Fun and games

29 October 2009
week
44
Fun and games
RTL Nederland’s games portal is off to a promising start
Germany
United Kingdom
A new look for Telebörse.de
FremantleMedia Enterprises
produces live food show
France
The Netherlands
M6 broadcasts France’s
football national team
‘RTL’ brand returns
to Dutch radio
COVER:
Collage of several games from Spelsalon.nl
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“A new star on the online gaming firmament”
About a month ago, on 28 September, RTL Nederland launched its new gaming portal
Spelsalon.nl. Backstage takes a first look on very promising usage figures.
The Netherlands - 29 October 2009
RTL Nederland’s gaming portal Spelsalon.nl was
designed to be easy accessible and create a
positive user experience: it’s easy to play, joyful
and friendly. Targeting women aged 25 to 49,
Spelsalon.nl offers a wide variety of games,
including puzzles, brain teasers, mah-jong and
action games.
On the occasion of the launch, Arno Otto,
Managing Director Digital Media at RTL
Nederland, said: “The demand for online games
is growing by leaps and bounds. Now, RTL is
getting in on the action with Spelsalon.nl, in
collaboration with strong partners like Zylom,
Skillpod and Spelpunt. Combining these strong
brands with RTL’s entertainment value will turn
Spelsalon.nl into the new star on the online
gaming firmament.”
The launch was accompanied by a major
campaign on all of RTL Nederland’s TV channels.
With entertaining spots, faces familiar from RTL
programmes invited viewers to join them on
Spelsalon.nl, and successfully so. Within the first
four weeks, more than 1.5 million games were
played by more than 200,000 unique visitors.
20 per cent of the users are registered, while 40
per cent return regularly.
Richard Musch, Project Coordinator of
Spelsalon.nl, explains the basic idea: “As RTL
Nederland is innovative in digital media and the
gaming market is growing, we got the idea to set
up our own gaming portal. We wanted to target
women aged 25 to 49 who are already familiar
with casual online games. You can see the result
on Spelsalon.nl.”
Spelsalon.nl
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In creating the new gaming portal RTL Nederland
worked very closely with RTL Group’s New
Media team headed by Ian McClelland. “We
helped our Dutch colleagues source portal
technology and game providers,” Ian McClelland
explains. “Also, we financed part of the
development of Spelsalon.nl. so that we could
ensure that it was built with transferable
components.” Spelsalon.nl is a perfect example
of group-wide collaboration. For example, the
project team benefited from experiences that
Groupe M6 had gained with the launch of their
gaming portal M6jeux.fr. McClelland reports: “We
could see what kind of games were popular, what
integration issues were likely and what
functionality was desirable.”
Arno Otto
Spelsalon.nl is divided into three main sections:
Snel, Samen and Deluxe. In Snel, users can
choose from different casual games that they can
play on their own like Bubble Shooter or Bricks,
while the category Samen offers multiplayer
games like Bingo and Poker. In the Deluxe
category,
users
can
download
more
sophisticated games like Bejeweled for a small
fee. In this category they can choose to play solo,
against the computer or with friends. The portal
also offers unique content based on RTL
Nederland’s brands, like a quiz based on the
popular show Nederland’s Next Top Model. “Our
games are easy to learn, but hard to master,”
says Richard Musch.
With the support of RTL Group’s New Media
team, Spelsalon.nl was developed as a ‘white
label’ solution. The project managers negotiated
framework agreements with the portal
technology and game providers, as well as
creating a game engine repository so that any of
RTL Group’s profit centres can create a similar
website at a much lower cost. Only the design
and languages need to be adapted to local
markets, while the technical infrastructure and
games engines can remain the same. RTL
Lëtzebuerg and RTL Belgium are next in line to
launch their own gaming portals. Other
subsidiaries from various countries have already
expressed great interest in using components of
the solution.
RTL Nederland soft launched the portal, while
still signing agreements with partners in July. The
official launch took place on 28 September. Now,
from October to December, the team is working
to optimise the portal based on user feedback,
and gradually expanding the game library.
Ian McClelland
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A new look, linked content and more videos
Telebörse.de, N-TV’s website for stock owners, sports expanded content, a clearer
structure, and a fresh new design.
