RTL Deutschland and ProSiebenSat.1 this morning announced they will combine their ad tech offerings in efforts to bolster the German ad market. The move will “technically link” RTL’s Smartclip and ProSieben’s Virtual Minds. This will allow advertisers to run campaigns on both broadcasters platforms, including linear TV and their streaming services, RTL+ and Joyn from ProSieben.
The news follows a period of declining ad revenues for the broadcasters, contending with a tough German ad market and mounting competition from international streaming giants. The companies are aiming to grow their revenues by making it easier for advertisers to buy programatically across their offerings, while driving technical innovation in ad sales.
A core part of the offering is enabling cross-platform measurement, a feature often demanded by advertisers looking for consistent measurement across their linear TV and AVOD campaigns. “For the first time, digital and linear video reach will be technologically linked and optimised on playout by cross-platform data, and linear TV will be made widely available on a programmatic basis,” said the companies. By allowing uniform measurement across linear, addressable and connected TV campaigns, RTL and Prosieben seek to attract “new and, above all, digitally savvy customers.”
The pair are aiming to bring the combined offering to market in the second half of 2024. The partnership will launch in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) before expanding into other European markets. They added that the requisite notifications have been given the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt).
Made in Europe
Thomas Rabe, CEO of RTL’s parent company Bertelsmann, has long called for a tie-up between the two firms. And while not a full-on merger, this partnership marks the closest collaboration between the German broadcasters so far.
In 2019 the pair launched d-force, a joint venture (JV) for pooling their addressable TV and digital video inventory on ProSieben’s demand-side platform (DSP). And in 2022, they established the Addressable TV Initiative (ATVI), a JV geared towards growing the availability of addressable TV advertising across Europe.
But earlier this month, pan-European media group MFE announced plans to up its stake in ProSieben, dampening Rabe’s hopes of a German merger as the duo continues to strengthen its alliance in the region. In 2020, Rabe argued that “national companies will simply have no chance in a few years against the giants from Silicon Valley,” if they fail to join forces.
And this latest collaboration is specifically aimed to make the German broadcasters “less dependent on the ad tech provided by the US tech giants.” This means giving the companies control of their own autonomous and consistent ad tech stack, maximising their own ad revenues while advancing European broadcasters more broadly – a key component of the duo’s mission.
“By cooperating in this way, ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL Deutschland are laying the foundations for full-stack ad tech that is made in Europe,” said Carsten Schwecke, CEO of Seven.One Media. “Both companies invested in advertising technology early on, with the most effective medium, TV, undergoing a process of comprehensive digitalisation. In the future, technology based on artificial intelligence (AI) will further improve the efficiency of linear and digital advertising. This will make booking innovative, cross-platform TV campaigns easier and more efficient for both advertisers and agencies.”
“As both media and technology groups, we want to closely align our strengths,” added Matthias Dang, Chief Commercial, Technology and Data Officer at RTL Deutschland. “Through this cooperation, we’re rolling out our vision of a full ad tech stack and offering our advertising partners a reliable alternative to international tech providers. At the same time, it will help us stay in the driver’s seat when it comes to digitalising the total video approach and tackle rapid changes in the field of tech and data.”
