leader challenge - rtl group

week 21

27 May 2010

Leader challengeTristan Jurgensen, Managing Director of RTL Net, sets out the online strategy for RTL’s radio stations in France

Germany

Vox and Grundy LE start X Factor auditions

North America

American Idol ends with mixed feelings

France

Expédition RTL heading for Madagascar

Belgium

RTL-TVI goes around the world in ultra light

the RTL Group intranetweek 21

week 21

27 May 2010

Leader challengeTristan Jurgensen, Managing Director of RTL Net, sets out the online strategy for RTL’s radio stations in France

Germany

Vox and Grundy LE start X Factor auditions

North America

American Idol ends with mixed feelings

France

Expédition RTL heading for Madagascar

Belgium

RTL-TVI goes around the world in ultra light

Cover: Montage with Christian Jurgensen, RTL.fr on the computer, Fun Radio on the iPhone and the 3210 phone number where listeners can call RTL Radio

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It’s certainly no secret that RTL Radio is the leading radio station in France – by a substantial margin. The station attracts an accumulated audience of 6.5 million listen-ers daily and its political programmes, cultural magazine shows and entertainment offerings all continue to go down a storm. However, what is perhaps less well known is that online, the websites of RTL Group’s various radio stations in France are also causing a stir. By offering additional content related to programmes broad-cast across the airwaves, the group’s sites offer internet users a range of unique fare and in so doing are building up a loyal fan base.

Tristan Jurgensen, Managing Director of RTL Net, talked to Backstage about the online

strategy for RTL Group’s radio stations in France, namely RTL Radio, Fun Radio, RTL 2 and RTL L’Equipe.

Nowadays, it’s commonplace for radio stations to have a web presence. What is it that sets you apart from the competition?We are extremely proactive and are not content to make do with just one unique site, however slick and attractive it might be. We are progress-ing in leaps and bounds, having managed to launch four new thematic sites in the space of just a year.I like to think of RTL.fr as our flagship site. We want it to be easily accessible, simple and logical in terms of its structure. The site focuses on the two main pillars of RTL’s content, namely news

“Despite being a leader, we have constantly to adopt the mindset of a challenger”Tristan Jurgensen on RTL Net – the online and mobile version of the RTL brands in France. France - 27 May 2010

Montage with different websites by RTL Net in France. In April 2010, the thematic website RTL Astro received more than 500,000 visits


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and entertainment. For other topics of interest to our audience, we have set up a number of thematic sites which can be accessed either directly or via RTL.fr. Thanks to the strategy adopted by RTL Net, RTL.fr is now the most popular site of any radio station in France. It attracted 2,723,000 unique visitors in April 2010 and we are continuing to storm ahead with rates up 35 per cent on April 2009. We have also consolidated our leading position by building up a 10 per cent advantage over the second-placed radio-station site and even a 31 per cent lead over the second-ranked general-interest radio-station site. We are incredibly proud of these results and they continue to spur us on: our radio stations need to rise to the challenge posed by the digital revolu-tion and are certainly well on the way to doing this.

So what is the underlying philosophy guiding the flagship portal’s accompanying raft of thematic sites?We have identified the topics our audiences are most interested in and have designed made-to-measure sites with those in mind. For example, there are two sites focussing on betting on sports events and horse-racing On joue le match and On refait les courses, others on consumer advice RTL Conso, astrology RTL Astro and video Vidéos RTL and one serving as an online community for people to act as reporters and send us their photographs and post videos on current events Témoins RTL. Each of these thematic sites is geared towards a small com-munity of users who are passionate about radio programmes and visit the sites to view additional content related to their favourite shows.

How is RTL Net structured?RTL Net comprises a team of some 30 people including developers, designers, graphic design-ers and editors as well as six journalists. We han-dle everything in house and even the technical aspects of hosting the site are coordinated from our premises on rue Bayard. We work closely with the radio teams; our journalists, for example, work out of the station’s editorial suite and answer both to myself and to the director of radio news.