Germany - 26 October 2009
The site’s new design is bright and uncluttered,
and its clear structure and intuitive navigation
make Telebörse.de even more user friendly.
The new stock quote search has search term
recognition and breaks the results down by
various investment options.
Julian Weiss, COO of N-TV, says:
“Telebörse.de has enjoyed meteoric success.
After successfully establishing itself as a
German investor portal over the past two years,
it is now time to enter the second round: we
want to make Telebörse.de one of the Top 3
investor portals, with the help of a new look and
an ideally coordinated offering of news, stockmarket quotations and editorials.”
Telebörse.de links the three most important
elements that private investors look for:
business news, stock price information and
expert opinions.
The site contains an extensive editorial section
featuring market reports and the latest
business and company news in text, pictures
and video. Telebörse.de also provides all the
quotes on indexes, stocks, commodities, funds
and certificates, along with useful finance tools
such as rates calculators for call money and
fixed-term deposits. The expanded video
section lets users view up-to-date business
videos and the latest editions of the N-TV
programmes Märkte am Morgen (Markets In
The Morning) and Telebörse, starting just
minutes after their live broadcast on TV.
The website is being promoted online and in TV
commercials
featuring
the
Telebörse
moderators, under the slogan “Telebörse.de –
Für alle, die handeln wollen” (Telebörse.de – for
the trader in you).
Telebörse.de
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the RTL Group intranet
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Ready to kick off
The FIFA world cup
M6 shows one of France’s decisive qualifying
matches for 2010 football World Cup.
France - 23 October 2009
On Saturday 14 November at 21:00 (French
time), M6 will thrill football fans with this
exclusive offer: the French team’s away play-off
match in Ireland, which is decisive for qualifying
in the 2010 World Cup. With this exclusive
match, M6 demonstrates once again its policy
favouring the broadcasting of important events.
Raymond Domenech and his men will play the
away match at Croke Park, a stadium
traditionally reserved for Gaelic sports. The
match is predicted to be an explosive one, as
Le Monde of 21 October writes: “While the
absence of the French in South Africa would
surely be disastrous, the Irish, who have played
in four World Cups since 1990 (one more than
the French) still have trouble dealing with
Dublin’s defeat of 7 September 2005 (1-0, on a
breakaway goal by Thierry Henry) that kept
them out of the Germany World Cup.” Watching
Saturday’s match on M6 will be a show of
support to France’s “Les Bleus”.
Thierry Henry
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First live food show
FremantleMedia Enterprises further expands its
unique Live Events portfolio.
United Kingdom - 23 October 2009
Running four times a week at the state-of-theart Circus Maximus Theatre at Caesars Atlantic
City, the four week run promises an interactive
experience unlike any other. Taste of Emeril’s –
Cooking Challenge is a first of its kind, offering
cooking enthusiasts and Lagasse fans the
opportunity to compete on-stage in food
challenges to win prizes and learn from the
renowned chef via onscreen interaction.
Contestants can win the chance to cook
alongside an executive chef and audience
members can also win prizes by taking part in
food-related games.
Emeril says, “It’s exciting to expand into new
areas given my passion for cooking and the
universal love for food. The show will provide
fans and cooking aficionados that extra special
experience and allow me to share what inspires
me most about cooking.”
Emeril Lagasse is a renowned chef and
restaurateur of twelve restaurants across the
US and a popular television host, and
cookbook author. The recognition and awards
he has garnered have made him known to
food-loving Americans everywhere.
The live event will be produced by
FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME). Already
known for creating unique experiences
extending from the company’s television and
off-screen properties, Taste of Emeril’s –
Cooking Challenge will complement a
successful line up of brands. Additionally, FME
distributes Emeril Lagasse’s vast cooking
catalogue worldwide with programmes
showing in more than a dozen countries.
Andy Felsher, Senior Vice President Games,
Entertainment and Live Events, says, “Emeril is
a vital part of the FME family. In addition to
distributing his popular TV shows, our
Licensing team has now been able to deliver a
groundbreaking live event to engage fans
outside the television platform. We are also
always trying to be ahead of the curve and to
bring another first into the live event space is
hugely rewarding.”
