week 49 / 3 December 2015

ENTERTAINMENT TO YOUR TASTE Groupe M6 revamps 6play, its TV entertainment platform

Luxembourg 2016 Télévie has been officially launched

Luxembourg Romain Mannelli’s interview with HR One

Germany Vox commissioned a second season of Club der roten Bänder

week 49 / 3 December 2015

ENTERTAINMENT TO YOUR TASTE Groupe M6 revamps 6play, its TV entertainment platform

Luxembourg 2016 Télévie has been officially launched

Luxembourg Romain Mannelli’s interview with HR One

Germany Vox commissioned a second season of Club der roten Bänder

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A PLAY CHANGER Groupe M6 p.4–9

Second season of Club der roten Bänder

commissionned Voxp.10

2016 Télévie has been officially launched

RTL Lëtzebuergp.11

Romain Mannelli interviewed by HR One

RTL Groupp.12–13

FragFinn.de receives innovation award

Super RTLp.14

Big Picturep.15

SHORTNEWS

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PEOPLE

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A PLAY CHANGER

France – 3 November 2015

Groupe M6

“It finally offers us a new way of doing our job” Thomas Valentin

Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board with responsibility for Programmes and Content, Groupe M6

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CLICK TO EXPERIENCE THE NEW LOOK AND FEEL OF 6PLAY

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The new version of Groupe M6’s TV entertainment platform 6play, which was already launched mid-October as a beta-version on computers, has been made available still free of charge on all types of screen on 1 December 2015.

Groupe M6 has given its platform a real makeover, not only adapting to viewers’ behaviour and needs, but also innovating by serving as far more than a mere replay facility. Accordingly, the new-look of 6play offers a range of attractive new features, including exclusive content, dedicated events, greater scope for personalisation and improved fluidity.

When Groupe M6 launched M6 Replay in March 2008, the chosen name reflected what the service offered viewers: the chance for one week to catch up

on a programme or series they had missed on TV. But in 2013 M6 Replay was superseded by 6play, a new, improved, more expansive service, which was warmly embraced by its audience, scoring 14 million users per month and 2.5 million video views every day. Now 6play is back in a new guise, offering users more options than ever before, and hopefully everything their hearts desire. Groupe M6 Vice President Thomas Valentin is highly enthusiastic about it, saying: “As broadcasters, it finally offers us a new way of doing our job.”

Thomas Follin, Deputy Managing Director in charge of new media channels at M6 Web, explains: “Before, when users turned to 6play, they did so solely to catch up with a programme they had missed when it was aired on one of our channels.

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Thomas Valentin: “We are the first broadcasters to use data in this way for television”

Thomas Follin: “We saw a tremendous opportunity to engage more with our viewers”

Groupe M6 turned 6play to an entirely personalised platform where users customise the platform’s menu and tool bar to their taste

Then, by talking to them, we found out that half the time they were using the service without knowing in advance what they were going to watch. This was a real eye-opener for us, and in it we saw a tremendous opportunity to engage more with our viewers by expanding what was on offer to them.”

To this end, Groupe M6 turned 6play to an entirely personalised platform where users customise the platform’s menu and tool bar to their taste. The first time they connect to the platform, they are required to create a personal account and then they state their tastes in TV by choosing from a list of programmes, presenters and themes. Thomas Valentin clarifies: “The new 6play will be totally personalised and customisable. And it will draw on highly sophisticated recommendation systems the like of which have never been applied to free TV before.”

These personal accounts are combined with the fastest, most accurate and relevant search engine on the market. Developed by Algolia, it uses an intelligent algorithm that continually enriches each individual’s personal usage, enabling the new 6play to make relevant and precisely targeted recommendations in line with users’ tastes and desires. This recommendation service makes Groupe M6’s platform one of the most personalised systems on the market. Valéry Gerfaud, General Manager of M6 Web and a member of Groupe M6’s Executive Committee, says: “This new, highly personalised version will enable us to bring the right programme to the right person at the right time on the right screen.” To which Thomas Valentin adds: “We are the first broadcasters to use data in this way for television,” highlighting the importance of technological tools in the new, enhanced 6play.