What areas is RTL Net ultimately responsible for?RTL Net’s core activities are online and mobile content. In terms of the internet, we manage RTL Radio’s various sites as well as the group’s two music sites, Fun Radio and RTL 2, and webra-dio’s news and sports site, RTL L’Equipe. The latter is run in partnership with the Amaury group since RTL L’Equipe was borne out of a joint ven-ture.I’ve already described in detail RTL.fr and the fact that it is the leading website of any radio station in France, but the same is true of the sites accompanying our other radio stations. For example, Funradio.fr received over 600,000 unique visitors in March 2010 and the site has also been redesigned to focus on music and community-sourced content.At the same time, we are also bolstering the presence of our radio stations on social net-working sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Fun Radio has built up a fan base of 155,500 on its official Facebook page. Year on year we are enhancing our online presence and this just goes to show that although radio is certainly a long-standing medium it is nevertheless capa-

On Facebook, Fun Radio has more than 155,500 loyal fans


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ble of incorporating new technologies into its armoury to boost its popularity.Our second core activity, mobile content, is coordinated by a three-strong team working primarily on interactive contact with listeners via text-messaging who can call us at 3210 for RTL Radio and at 3228 for Fun Radio and RTL 2. The team is also developing mobile-phone apps for our various stations. Fun Radio’s iPhone app has already chalked up 620,000 downloads to date, which is pheno-menal.

How do you go about putting together an online strategy for a major radio station like RTL? After all, making even the smallest change to its strategy can be a frightening prospect?There’s no time to hang about: with the internet, innovation is the be all and end all. Despite being a leader, we have constantly to adopt the mind-set of a challenger. We have to identify what our listeners want and give it to them; we are offering them new things, a way of following us on air, in writing and through images and video.Our approach with L’Expédition RTL is a perfect example of this. L’Expédition RTL is a ‘civic-inter-est’ show broadcast each month. The journalists involved travel all over the world and each month a different journalist reports back on a particular environmental topic regularly over several days. At RTL Net, we are developing a special section

of the RTL.fr site which can be accessed easily from the homepage. There, visitors can follow an entire expedition; most expeditions last five days on average and each day visitors can browse through photo galleries and follow the RTL reporter’s exploits via audio reports.Another of our success stories is the Journées RTL Emploi (RTL Employment Days) section, which even featured in a special CNN report after it proved such a hit following its launch. One such day is held each month and employ-ers are able post job vacancies on a specific site; we check the vacancy notices before they are published. On these Employment Days, we have been experiencing an average increase in traffic of 30 per cent (sometimes the increase can be as much as 40 per cent), which just goes to show what a good initiative this is proving to be.

Three power figures for RTL Net:

• RTL.fr is the leading radio-station website in • France attracting 2,723,000 hits in April 2010

• Fun Radio has built up a 155,500-strong • fan base on Facebook

•To date, 620,000 downloads of Fun Radio’s • iPhone app

In May 2010, L’Expédition RTL went to Madagascar to investigate on the preservation of marine resources.Internet users could follow RTL reporter Franck Antson in his journey, read his logbook

and experience the expedition in real time


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We put the RTL touch into everything we do. For example, the Employment Days idea has been emulated by many of our competitors but we have incorporated added value into the idea which keeps it unique to us. While others have opted to fall back on France’s National Employ-ment Agency Pôle Emploi as an intermediary, here at RTL recruiters contact us directly so we are able to offer exclusive benefits to those among our listeners who are looking for work.RTL’s know-how and our journalistic philosophy are crucial and as such are clearly evidenced on all our sites. Although visitors to our sites are warmly welcomed and encouraged to participate and tell us their views – and their opinions aired in our interactive broadcasts such as RTL C’est vous and Les auditeurs ont la parole – they will never be a substitute for the journalists within our editorial department and we want to remain true to our vision of journalism.

Do you think ‘traditional’ RTL listeners will feel at home in your site?We’re doing everything we can to make sure that they do. From the outset, our mission has been

to have a user-friendly site because there’s no doubt that some of our listeners don’t feel all that comfortable with new technologies. We there-fore had to make sure the site was accessible for them; after all, if you have to be a technical wizard to be able to listen to your favourite pro-gramme or watch a video diary by one of our journalists, then that defeats the object of the site. We are currently working on redesigning the RTL.fr site and we hope to be able to unveil its new look at the start of the new season in September; here too, simplicity and ease-of-use have been our guiding principles. We’ve even taken our desire to make ourselves accessible to everyone a step further by launching an RTL iPhone app, which has to date notched up over 120,000 downloads and which is accompanied by a news alert service. However, despite the undoubted success of the iPhone, not everyone has one and as such we have made it a priority to make the accompanying news alert service available on other platforms. RTL means radio for everyone, not just for the minority – and on the airwaves, the internet and via mobile phones alike.

About Tristan Jurgensen

Tristan Jurgensen is 37 years old and began his career back in 1998 with Prisma Presse, the French subsidiary of Gruner + Jahr, working in the marketing department for the group’s so-called ‘people’ magazines Voici and Gala. In 1999, he set up Mediapanel, the research and marketing subsidiary for RTL Group’s radio activities in France. For nine years he continued to run Mediapanel, which provides consultancy services on music programming and editorial advice for content editors. The breadth of Mediapanel’s expertise and the tools it uses are unique in France. In 2008, Tristan took over management of RTL Net at a time when competitors were snapping at the heels of RTL.fr. His number one priority was to restore the group’s leading position – a challenge to which he has risen admirably, with the site now far and away the top-ranked web-site of any radio station in France.


