the RTL Digital Hub will intensively scan the market for further investments in the online video space.

RTL Group currently generates more than 7.0 billion online video views per month, with leading positions in key verticals addressing young audiences such as women’s lifestyle and fashion (StyleHaul), gaming (TGN from BroadbandTV), music (Opposition and Wimsic from BroadbandTV) and kids (Hoopla Kidz from YoBoHo/BroadbandTV). This reach makes RTL Group the number two player in the Youtube ecosystem. RTL Group’s MCNs serve a combined base of 42,000 content creators which include famous Youtube stars and social influencers such as Zoella (StyleHaul), Fernanfloo (BroadbandTV) and El Rubius (Divimove), as well as many successful consumer brands and content owners with their marketing and technology solutions. In digital advertising sales, SpotXchange is one of the global leaders for programmatic online video advertising.

Anke Schäferkordt and Guillaume de Posch, Co-CEOs of RTL Group, say: “The creation of the RTL Digital Hub underlines our strategic goal to become a global force in online video and to further increase our presence in North America. With our recent investments in North America – BroadbandTV, StyleHaul and SpotXchange – we’ve reached critical mass in online video. Now we will bundle our efforts to develop our rapidly growing reach in this area into a more significant and profitable third pillar of RTL Group.

We are very pleased that Marcel Reichart will lead the RTL Digital Hub. Marcel is deeply familiar with RTL Group’s digital businesses and entrepreneurial spirit and extremely well connected in the North-American and European digital media industry. Together with the CEOs of our digital businesses we look forward to working with him and the team which pioneered our digital investments.”

Marcel Reichart: “Having supported RTL Group’s successful online video strategy and digital investments in my current role, I am thrilled to now work even closer with the impressive entrepreneurs of the RTL Digital Hub portfolio and the RTL Group team to drive and create a fast-growing and innovative global leader in digital video. I am looking forward to contributing my digital and media industry insight and network as well as to further fostering synergies within RTL Group and Bertelsmann.”

About Marcel Reichart
Marcel Reichart joined Bertelsmann in 2012 as Executive Vice President of Digital Development and Partnerships. In this capacity, he enables the digital transformation and growth of Bertelsmann and its divisions. He is also a member of the Board of Bertelsmann’s Corporate Centre and serves on the investment committees of the Bertelsmann digital funds active in the US, China, Europe and India. Before joining Bertelsmann, Marcel Reichart held several corporate and digital executive functions at Hubert Burda Media and is co-founder of the international DLD Conference. Marcel Reichart was named a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2005. He graduated from Otto-Beisheim School of Management (WHU) and holds a doctorate in economic sciences.

For further information please contact:

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Oliver Fahlbusch
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Andrew Buckhurst
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About RTL Group
RTL Group is the leading European entertainment network, with interests in 52 television channels and 29 radio stations and content production throughout the world. The television portfolio of Europe’s largest broadcaster includes RTL Television in Germany, M6 in France, the RTL channels in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Croatia, Hungary and Antena 3 in Spain. The Group also operates the channels RTL CBS Entertainment HD and RTL CBS Extreme HD in Southeast Asia. RTL Group’s families of TV channels are either the number one or number two in eight European countries. The Group’s flagship radio station is RTL in France, and it also owns or has interests in other stations in France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Luxembourg. RTL Group’s content production arm, FremantleMedia, is one of the largest international creators, producers and distributors of multi-genre content outside the US. With operations in 28 countries, FremantleMedia’s comprehensive global network is responsible for more than 10,000 hours of programming a year and distributes over 20,000 hours of content worldwide. Combining the catch-up TV services of its broadcasters, the multi-channel networks BroadbandTV, StyleHaul and Divimove as well as FremantleMedia’s more than 210 Youtube channels, RTL Group has become the leading European media company in online video. RTL Group also owns a majority stake in the programmatic video advertising platform SpotXchange. For more information, please visit RTLGroup.com and follow RTL Group on Twitter @rtlgroup.