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Valéry Gerfaud: “This new highly personalised version will enable us to bring the right programme to the right person”

The new totally personalised 6play draws on highly sophisticated recommendation systems

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The first time users connect to the platform, they are required to create a personnal account and then they state their tastes in TV choosing from a list of programmes, presenters and themes

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The platform’s personalisation is a key feature, but not the only one: 6play has set itself the ambitious objective of going beyond mere catch-up TV, by enhancing its already generous offer of 300 programmes and more than 3,000 hours of television content. Thus, the revamped version of the platform will offer its users subtitled versions of 20 new programmes never aired in France before, including three international series to be premiered,

free of charge for the viewers: The Comedians starring Billy Crystal, and the two British comedy series Miranda and La La Land. Moreover, the well-received web original productions specially created for 6play – Allô ma chérie starring Cristina Cordula, La recette Nono Limit starring Norbert Tarayre and Décodeuse presented by Sophie Ferjani – will also be back with new seasons.

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In addition to the five TV channels available exclusively on 6play (Home Time, Sixième Style, Stories, Crazy Kitchen and Comic), the advent of this new version of 6play has given the group an opportunity

to introduce yet another one, dedicated this time to adventure: Bruce

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CATCH UP AND BEYOND: 6PLAY OFFERS 300 PROGRAMMES AND MORE THAN 3,000 HOURS OF TELEVISION CONTENT. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO FIND OUT WHAT IT IS AVAILABLE ON 6PLAY

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To make even easier to access content, users can now navigate by programme genres

As for their web channels offer, 18 months after the launch of the first five TV channels available exclusively online (Home Time, Sixième Style, Stories, Crazy Kitchen and Comic) the advent of this new version of 6play has given the group an opportunity to introduce yet another one: Bruce, a channel dedicated to adventure, thrills and excitement. Viewers can also look forward to a number of special-events programming on 6play throughout the year, which aims to complement the shows airing on Groupe M6’s channels (such as preview of American series or Christmas specials). The objective here is to create unmissable viewing on 6play, turning the platform into an essential element of the Group’s linear TV channels.

But the story does not end with enriched content: Groupe M6 has also maximally enhanced users’ experience by drawing on the best technological tools available on the market. Having been crowned French viewers’ preferred online TV service, 6play definitely intends to retain its most-favoured status. The new incarnation of the platform is the result of 18 months of research and development, and presents an even more fluid interface thanks to the application of React; which is a sophisticated technology originally developed by Facebook, which enables exceptionally speedy navigation without necessitating page reload. Valéry Gerfaud

explains: “To make content even easier to access, on top of the personalisation 6play offers, users can now navigate by programme genre, choosing from programmes and series aired on all channels run by the group”. This array of new features, backed by the platform’s sleek design, aims to make 6play a reference player for TV entertainment and pave the way for further technological innovations in the future, like content broadcast in HD, or even in 4K.

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Groupe M6 will also launch Refresh a new editorial content service designed exclusively for mobile consumption

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Viewers can also look forward to a number of specials-events programming such as Christmas specials

Another key issue for the revamped 6play will be to keep up with viewers’ evolving consumption habits. Valéry Gerfaud explains the current screen usage figures: “The first place where 6play is used, in 55 per cent of cases, is on television, via IPTV and set-top boxes. The second is on mobile devices.” To respond to this more spur-of-the-moment consumption and make itself accessible to users on all their favourite screens, in early 2016 Groupe M6 will launch new editorial content service designed exclusively for mobile consumption. Dubbed Refresh, this brand new service will offer ultra-short snippets of Groupe M6 programmes, which will be available on the 6play app, providing users with an optimal experience, namely infinite navigation in the form of feeds, automatically played videos and content organisation by hashtags, to make the platform attractive and easy to use.

Finally, the new 6play will be a real advertising asset, enabling Groupe M6 to offer advertisers higher visibility and effectiveness, as well as better integration of their ad messaging. In addition to the

Fullview tool, which guarantees ads visibility, the new Parallax advertising tool will ensure the platform’s advertising effectiveness as it enables advertisers to display their message in a perfectly integrated and immersive way. But the most important innovation on 6play is that thanks to user generated profiles and collected viewing data, the platform will be able to offer targeted and therefore more effective advertising. The targeting will be based on users’ socio-demographic characteristics, tastes and purchasing intentions and will offer advertisers the possibility of extending the reach of their brand messaging. In addition, 6play is teaming up with the Coca-Cola Group for the new launch, so the brands Fanta, Fïnley, Nestea and Coca-Cola itself will all be promoted on 6play in a number of innovative ways.