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You can practically feel the nervousness coming off some of the candidates as they step into the limelight: they’re here to win over not only the judges, but a large audience as well. Throngs of music enthusiasts came to Cologne’s Vulkanhalle to witness the judges’ auditions for X Factor. Sometimes they agreed with the judges, while other decisions elicited boos from the crowd. “We’ve seen some really good candidates here,” the show’s moderator Jochen Schropp told Backstage. “I have to say the overall level of quality is already quite high. The candidates I like to call ‘surprise packages’ are the most interesting: inconspicuous types that turn out to have incredible power.”

The judges appear relaxed. This isn’t their first audition, after all. After casting calls in Berlin, Munich and Hamburg, the bar is already pretty high – “You’re good, but we’ve already heard this piece performed better several times,” says Sarah Connor, as she sends one of the candi-dates home. Till Brönner and George Glueck are in a good mood, too, and professional in their assessment of the candidates – one wrong note can make the difference between making boot camp and being given the boot.

“I am really looking forward to the boot camp and the subsequent live shows,” says Schropp. “I already know the show from Britain and was accordingly delighted when they approached me about moderating it here in Germany.”

At the boot camp, the candidates will be split up into three categories: over 25, under 25 and duets or vocal groups. At this point, each judge will start to coach one of the categories. Gradually, the top acts will be selected, until

just three per judge are left. “These Top 9 will compete in the live shows,” explains Schropp. “And then the viewers decide.” During the audi-tions, the judges already start considering what category they’re going to be assigned to. “I don’t know what category I’ll be getting, but if you’re in my group I’d love to see what else is in there,” said George Glueck to one act. In summer, RTL Television and Vox will reveal who made it to boot camp. The first two episodes will be shown on RTL Television, the rest of the casting show will air on Vox.

Who’s got the ‘X Factor’?Late this summer, Vox and Grundy Light Entertainment will be bringing X Factor to Germany. Backstage paid a visit to the auditions in Cologne. Germany - 26 May 2010

Till Brönner, Sarah Conner and George Glueck (from left to right)© Vox/Bernd-Michael Maurer

Jochen Schropp


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Advertising is a fixture in everyday culture and part of our economic system. For adults, it can be assumed that they recognise the sales-promoting intent behind advertising. But are children capable of this as well? These days, children are confronted with Internet advertising on a near-daily basis, so it is becoming more and more important to help them decode advertis-ing messages and put them in context through media education.

On 19 May, a number of experts gathered for the Medienimpuls symposium organised by Media Smart, the Association for Voluntary Self-Moni-toring among Multimedia Service Providers, and the Association for Voluntary Self-Monitoring in Television. In addition to Media Smart Chairman and Super RTL CEO Claude Schmit, who spoke about advertising in environments targeted at children, Christoph Klimmt of the Univer-sity of Mainz presented new forms of Internet advertising, while Stefan Aufenanger, also of the University of Mainz, spoke about how Internet advertising is perceived by children.

Claude Schmit said: “Education experts see strengthening media skills as an important element in counteracting educational disadvan-tages in a society dominated by consumerism and media. Exercising social responsibility toward consumers is a task that businesses have to fulfil in online marketing, too. We see our economic function not as a contradiction, but as constructive participation.“

How do kids handle advertising?Under the heading “Oops, what’s blinking here?” Media Smart and others hosted a symposium about Internet advertising as a challenge in media education.Germany - 25 May 2010

Claude Schmit


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UFA Sports will act as a marketing service partner, while the rights themselves remain with Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

In next to no time, the KHL has become the largest ice hockey league in Europe and Asia and is now second only to the National Hockey League (NHL) in North America. It was created in time for the 2008/09 season and is an international league stretching across Eurasia, comprising teams from Russia, Belarus, Latvia and Kazakhstan. From September to April, a total of 24 teams battle it out for the Gagarin Cup, which is named after the famous cosmo-naut Yuri Gagarin. The league’s strategic partner is the energy company Gazprom.

Robert Müller von Vultejus, Managing Director of UFA Sports, explains: “With this marketing partnership, we have opened up opportunities in the ice hockey market, adding to our successes in the worlds of football, handball, basketball and boxing. The KHL is Europe’s fastest-growing ice hockey league, and we want to play our part in allowing the league to continue on its growth course.”