Emeril Lagasse
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‘RTL’ brand returns to
radio in the Netherlands
Having successfully launched the digital
channel RTL Lounge, RTL Nederland is following
up with its own digital radio station.
The Netherlands - 29 October 2009
Like the TV channel RTL Lounge Radio caters
primarily to contemporary women. RTL Lounge
Radio will be on air 24/7 with a balanced
musical programme ranging from jazz to soul
and pop through to melodic dance rhythms.
The station will benefit from Radio 538’s
expertise.
RTL Nederland CEO Bert Habets says: “RTL is
always close to the consumer and in the
vanguard of any new media developments.
Digital TV and radio are becoming ever more
important.”
Nicolas Eglau, Senior Vice President, Business
Development,
Strategy
and
Thematic
Channels, adds: “With RTL Lounge, we offer
advertisers an all-round package, allowing
them to place their ads on different platforms –
TV, radio and the Internet – while still
remaining in the same target
environment. Consumers also get
all-round service – they can
watch us in the evenings and
dio can
nge Ra online at
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o
listen during the day, in the
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access
office for instance.”
.fm,
now be
The official launch will take
place on 29 October at
15:00 at the RTL Lounge
Radio Store in Stadshart
Amstelveen, which was set up
specifically for the occasion.
The RTL Lounge Radio store in Amstelveen
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the RTL Group intranet
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29,300 job offers in one day
RTL Radio France has repeated its Journée RTL emploi that aims to put the people
looking for work in touch with those who are offering work.
France - 28 October 2009
On his morning news show, Vincent Parizot launched the 8th “Job Creation Day”
On Monday 26 October, the station once again
implemented, in all of its news reports as well
as on its website, a large-scale operation to
help its listeners in their search for jobs as well
as candidates. RTL’s objective is twofold: to
help and to inform. Reports this month focused
on the employment of seniors and advice to
young graduates. Throughout the day, heads of
companies and individuals could post their job
offers on the RTL Radio France website and by
phone. By the end of the
day on Monday, exactly
29,380 ads had been
posted on www.rtl.fr,
beating
the
previous
record by a wide margin.
Listeners in search of work can consult the job
offers that have been collected until midNovember. Previous RTL Job Creation days
respectively collected 6,000 positions to be
filled in March, 11,000 in April, 14,000 in May,
16,000 in June, 12,300 in July, 19,000 in August
and 22,000 in September.
From now on, the Journée RTL emploi has a
regular place each month in the broadcast
schedule of France’s number one
radio station.
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A minister
as editor-in-chief
Frédéric Mitterand
On Saturday 24 October, from 12:30 to 13:30,
the listeners of France’s number one radio
station heard a special edition of Journal
Inattendu broadcast live from the Château de
Versailles on the occasion of the Louis XIV
exhibition. The main reason for the programme
was to have Frédéric Mitterand take on the role
of the editor-in-chief for the day. In this
function, the minister invited Serge Toubiana,
director of the cinémathèque française as well
as Nicolas Milovanovic, one of the two
organisers of the exhibition “Louis XIV, the man
and the king”, in which RTL Radio is a partner.
The programme was also an occasion for the
Minister of Culture and Communications to
discuss the controversy raised by his book La
mauvaise vie. “I kept my cool while all of it was
quite violent,” he said before adding,
The French Minister of Culture and
Communications Frédéric Mitterand was at the
helm of Journal Inattendu.
France - 27 October 2009
“I hardened myself. All ministers get their share
of reprimands, and mine was particularly
harsh.” He then reiterated that his ambition was
to be a “good minister” and, while maintaining
that he would not abandon his “emotional
side”, the minister explained that from now on
he would be “a little more prudent” in how he
expresses himself in public. He concluded by
saying he had “no resentment, no rancour, no
grudge because, deep down, the only thing
that is important is to move forward.”
The nephew of former Socialist President of the
French Republic François Mitterrand and a
novice in politics after a career as a journalist
and television director, Frédéric Mitterrand
reckoned that the affair made it possible for
him to achieve his transformation from simple
citizen to minister.
Harry Roselmack, Frédéric Mitterand and their guests broadcasting live on Journal Inattendu
from the Crusades Room of the Château de Versailles.