The new version of 6play is already available on all screens: on PCs via 6play.fr, on smartphones and tablets via the App Store and Google Play, on TV screens via Bouygues Telecom’s Bbox Miami and on Free’s Freebox players. The Refresh service for mobile users will debut early in 2016.

TOP 10 OF MOST WATCHED SHORT-AND LONG-FORM CONTENT ON 6PLAY

(JANUARY TO OCTOBER 2015)

PROGRAMMES VIDEO VIEWS

1. Les Marseillais en Thaïlande over 57.5 million 2. Les Reines du Shopping over 43 million 3. Les Ch’tis vs les Marseillais la revanche over 42.5 million 4. Les princes de l’amour over 29 million 5. L’amour est dans le pré over 28 million 6. Scènes de ménages over 17.5 million 7. En famille over 11.5 million 8. Hawaii 5-0 over 11 million 9. Top Chef over 10.5 million 10. NCIS over 10 million

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Vox confirms the production of a second season of the popular series, Club der roten Bänder.Germany – 2 December 2015

Club der roten Bänder (Red Bracelets) is the first fiction series commissioned by Vox. After the success of the first season, fans of the series can look forward to ten more episodes, which will be broadcasted at the end of autumn 2016.

“German television is lacking a TV show of this calibre,” writes German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, and according to Stern.de, Club der roten Bänder is “fantastic television entertainment.” However, it is not just critics and journalists who are enthusiastic about this gripping TV series. Club der roten Bänder has over 165,000 fans on Facebook, ranks regularly at the top of Twitter’s Trends in Germany, and has been watched more than two million times on the Vox Now catch-up service. The excellent ratings also speak for themselves: Club der roten Bänder reached 12.4 per cent among the 14 to 59 target group.

Bernd Reichart, Managing Director of Vox, says: “We are absolutely ecstatic that our first self-produced series, Club der roten Bänder, won over so many people. Whilst we were producing the first season, the second one was already on the cards. We are now even more excited to keep telling this wonderful story with the help of our authors Arne Nolting and Jan Martin Scharf. Everybody who watched the first ten episodes is desperate to find out what will happen to their favourite characters – and as for the members of the club, they have a lot to get through!”

The grand finale of Club der roten Bänder’s first season will be airing on 7 December from 20:15 on Vox. On 14 December at 20:15, the Cologne-based broadcaster will also be showing an exclusive documentary called Club der roten Bänder – Eine Geschichte bewegt die Welt. Vox will be looking back at the biggest and best moments of the first season, as well as showing exclusive footage from behind the scenes.

GRIPPING HIT SERIES TO CONTINUE Vox

The second season of Club der roten Bänder will air on Vox in 2016

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Bernd Reichart, Managing Director of Vox

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A balloon release marked the official launch of the 2016 Télévie in Luxembourg. Luxembourg – 1 December 2015

On 25 November 2015, a total of 72 balloons were released by the same number of donors, doctors and researchers engaged in the fight against cancer. This event, which took place at the RTL Lëtzebuerg site in Kirchberg, was inaugurated by the new Télévie Co-Ordinator Diane Wunsch and marked the official launch of the new Télévie campaign. During this event, new donation centres were unveiled to the public: Contern, Steinfort, Diekirch, Grevenmacher, as well as the permanent centre at Rodange.

Télévie is a large charity movement, started in 1989 by RTL Belgium, contributing to the FRS – FNRS (the National Fund for Scientific Research) aiming to support cancer research and research into child and adult leukaemia. RTL Lëtzebuerg joined the operation in 2002.

As part of this 15th Télévie in Luxembourg, RTL Lëtzebuerg will be rolling out further initiatives aimed at maximising donations. The numerous events include, in particular, the Télévie Gala Dinner at Belenhaff (Junglinster) on 8 April 2016, not to mention the traditional Télévie Challenge at the RTL Group headquarters on 15 April 2016, as well as the Télévie Challenge on Tour starting on 23 April 2016.