“Our contract with UFA Sports is another milestone in the development of the KHL as a modern organisation focusing on national and international markets,” confirms Ilya Kochevrin, General Director of KHL Marketing LLC. “UFA Sports will henceforth provide us with professional assistance for challenges such as strengthening the KHL brand in western Europe, marketing TV rights outside of Russia, and working closely with international media.”

Marketing partner of Kontinental Hockey LeagueUFA Sports is set to market the global TV rights for Eurasia’s Kontinental Hockey League.Germany - 25 May 2010

The KHL has become the largest ice hockey league in Europe and Asia

The Gagarin cup


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“Thank you guys so much, everybody,” a visibly shocked DeWyze told host Ryan Seacrest after he had been announced the winner at the end of the two-hour finale. “I can’t believe this. I love you guys.” The 24-year-old from Illinois scooped the recording contract prize in the live finale, after millions of Americans cast their votes. But it was a closely fought battle with Ryan Seacrest revealing that the pair entered the final show with just two per cent of votes dividing them.

The finale was not only the last episode of Season Nine, but also the final one for Simon Cowell, who leaves the show to be a judge on The X Factor in the US next year.Idol winners from previous seasons, including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks and Kris Allen, took to the stage to give Cowell a musical farewell, while former judge Paula Abdul came back to the stage to pay respects to Cowell, saying their work together “brought me immeasurable joy”. “I didn’t think I would be this emotional, but I genuinely am,” Cowell said.

To coincide with the finale, FremantleMedia Enterprises and Ludia have published an interactive American Idol game.The American Idol Star Experience lets fans to feed their Idol obsession by producing online performances for their family, friends and the whole Facebook community, to rate and compare against other players. Idol enthusiasts gain access to the free Performance Creator download for PC via their

regular Facebook account. Olivier Delfosse, Director Interactive at FremantleMedia Enterprises, says: “After more than eight top-rated seasons on television, American Idol is one of the most successful properties on TV. We are pleased to extend American Idol to the existing fan base and new audiences alike with a highly immersive game experience that further deepens consumer engagement with the franchise.”

With mixed feelingsLee DeWyze can now call himself the new American Idol. Sadly, the finale was also the farewell show to Simon Cowell, who left as a judge after nine years. North America - 27 May 2010

Simon Cowell

Lee Dewyze


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Lying 400 kilometres off the coast of Africa, Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world. A veritable Noah’s ark sitting in the Indian Ocean, it is one of the planet’s main hotspots of biodiversity. Global warming and human activity, however, now threaten this unique environment. Last week, Expédition RTL, led by reporter Franck Antson, went to meet the island’s inhabit-ants, professionals and community activists who are rallying to preserve its environment.

The Vezos are a community of fishermen living on the southwest coast of Madagascar. They draw all their resources from the ocean bottom and navigate in dugout canoes that they build themselves. Their traditions are ancestral. In the lagoon, the reef is deteriorat-ing and the fish are becoming harder to find: this fishing people have to adapt.

Throughout the expedition, radio internet users could follow Franck Antson’s peregrinations online. He maintained a logbook, updated daily and featuring photos, written commentary and sounds. This serialized adventure allowed those who were interested to experience the expedi-tion in real time. An exceptional sponsor of this Expédition RTL in Madagascar, French filmmaker Jacques Perrin, director of The Travelling Birds (Le peuple migrateur) and Oceans (Océans), shared his perspective on the country he knows so well with RTL listeners.

When human activity destroys, one must learn how to mend itThis month, Expédition RTL set sail for Madagascar to study the way its inhabitants are fighting to preserve the marine and natural resources of the Great Island. France - 27 May 2010

Madagacsar is one of the earth’s hotspots of biodiversity

The shrimp is Madagascar’s star marine animal. UNIMA is the country’s number one producer and exporter.

The company has committed to a model of sustainable aquaculture of shrimp that bear the “Red Label” stamp.

Franck Antson with the Vezos


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It is in fact an exploit unprecedented in the aeronautical world: seven pilots travelled almost 28,000 kilometres via ultralight in a relay between Sydney and Belgium, flying over some 20 countries.

Plotted by meteorologist Luc Trullemans and led by RTL-TVI news presenter Michel De Maegd, the Earth Challenge expedition’s objective was to report on the state of affairs of global warming at the time when the decision makers were to meet in Copenhagen. The project was supported notably by the WWF, the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium and the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy.

