A limited test that involved European broadcaster RTL Group distribute some of its television content on YouTube led to stronger subscriptions and engagement on its streaming service RTL Plus, the media giant disclosed during a trade event this week.
The test run involved releasing more than 200 episodes of its TV series “Alarm für Cobra 11,” a reality show about highway police in Germany, which began airing on RTL’s main channel in the country nearly three decades ago.
During a moderated interview at MIPCOM on Monday, RTL CEO Stephan Schmitter and YouTube Vice President for Europe Pedro Pina said episodes from the show grabbed around 30 million viewers and led to a 123 percent increase in first-video views for the series on RTL Plus this year. RTL said the decision to put the full episodes on YouTube came after the show largely exhausted its commercial run on cable TV.
The results provide an example of how RTL is using free distribution of older programming to attract audiences to its subscription streaming business: Rather than keeping all episodes exclusive to RTL Plus, the broadcaster made a substantial portion of the series available through YouTube, where viewers could discover the programming without first subscribing to RTL’s streaming platform.
The initiative is part of a broader commercial relationship between RTL and YouTube that includes advertising sales and content distribution RTL’s Ad Alliance advertising division now offers advertisers opportunities across the company’s linear television networks, RTL Plus, Sky and YouTube, allowing brands to purchase campaigns reaching audiences across multiple distribution platforms. Schmitter said the partnership is already generating revenue in the tens of millions, although specific financial figures were not disclosed. RTL expects the relationship to generate additional revenue through 2030.
The broadcaster is also considering other ways to use YouTube to promote programming available through its subscription services: One proposal involves making the opening minutes of certain football matches available exclusively on YouTube before directing viewers to RTL’s paid streaming platforms for the remainder of the event. The arrangement would give viewers an opportunity to sample live sports programming before deciding whether to subscribe. RTL has not announced a timetable for introducing that particular format.
RTL intends to retain control over which programs are distributed through YouTube and how individual distribution windows are structured, Schmitter said, an indication that YouTube’s involvement in which shows are released through the platform is relatively small.
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Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story said the German program “Alarm für Cobra 11” was a drama, akin to police procedurals like “Law & Order.” The show is a reality program, similar to “Cops.”
