Fremantle‘s financials for the first nine months of this year were hit by the loss of America’s Got Talent spin-off Fantasy League, according to the just-published RTL results.
Revenue at the RTL-owned America’s Got Talent and Poor Things maker was down 5.1% to €1.3B ($1.5B), which RTL put down to “lower revenue from the U.S.,” mainly becacuse the same period in 2024 benefitted from the NBC spin-off.
The spin-off, which aired for one eight-episode season at the start of 2024, saw past winners, finalists, and fan favorites from across previous seasons of the franchise compete for the Fantasy League title. It was similar in scope to other spin-offs such as The Champions and All Stars. The show was not made in 2025.
Over this period, RTL said Fremantle’s revenue dip was partly offset by the acquisition of Death in Paradise producer Asacha Media Group, which it bought at the start of 2024 along with 80% of Singapore’s Beach House Pictures for €200M. But during the past quarter, RTL said there had been “lower contributions” from Asacha. Bosses Marina Williams and Gaspard de Chavagnac have both exited in the past year.
Success stories for Fremantle this quarter include Fox’s rebooted Baywatch, Netflix true crime show The Monster of Florence and the new Pandora’s Box format, which has kicked off in three territories. The super-indie also launched an America’s Got Talent FAST Channel.
Shaky ad market hits profits
Meanwhile, full-year 2025 profits at RTL have been revised down by nearly 17% due to the struggling advertising landscape.
The Bertelsmann-owned content giant downgraded expected full-year profits from €780M to €650M, which it put down to the “German and French TV advertising markets having not gained momentum in the second half of the year as expected,” despite “gains in TV advertising market share in Germany.”
Due to the flailing ad situation, RTL has shrunk its expected full-year revenue from around €6.45B to €6.05B.
The advertising hit was blamed for revenue during the first nine months period falling slightly to €4.1B, along with “lower content revenue from Fremantle.” Net debt during the period fell dramatically from €492M to a rosier €71M.
Streaming revenue for RTL was up 26.6% to €351M over the nine-month period, driven by more subs, increased subscription prices in Germany and growing advertising revenue on RTL+ in Germany and M6+ in France, the group said.
The period also saw RTL sell its Dutch arm to DPG Media and buy Sky Deutschland, the latter of which should complete next year.
Boss Thomas Rabe will soon exit RTL, replaced by Warner Bros. Discovery’s Clément Schwebig.
“The market environment remains challenging, with a reduction of TV advertising revenue in our core markets and an accelerated shift from linear TV to streaming,” said Rabe. “We are well positioned when the markets regain momentum.”
RTL Group today launched an additional share buyback programme for a volume of up to 833,948 RTL Group shares through open-market transactions.