This extraordinary scientific mission made it possible to understand the immense fragility of our planet, already hit in places by climate

change. From the extreme drought of Australia to the despair of the climate refugees of Bangladesh, from the melting glaciers in the Himalayas to those of the alpine mountain ranges, it is also the story of a true human adventure. Reporters broadcast the journey on 21 May on RTL-TVI at 19:45. 351,6000 viewers tuned in, representing an audience share of 25.9 per cent.

Between heaven and earthRTL-TVI’s magazine Reporters took a look at the novel exploit, carried out as part of Earth Challenge.Belgium - 21 May 2010

Six of the seven Earth challenge pilots ready for take off

From the ultralight, the “blue planet” is of astonishing beauty


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25 days prior to the early legislative elections, the editorial department of RTL Belgium kicked off its electoral campaign on 19 May. Hosted by journalist Laurent Haulotte, the debate brought together the two leading members of the French-speaking Community, Didier Reynders (President of the Reform Movement) and Elio Di Rupo (President of the Socialist Party). An encounter long awaited by the Belgians, the debate televised on RTL-TVI drew 632,200 viewers. This first event prior to the 13 June elections achieved a total audience share of 41.5 per cent.

RTL-TVI’s political programme scored the high-est ratings that evening for a political debate, since the federal elections in 2003. In compari-son, the debate broadcast on the public channel La Une drew the attention of 327,400 viewers, representing a total audience share of 21.2 per cent.

Also on Wednesday evening, between 17:00 and 23:00, the RTL Belgium family achieved its best ratings for a Wednesday since November 2004 with a strong 48.3 per cent audience share. RTL Group’s Belgium family thus proved that there is complementarity among its three channels, with news and series on RTL-TVI, sport on Club RTL and entertainment on Plug RTL.

How to interest Belgians in politicsFace à Face, the political debate programme that aired Wednesday evening on RTL-TVI registered an exceptional score with a total audience share of 41.5 per cent.Belgium - 21 May 2010

Didier Reynders (President of the Reform Movement) and Elio Di Rupo (President of the Socialist Party)


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In a special issue of the biweekly magazine Marketing & Média, about the top 50 most influential people in Hungarian media, confirmed the CEO of RTL Klub in his top rank for the third consecutive time since the ranking was established. The magazine’s editorial team again voted for the people they consider the most influential in Hungary’s media sector.

Dirk Gerkens wasn’t the only RTL Klub Executive on the list. Gabriella Vidus, Commercial Director of RTL Klub, is at number eight, which also makes her the most influential woman in Hungarian media, while Deputy CEO Ákos Róbert came in at number 12, just behind RTL Klub’s Programming Director, Péter Kolosi, who was this year’s number 10.

And the winner is... RTL Klub CEO Dirk Gerkens has been elected again the most influential person in Hungarian media, according to a ranking published by Marketing & Média. Hungary - 26 May 2010

Dirk Gerkens, CEO of RTL Klub

A jury in 3 dimensionsNouvelle Star like you’ve never seen before: Thanks to M6, and for the

first time in France, an entertainment

programme has been broadcast in 3D,

live in theatre MK2 Bibliothèque in Paris,

as well as on the new 3D channel of

TV d’Orange. This ambitious operation involved a heavy technical plan,

in partnership with FremantleMedia France.


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Serving for RTL: Fabrice SantoroFormer grand champion of tennis Fabrice Santoro joins RTL Radio France to comment on the Roland Garros tournament as a tennis consultant for the 2010/11 season.France - 21 May 2010

Workshop for young screenwritersFundación Antena 3 and Fundación Bertelsmann have partnered with the Universidad Complutense de Madrid to organise a young screenwriters’ conference that runs through 22 May.Spain / Germany - 21 May 2010

Consuming responsibly is possibleMistergooddeal, a subsidiary of Groupe M6 offering household goods and appliances on the Internet, opens the doors on its green space, aptly named Mistergreendeal.France - 25 May 2010

Making a remarkable debut on the iPhoneSince its launch on 9 April 2010, the W9 application for iPhone is an enormous success.France - 26 May 2010


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A hit with audiencesFrom 19 April to 20 May 2010, Alpha came first in the prime-time rankings (20:00 to 23:59) among viewers aged 15 to 44.Greece - 27 May 2010

Come on downLudia and FremantleMedia Enterprises announced the availability of The Price Is Right game for the Sony PlayStation3 computer entertainment system on the PlayStation Network.United Kingdom / North America - 26 May 2010

New cases for Danni LowinskiSat.1 has commissioned Phoenix Film to produce a second season of the popular legal series Danni Lowinski. The 13 new episodes will be shot in Cologne this fall. To date, Season One of Danni Lowinski has earned Sat. 1 an average market share of 15.3 per cent among 14- to 49-year-old viewers. Germany - 27 May 2010

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