RTL+ Sees Strong Growth In First Half Of 2025
RTL was market leader among 14- to 49-year-olds and top-performing commercial channel among viewers aged 14 to 59.
RTL Deutschland’s channels had a successful first six months, reaching a combined market share of 25.9 percent in the 14–59 age group and 28.3 percent among 14- to 49-year-olds. This put them 5.4 percentage points ahead of ProSiebenSat.1 in both target groups. Among the total audience, RTL Deutschland achieved a 21.5 percent market share – a 7.0 percentage point lead over ProSiebenSat.1 (14.5 percent).
In linear television, RTL was the market leader among viewers aged 14 to 49, with a 10.5 percent market share, and the top commercial channel among 14- to 59-year-olds, with a 9.4 percent share. RTL’s streaming service RTL+ was the number one streaming platform among 14- to 49-year-olds and 14- to 29-year-olds, gaining ground in all key target groups.
Streaming: RTL+ reaches more than ten million people
RTL+ achieved a total usage volume of 345.69 million hours in the first half of 2025 – an increase of 17.5 percent compared to the same period last year. Among 14- to 49-year-olds, RTL+ reached 251.98 million hours (+16.0 percent), ranking first among streaming services tracked by the Working Group of Video Research (AGF), as it did among 14- to 29-year-olds (92.43 million hours, +16.0 percent). A similar picture emerges in the number of video-on-demand (VOD) views: RTL+ also led in the 14–49 age group with 245.23 million hours (+17.3 percent) and in the 14–29 age group with 89.90 million hours (+18.3 percent). RTL+ thus achieved more than double the VOD usage volume of its next commercial competitor in both groups. In total, RTL+ reached an average cumulative net audience of 10.2 million people in the first half of 2025 – making it the only commercial provider to surpass the ten-million mark.
Successful formats on TV and streaming
In the first half of the year, “NTV Nachrichten” was the most-watched RTL Deutschland program brand across TV and streaming, with 46.33 million viewers. It also led the group’s regular TV formats. Other top five titles included “RTL Aktuell” (41.51 million viewers), “Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten” (39.36 million), “Der Blaulicht-Report” (36.20 million), and “Exclusiv” (35.23 million). Among individual shows and series, “Wer wird Millionär?” came in first with 37.94 million viewers, followed by “Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus!” (37.48 million), “Martin Rütter” (37.33 million), “Let’s Dance” (36.35 million), and “Du gewinnst hier nicht die Million bei Stefan Raab” (32.47 million).
The top VOD streaming title on RTL+ in the first half of the year, based on Census+ data, was the daily series “Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten” with 73.07 million views. It was followed by Season 18 of the top-performing show format “Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus!” with 32.66 million views. In third place was the daily series “Alles was zählt” with 31.44 million views. Rounding out the top five were the reality formats “Are You The One?” with 29.19 million views and “Ex On The Beach” with 27.51 million.
RTL Deutschland’s highest-rated TV broadcast in the first half of the year was the UEFA Nations League quarterfinal match between Germany and Italy: an average of 9.65 million viewers tuned in to RTL on March 23. Market share reached 38.6 percent among 14- to 59-year-olds, and 44.3 percent in the 14–49 age group. Other formats that contributed to RTL Deutschland’s strong TV performance included “Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus!”, “Let’s Dance,” and “Das Quadrell – Kampf ums Kanzleramt.”
Channel overview
In the first half of the year, RTL achieved a 9.4 percent market share among 14- to 59-year-olds, ranking well ahead of all other commercial channels. Among 14- to 49-year-olds, RTL reached a 10.5 percent share – making it the only channel to exceed the 10 percent mark in this group. Sister channel Vox achieved a 5.5 percent share among 14- to 59-year-olds and grew to 6.0 percent among 14- to 49-year-olds, up 0.1 percentage points from the prior year. RTL Up scored a 2.1 percent market share among 14- to 59-year-olds and increased its 14 to 49 share to 1.8 percent, gaining 0.2 points. Specialty channel Nitro held steady at 2.0 percent among 14- to 59-year-olds, as did Vox Up at 0.7 percent. NTV saw gains across all target groups, reaching 1.4 percent among 14- to 59-year-olds (+0.1 points), 1.7 percent among 14- to 49-year-olds (+0.2 points), and 1.3 percent of the total audience (+0.2 points). Toggo remained the market leader in kids’ TV with a 17.7 percent share among 3- to 13-year-olds (6 a.m. to 8:15 p.m.), gaining 0.6 points compared to the same period last year.
