This is how RTL gets rich

Shh! Of course, no one is allowed to know that. At least not in Luxembourg.

How do they do it? They get up to 15 million euros from the state every year and no one asks anything. What are you doing wrong and what is RTL doing right to have such success? We’ll tell you the trick.

Whining, crying and facing the beating: advertising no longer brings in anything

The 2022 RTL financing law outlines the reasons for this subsidy – why this private company absolutely, very urgently needs government money. That is, tax money. One of the reasons given: Advertising is no longer profitable. So, to be precise: advertising no longer promises growth. Do you hear that, folks? It literally says in the justification of RTL (aka CLT-UFA) in the text of the law: „the revenue generated by advertising has reached its peak.“

This is of course interesting, because for most companies, advertising revenues did not reach a „peak“ in the year of the Covid outbreak. Rather, they went down drastically. This can also be explained logically: During the pandemic, many companies were unable to continue their activities as usual, many establishments had to close and less could be spent. Many companies therefore initially saved on advertising.

But RTL does not want to say that, of course. Because whoever says that advertising revenues fell during the pandemic also says: these revenues will increase again over time. Shh! Of course, no one is allowed to know that. At least not in Luxembourg. Otherwise, there would be fewer arguments for getting state funds.

„The advertising markets recover“

If Luxembourg is not listening, RTL-GROUP boss and Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe does not hesitate to call the kid by his name: „We are convinced that investing through the cycle will put us in a strong competitive position when the advertising markets recover.“

left: Bill No. 7914 | right: Screenshot Facebook RTL Group

Ah, so that’s it? The advertising market will recover, one is even „convinced“! So convinced that one even makes a sharepic for social media. Thomas Rabe makes this observation, incidentally two years after the law was formulated. Fortunately, the state treaty in Luxembourg is already running: RTL can receive up to 15 million a year from 2024.

Uff. Was the state being led astray here? With a false argument and under false pretext? After all, the parliamentarians had no way of checking or controlling the matter. Or? Well, unless of course they had taken a look at the balance sheets of the company IP – the RTL company that does the advertising business in Luxembourg. Coincidentally, these balance sheets can be found publicly in the commercial register.

The advertising market in Luxembourg is also doing better than ever

Heielei Kuckelei (ndt : hey, look at that!) – a look at the balance sheets of recent years shows: IP’s turnover (last column on the far right, it often happens) varies between 33 and 34.5 million euros. It is not until the Corona year 2020 that turnover then breaks down, and is „only“ still at 27.5 million euros. However, as you can see from IP’s figures, this does not mean that IP did not generate a profit in that year. However, in 2022, when the crocodile tears of „les revenus générés par la publicité ont atteint leur pic“ (revenues generated by advertising have reached their peak), a recovery can already be observed. The fact that the advertising market is recovering, and that also applies to TV, can also be read from the figures of AdReport.

Recovering does not mean that it is stabilizing, but that it is even going up. That is why RTL Luxembourg’s argument for obtaining state money is more or less problematic. Just because advertising revenue - allegedly! - is not growing, RTL is now pushing for more state aid. That is like if you, as a baker, were to sell more bread rolls every day until you reached 200 bread rolls a day. But, oh my, now there are no more every day. How are you supposed to get so rich? Which state is giving you a subsidy so that you can continue to please the shareholders?

A terrible suspicion arises: Is RTL possibly presenting its profits much worse than they actually are? And is no one checking to see if this is true? You’ve got the trick! Then you too are now ready to start the largest media empire in Europe.