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16th edition of
Television 2009 –
International Key Facts
Cover of the Television 2009 – International Key Facts study
The study shows that average daily viewing time
increased by another 3 minutes in 2008 vs. 2007,
reaching 3 hours and 47 minutes per person in
Europe among adults. This represents 19
minutes more per day, or 5 more days per year
since 2000. These figures are all the more
remarkable because rating systems in 2008 did
not yet take into account new viewing platforms
such as mobile phones and the Internet, and the
size of panels has not yet evolved significantly.
All-digital TV is now in 55.8 per cent of homes
with TV sets, an increase of 8 percentage points
compared to 2007. This means the vast majority
of European TV households now have access to
digital TV. Although impacted, historical
channels, as we have seen in several countries
such as Spain and Italy, retain not only their
leadership position but also their audience share.
Studies carried out in the United Kingdom
(Thinkbox) and Finland (Finnpanel) have shown
that viewing times in these two countries have
increased as digital reception levels grow, via
broadband Internet, recording devices and 3G
mobile phones.
These ways of watching TV content are not in
competition, but actually complement each
other. They also act as new vehicles for
advertising since TV viewers prefer ad-financed
free TV over paid content. Catch-up TV (M6
Replay in France, RTL Now in Germany, RTL
Gemist in the Netherlands and Demand Five in
Great Britain) and TV via the Internet (IPTV) are
new opportunities that have been quickly
adopted by TV operators throughout Europe to
retain the link with TV viewers for as long as
possible.
The study analyses data on ratings,
programmes and major trends in television in
36 countries and covering more than 900
European, American and Japanese channels.
Luxembourg - 29 October 2009
Television is the sole media capable of creating
shared excitement and emotion amongst
viewers: in most countries major sporting events
are among the most-watched programmes,
particularly when national pride is at stake. 2008
was the year of the European Championship
(Euro 2008) and the Summer Olympics. In many
countries, football figured prominently in the top
20 programmes. In France, M6 scored record
ratings with over 13 million viewers for the
France-Italy match. In Germany, 80.8 per cent of
the viewers watched the semi-final GermanyTurkey.
Entertainment is making its return to the
forefront, fuelled by the planet-wide explosion of
talent shows and the “Am-actors” era (Amateur
Actors): viewers are now at the heart of the
programming, which highlights their
talent as singers (Idols, The X Factor),
dancers (Strictly Come Dancing),
hosts and cooks (Come Dine With
Me) or their sports prowess (Hole
009 –
In The Wall and Wipeout). In the
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episodes of talent shows. Over
a
je
(cjeanthe past few years, the
globalisation of these formats has
been accelerating thanks to a few
specialist players in this field, such as
FremantleMedia.
Finally, the American screenwriters’ strike did
very little to harm the global success of US series
such as CSI as well as House or Desperate
Housewives, which are still amongst the top
programmes in numerous countries.
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the RTL Group intranet
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Love is in the air – and countryside – again
Inka Bause set out to help lonely farmers find the love of their life once again as she
moderates the fifth season of Bauer sucht Frau (The Farmer Wants A Wife).
7.43 million viewers tuned in to the first episode – 800,000 more than the year before.
Germany - 26 October 2009
Humorous, heartfelt, and slightly tongue-in-cheek
Seven fabulous ladies, a talkative celebrity and plenty of hot topics to discuss: put it
all together and you get Vox’s new daily talk show Frauenzimmer (Ladies’ Room),
which will air Monday through Friday at 16:00 from 26 October.
Germany - 26 October 2009
A box full of joy
Antena 3 has teamed up with Imaginarium and Mensajeros de la Paz for the second
time in the ‘Niños Solidarios’ campaign to send shoeboxes filled with Christmas
presents to children all over the world.
Spain - 27 October 2009
Ladies, have you had enough of your complexes?
It’s time to throw away all the preconceived notions of beauty with the programme
Belle toute nue, which just began its new season on Monday. 2.27 million viewers
watched the show, representing a total audience share of 13.7 per cent.