THE LATEST TÉLÉVIE TAKES FLIGHT RTL Lëtzebuerg

The balloon release at the RTL Lëtzebuerg site marked the launch of the new Télévie campaign in Luxembourg

Diane Wunsch, the new Télévie Co-Ordinator

#RTLGivesBack

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In an interview with HR One, Romain Mannelli, Executive Vice President Human Resources at RTL Group, explained the recruitment process at RTL Group in Luxembourg and the skills most sought after, particularly at its headquarters. Luxembourg – 3 December 2015

Romain Mannelli began by pointing out that “RTL Group recruits constantly” and that the profit centres are responsible for their own recruitment. He then explained that for Luxembourg, the Human Resources (HR) department recruits according to the needs expressed by local operational units, as well as the headquarters: “Headquarters seeks their job candidates from the international market, but RTL Lëtzebuerg radio, television and online need people who speak Luxembourgish, so we look for candidates within Luxembourg. (...) We have employees from 18 different countries at our Kirchberg site in Luxembourg, highlighting the fact that we’re an international Group,” said Mannelli. “Our Group has a very good reputation in the Luxembourg marketplace and the Greater Region [the adjacent regions of Belgium, Germany and France], as was demonstrated at the Randstad Awards, which we have won for two years running,” added Mannelli.

Mannelli pointed out that in the Grand Duchy the Group is primarily looking for people for jobs that require digital skills: “The battle for talent exists in Luxembourg too: people with digital talents are rare and we need to look for them in their own sectors.” He also mentioned the strong demand for IT professionals with knowledge of SAP applications, although the market for talented people is quite narrow in this area. Finally, for the technical and IT specialists needed for the RTL Group company BCE, recruiters tend to look to the Luxembourgish market and the Greater Region.

“THE BATTLE FOR TALENT EXISTS IN LUXEMBOURG TOO”

RTL Group

Romain Mannelli, Executive Vice President HR at RTL Group

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Mannelli explained that RTL Group’s recruitment process in Luxembourg no longer relies on traditional channels such as the local press; instead, the RTL Group website lists all the job vacancies available within the Group and at its headquarters.

Looking ahead to future challenges, Mannelli emphasised that “bringing Generation Y into our organisations is making us do more to meet expectations in areas such as flexible working hours, remote working, work-life balance and above all in creating a ‘sense of purpose’.”

Mannelli added: “The transformation of the role of HR professionals in the next few years will go hand-in-hand with the transformation of our businesses. The digital transformation is already forcing our industry to explore new avenues and even reinvent part of what we do. It also means HR will have to be even closer to the business and operate as ‘business partners’ to support the changes, which will undoubtedly affect many of our employees.”

Mannelli concluded by pointing out that a HR platform (SuccessFactors) has been set up for the Luxembourg office to support change and provide assistance for RTL Group staff. The aim is to include all Group sites in the platform and standardise HR processes such as goals and performance management, succession planning and learning management, in order to offer employees a true self-service portal that is innovative, reliable and efficient.

Click to visit the career page on RTLGroup.com

Romain Mannelli has also recently taken part in a panel discussion on changes in the HR function at the annual HR One 2015 conference in Luxembourg. During his presentation, he reaffirmed the role of the HR Director as a strategic and change-management partner and revealed what were, in his view, the HR Director’s three key skills:

Creating a culture of trust in the business

Having a clear vision of the business

Leading by example

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On 27 November 2015, children’s search engine FragFinn.de was an award-winner at the 2015 ‘Landmarks in the Land of Ideas’ competition, which recognises innovative projects throughout Germany. FragFinn.de is sponsored by children’s broadcaster Super RTL. Germany – 3 December 2015

The theme of this year’s competition was ‘Urban Space. Rural Space. Cyberspace! Innovations For A Digital World’, and FragFinn.de was placed in the education category for its innovation, which answers the question of how children can surf the Internet safely.

The Internet is a goldmine of interesting websites, videos and games – even for the youngest web user. But not all online content is suitable for children. The FragFinn.de search engine provides Internet newbies from the age of six with a secure online space in which they can discover the richness of the virtual world. It only shows search results that have been checked and deemed child-friendly by experts in media education. When searching, the young surfers have over 11,800 websites at their fingertips.

The ‘Germany – Land of Ideas’ initiative and Deutsche Bank are working together to recognise ideas and projects that offer a positive contribution to the online world, and find solutions to the challenges of the digital transformation.

Holger Thiesse, Head of Corporate Clients at Deutsche Bank in Berlin, presented the Landmark award to Claude Schmit, Chair of the FragFinn.de Management Board and Managing Director of Super RTL, and the rest of the company’s staff, saying: “FragFinn.de is taking the youngest members of our society into the digital world with them – they’re child-friendly, responsible and ground-breaking. This search engine is an outstanding example of how we are shaping the digital transformation in Germany – according to needs of the people.”

