The 2015 TV Year in Germany
With a market share of 28.4 percent, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s channels once again topped the audience rankings for the 14 to 59 age group in the 2015 TV year. Together, RTL, Vox, N-TV, RTL Nitro, Super RTL and RTL II ended the year 1.7 percentage points ahead of the ProSiebenSat.1 channels. RTL Television achieved an annual market share of 12.2 percent among viewers aged 14 to 59, ahead of Sat.1 (9.5 percent), Pro Sieben (8.4 percent), ARD (7.7 percent), ZDF (7.7 percent) and Vox (6.6 percent). RTL Nitro achieved a 1.8 percent annual market share, N-TV 1.0 percent, Super RTL 1.6 percent and RTL II 5.2 percent. In the total audience rankings, RTL scored 9.9 percent, putting it behind ZDF (12.5 percent) and ARD (11.6 percent).
RTL
13.84 million viewers watched the Germany vs. Georgia European Championship qualifying match on RTL, a 43.1 percent share of the total audience market, making the most-watched match of this year’s six European Championship qualifiers the year’s most-watched show on RTL as well. Another top-class sporting event was Wladimir Klitschko’s dethronement by the British boxer Tyson Fury: 8.91 million viewers watched the 12-round fight, for a 40.0 percent share of the total audience market. 6.82 million viewers tuned in for the start of a new season of “Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus!” (I'm a Celebrity - Get Me Out of Here!) – 35.9 percent of the 14 to 59 age group.
Vox
In 2015, primetime audiences especially loved "Club der roten Bänder” (Red Band Society), a series about young people who spend longer periods of their life in hospital, and there find true friendship. It scored market shares of up to 12.8 per cent in its target demographic of 14- to 59-year-olds. The new season of "Sing meinen Song – Das Tauschkonzert" increased its average market share by 1.9 percentage points and at its peak scored 13.1 percent of the 14- to 59-year-old viewer market, a new record. The founders show “Die Höhle der Löwen” (Shark Tank) also scored record ratings, with market shares of up to 12.7 percent in the 14- to 59-year-old demographic.
N-TV
In 2015, the news channel scored 1.0 percent of the 14- to 59-year-old demographic, as well as the total audience market. N-TV once again successfully attracted viewers with its news, and comprehensive business coverage in the morning. From Monday to Friday 6-12 clock, the transmitter has a market share of 1.7 percent. The "Telebörse" reached market share up to 5.5 percent. Online and mobile N-TV was in 2015 significantly. In November n-tv.de reached and the mobile offers the transmitter 133.3 million visits a new peak. The N-TV Apps and the N-TV mobile portal were up 89.5 million visits to the most popular German smartphone offers for news and business topics.
RTL Nitro
The latest addition to the Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland family of channels, RTL Nitro once again has record achievements to report for 2015. Its most-watched programming since launch was the linkup broadcast of two qualifiers for the European Football Championship 2016, which attracted up to 2.57 million viewers. RTL Nitro’s average market share in 2015 was 1.8 per cent among 14- to 59-year-olds, 0.2 percentage points higher than the previous year. The channel also had a record year in the demographic of 14- to 59-year-old men, where it attracted 2.1 percent of the market (2014: 1.7 percent).
Super RTL
The children's channel scored an average market share of 19.3 percent in its target demographic of 3- to 13-year-olds 2015 (between 6:00 am and 8:15 pm). Germany’s public-service children's channel (KiKa) attracted 20.3 percent, Nickelodeon 9.3 percent, and the Disney Channel 9.5 percent. In prime time, Super RTL’s family cartoons earned it gratifying market shares among 14- to 59-year-old viewers. The Cologne-based broadcaster introduced three new DreamWorks Animation formats to its daytime lineup as part of the “Toggo Series Cinema,” which were an immediate success with young audiences: “King Julien” (market shares of up to 30.4 percent), “Der gestiefelte Kater – Abenteuer in San Lorenzo” (up to 30.2 percent) and “Dragons – Auf zu neuen Ufern (Race To The Edge; up to 30.8 percent) immediately scored ratings well above the channel's average.
RTL II
RTL II stood its ground in the 2015 TV year with new and established docu-soap and U.S. drama formats. The week-daily soap “Berlin – Tag & Nacht” continued on its successful path with peak ratings at of 14.6 percent. “Köln 50667” held its own with up to 13.5 percent. The “terribly glamorous” Geiss family was present throughout the year with new episodes of their reality show, which scored primetime market shares of up to 9.8 percent among 14- to 49-year-olds. Among young viewers (14 to 29) the “RTL II News” was last year's most popular 8:00 pm TV news show, and was watched by up to 27.6 percent of this demographic. Its average ratings for 2015 were 12.2 percent, the best value achieved since the program launched in 1993.
RTL Interactive
Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s video content was among the most popular content on the German Web in 2015. In all, users watched 1.14 billion videos of professionally produced content on Mediengruppe RTL websites, a five-percent increase over the previous year. Approximately half of the views were generated by the Now family of video-on-demand sites for the group’s free TV channels. An average 27.8 million unique users accessed Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s digital offerings each month. The most-visited websites were n-tv.de with 8.98 million, followed by wetter.de with 8.02 million and rtl.de with 6.85 million unique users.