France - 27 October 2009
Strong ratings for Ein starkes Team
Das große Fressen (The Big Eat), the latest episode in the ZDF crime series produced
by UFA Fernsehproduktion, set a new ratings record for the series last weekend with
6.82 million viewers tuning in.
Germany - 27 October 2009
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Newcomer bands wanted
Grundy UFA and UFA’s casting portal Yourchance.de are looking for talented young
rockers to perform on the popular series Gute Zeiten – Schlechte Zeiten, for example
in the series’ own nightclub ‘Mauerwerk’.
Germany - 28 October 2009
The most informative news site of them all
The homepage of the N-TV news channel came first in the news portal survey run by
the industry website Horizont.net.
Germany - 28 October 2009
By Toutatis!
W9 charmed 1.5 million viewers, broadcasting the film Astérix et les Vikings this
week – an audience figure that has never been seen before on DTT. This animated
adventure of the Gauls helped the channel achieve excellent ratings with a total
audience share of 5.6 per cent.
France - 29 October 2009
Action-packed evenings not to be missed
For the 10th consecutive season, RTL Sport is bringing its viewers the best of
European football: the top matches in the Champions League. This year, there will 34
matches airing live, along with all the highlights from other matches that will be
broadcast on RTL-TVI or Club RTL.
Belgium - 29 October 2009
Grupo Antena 3 publishes results for the third quarter of
2009
Against the backdrop of the Spanish TV market being one of the hardest-hit in
Europe by the economic crisis, Grupo Antena 3 generated net profits totaling
EUR 19 million for the first nine months of the year. This represents a 73-percent
decline vs. the same period in 2008.
Spain - 29 October 2009
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People
Matthias Scholten
Matthias Scholten
appointed Content
Director
The Netherlands - 26 October 2009
RTL Nederland creates a new Management
Board position and appoints Matthias Scholten
its Content Director from 1 November. In his
new role Scholten, 41, will be in charge of
strategy,
long-term
development
and
implementation of RTL content. He will also
identify and monitor market trends and
developments on the consumer markets in
order to point out any opportunities for
expanding the portfolio. His responsibilities
also extend to television; the currently vacant
position of General Director Television will not
be refilled.
RTL Nederland CEO Bert Habets commented:
“Content in the widest sense of the term is a
media company’s most valuable asset. So
creating the position of Content Director is a
forward-looking decision. The position
comprises far more than just television.
Matthias Scholten not only serves as a
mediator between RTL Nederland’s various
departments, but also combines creativity with
a broad strategic vision. This makes him the
ideal candidate for this job.”
Matthias Scholten worked as Head of
RTL Productions, RTL Nederland’s in-house
production department which he helped
establish, since 2006. In 2008, he set up the
Creative Concepts department, and is already
a member of the RTL Nederland Management
Board in his current role. Before joining
RTL Nederland, Scholten had held various
positions at production and media companies.
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the RTL Group intranet
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People
Philipp Spaeth
New head for
the FC St. Pauli
marketing team
Germany - 28 October 2009
Philipp Spaeth will take over the management
of the five-person team that handles the FC St.
Pauli marketing account for UFA Sports.
In May of this year, UFA Sports had signed a
ten-year marketing cooperation with FC St.
Pauli. Since then, the sports marketer has
supported the second-league team in
marketing its media, advertising and hospitality
space, as well as with stadium planning and
financing.
Philipp Spaeth, 40, brings a wealth of
professional media and sales experience to the
management of the Hamburg team. “I very
much look forward to my new role,” says
Spaeth. “The team already works well together,
is highly motivated and has already notched up
some success. Together, we will actively help
FC St. Pauli achieve its ambitious goals over
the next few years.”
Spaeth finished training as a bookseller and
publisher at Gruner+Jahr before going on to
study business at the University of Buckingham
in the UK. In 1996, he began his professional
career at Carat, a media agency in Hamburg,
leaving in 1998 to join Initiative Media Hamburg
as head of the Media Planning team. From
1999 to 2004, he worked at Gruner+Jahr as
Sales Manager for Stern and Geo magazines.
Philipp Spaeth most recently worked as Key
Account Manager and Sales Manager, North
Germany at Hubert Burda Media, in which role
he was responsible for around EUR 45 million in
revenues (2008).
15
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