Claude Schmit says: “We are absolutely delighted to be a “Landmark” in the Land of Ideas, and to demonstrate a solution to one of the challenges of the digital transformation in the form of our children’s search engine and its corresponding app. This award is a real acknowledgement of the organisation’s many years of successful work, and encourages us to continue developing the product technology for online and mobile platforms so that it will perfectly suit children’s needs for many years to come.”

AWARD-WINNING SEARCH ENGINE FOR KIDS Super RTL

Left to right: Claude Schmit (Super RTL), Jörg Risken (Ehapa), Andreas Peters (Disney)

with Niclas and Emily

Claude Schmit, Chair of the FragFinn.de Management Board and Managing Director

of Super RTL

Double award for gripping spy seriesThe UFA Fiction production Deutschland 83 has won two awards at this year’s C21 International Drama Awards in London. The series won in the categories ‘Best Non-English Language Drama Series’ and ‘Best Casting of a Drama Series’.

Deutschland 83 has also been nominated ‘Best TV Drama’ for the International Press Academy’s Satellite Awards – the winners will be announced in Los Angeles on 21 February 2016.

Commissioned by RTL Television, FremantleMedia International has sold the series to over 20 broadcasters and VOD services around the world.

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Lessons from a CEO StyleHaul StyleHaul CEO Stephanie Horbaczewski has made social storytelling a pillar of her business. She unveiled three lessons to master the art of social storytelling in the online magazine Fast Company. Click here to learn more. North America – 27 November 2015

RTL loves comics RTL Radio On Thursday 26 November 2015, RTL Radio (France) awarded the Grand Prix RTL de la Bande Dessinée 2015 (RTL Grand Comics Award) to the comic book La Main Heureuse by Frantz Duchazeau. France – 27 November 2015

Stay fit and healthy RTL Radio Deutschland At the end of November, RTL Radio Centre Germany organised a ‘Health Day’ for its employees in Berlin, in order to raise awareness about good health practices. Germany – 30 November 2015

Beware of dangerous animals RTL-TVI The series Zoo, adapted from the sci-fi bestseller by James Patterson, got excellent ratings for its premiere on RTL-TVI on 29 November 2015 at 20:35, scoring 36.4 per cent in the target group. Animals are attacking humans every Sunday with two episodes. Belgium – 1 December 2015

Topping the charts BroadbandTV Tubefilter.com has issued its Top 100 Most Subscribed YouTube Channels Worldwide list. Two BroadbandTV partners are in the top five: RCLBeauty101 in third place, closely followed by Fernanfloo. In total, BBTV had eight channels in the Top 100. North America – 3 December 2015

SHORT NEWS 1/1

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RTL Hungary has appointed Tibor András Szabó as Head of its newly established Digital and Development department, effective 1 October 2015.

Tibor András Szabó is responsible for establishing a unified digital strategy at RTL Hungary, and for integrating and harmonising all digital activities and initiatives in one unified department.

RTL Hungary CEO Gabriella Vidus says: “We are delighted that Tibor András Szabó is leading the Digital and Development department. He brings a new perspective to RTL Hungary. He has domestic and international experience that we can utilise well. The aim of the newly established Digital department is to further strengthen the digital footprint of RTL Hungary. Just as in the television ad market, we need to build up a business model that is also successful in the long term in the digital ad market. RTL Hungary’s current online presence, including the very successful RTL Most, is not sufficient to do this, so we have some very significant plans in this area.”

Tibor András Szabó adds: “As a traditional, market-leading television group, we see the digital future in specialised digital content, which builds on the existing, very strong RTL Hungary television brands and content. We want to achieve this through our own development efforts and by establishing various partnerships in future. Simultaneously, we would like to develop a single video- on-demand (VOD) and over-the-top (OTT) strategy, taking into account viewers’ requirements for more complex and flexible content provision.”

Prior to joining RTL Hungary, Tibor András Szabó was CEO of Viasat Hungária Zrt and COO of Central European Broadcasting at Modern Times Group, where he was responsible for digital and business development activities in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and the Baltic States.

Tibor András Szabó, Head of the new Digital and Development department

PEOPLE

APPOINTMENT OF TIBOR ANDRÁS SZABÓ TO THE NEWLY CREATED

DIGITAL DEPARTMENT RTL Hungary Hungary – 2 December 2015

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