RTL Group S.A.

RTL Group said H1 2026 revenue increased 3.9% to EUR 2.9 billion, driven mainly by Sky Deutschland and streaming growth, while organic revenue was stable. Adjusted EBITA rose to EUR 239 million from EUR 160 million, with the margin improving to 8.3% from 5.8%; profit from continuing operations increased to EUR 61 million from EUR 6 million. Fremantle revenue fell 7.7% year over year to EUR 835 million, adjusted EBITDA was EUR 83 million with a 9.9% margin, and adjusted EBITA was EUR 60 million with a 7.2% margin, up from 4.3% in H1 2025. RTL confirmed full-year 2026 adjusted EBITA of around EUR 725 million, full-year revenue of around EUR 7.1 billion to EUR 7.2 billion, streaming revenue growth of around 25%, streaming adjusted EBITA of around EUR 100 million, and unchanged medium-term adjusted EBITA of EUR 1 billion.

Clement Schwebig framed the half year as proof that RTL’s transformation strategy is working, emphasizing speed, discipline, and the move from linear TV to streaming. He called the Sky Deutschland deal the most transformational in RTL’s history and said the company is focused on executing integration and capturing EUR 250 million in synergies. He also highlighted World Cup-driven strength at M6, stronger audience share in Germany and France, and said streaming is now a high-growth, high-margin contributor.

Björn Bauer led with the financial bridge: revenue of EUR 2.9 billion, adjusted EBITA of EUR 239 million, and a margin increase to 8.3%. He said Sky Deutschland contributed EUR 61 million in H1, but June is seasonally favorable and not representative of the full year, and he noted the group will provide a new KPI set later that fully includes Sky. On Fremantle, he pointed to EUR 835 million of revenue, EUR 83 million of adjusted EBITDA, and EUR 60 million of adjusted EBITA, saying the business is on track for a 9% margin in 2026. He also reiterated that the Sky deal should be essentially break-even in H2 and that dividend policy remains at least 80% of adjusted full-year net results.

Analysts focused on how realistic the EUR 250 million Sky synergy target is, whether it will involve job cuts, and whether RTL plans more M&A. Management said it is very confident on the synergy target, with most benefits coming in 2027 and 2028, and that around 75% of the synergies are cost-related, including content optimization and overhead/media-spend reductions; they also said they are not expecting additional group-level M&A this year. Another key question was why streaming EBITA guidance rose to EUR 100 million despite H1 being EUR 31 million, and management answered that H2 is seasonally stronger and supported by subscriber growth, higher revenue per subscriber, and ad growth. RTL also said it has not yet launched a combined RTL Plus/Sky bundle, but it is evaluating how to optimize the combined portfolio across free TV, pay TV, and streaming.