STRATEGIC SHIFT How Couverts transformed its focus from a service provider for restaurants to a service for customers

BelgiumRTL Belgiumanalyses resultsof the Fac TVcontest

GermanyFTD picks Anke Schäferkordt as Top Businesswoman

Asia PacificFremantleMedia set to strengthen its position in Asia Pacific

GermanyUFA drama labels to cooperate more closely

week 48 / 29 November 2012

STRATEGIC SHIFT How Couverts transformed its focus from a service provider for restaurants to a service for customers

BelgiumRTL Belgiumanalyses resultsof the Fac TVcontest

GermanyFTD picks Anke Schäferkordt as Top Businesswoman

Asia PacificFremantleMedia set to strengthen its position in Asia Pacific

GermanyUFA drama labels to cooperate more closely

week 48 / 29 November 2012

Think before you print

CoverMontage with Couverts’ logo

PublisherRTL Group

45, Bd Pierre FriedenL-1543 Luxembourg

Editor, Design, ProductionRTL Group

Corporate Communications & Marketing

backstage.rtlgroup.com backstage.rtlgroup.fr backstage.rtlgroup.de

QUICK VIEW

FTD picks Anke Schäferkordt as Top Businesswoman

Mediengruppe RTL Deutschlandp. 7

“A start-up state of mind”RTL Ventures (The Netherlands)p. 4–6

RTL Radio supports the ‘Airfood Project’

RTL Radiop. 11

FremantleMedia set to strengthen its position in

Asia Pacifi cFremantleMedia Asia

p. 8

UFA drama labels tocooperate more closely

UFAp. 9

A free TV advertising campaign

RTL Belgiump. 10

SHORTNEWS

p. 13–14

Big Picture: New record for RTL Spendenmarathonp. 12

PEOPLE

p.15–16

4

Paul Wiertz, Manager Couverts

“A START-UP STATE OF MIND”

The Netherlands – 29 November 2012

RTL Ventures

The restaurant-booking system Couverts, part of RTL Ventures in the Netherlands, launches

its first Dining Week, which is taking place

from 26 November to 2 December 2012. The

event is one of many customer-targeted

events the company has organised in recent

months, and clearly marks its shift towards a B2C brand. Backstage

spoke with Couverts Manager Paul Wiertz

about the latest developments.

5

The Couverts Dining Week gives consumers an opportunity to discover or rediscover nice eateries by enjoying a three-course meal at a special price set in advance by the restaurateur. This restaurant week is organised exclusively for restaurants by Couverts. Guests can book a table at Couverts.nl/dinerweek. It is possible to search by date, town/city, province, restaurant and price category. Bookings are automatically uploaded to the digital agenda of participating restaurants. Paul Wiertz says: “The concept fi ts entirely into Couverts’s strategy of forming a closer connection with consumers while providing an added-value service to restaurateurs. Above all, it contributes to stronger brand recognition and higher brand trust.”

The event is one of many initiatives that Wiertz has taken to shift from a business mainly focussed on restaurant owners to one catering for consumers. This strategic move was made necessary mainly by the very competitive market in which Couverts operates. Paul Wiertz explains: “International players like OpenTable – very big in the US and UK – will very likely enter the Dutch market within the next two or three years. To further develop consumer awareness, market growth and to retain the market leadership are key strategic elements for 2013. So new initiatives and creativity have the highest priority in all actions taken.”

The need for Couverts to boost restaurant bookings means the company has to add more benefi ts for the consumer. Wiertz says: “To create lasting consumer relationships, we’ve decided to

add two new features to the Couverts website and our app: reviews and a loyalty program. Couverts will not only be the place to make a reservation, but also where visitors go to be inspired by reviews.” Compared to other restaurant reviewing websites, at Couverts guests can only review a restaurant where they have actually dined.

Like on Booking.com, people are sent a request for review after their visit to the restaurant. This eliminates fake reviews, which are annoying to many restaurateurs and consumers. By linking the reviews to their Facebook accounts, consumers can see where their friends have dined and whether they enjoyed it or not. The loyalty programme allowsthem to collect points, which can later be redeemed for free meals. “The loyalty programme has also allowed us to attract new guests, which of course pleases our existing restaurant owners,” says Wiertz.

In 2009, the company Couverts started as an initiative of two young entrepreneurs. Being part of RTL Ventures gives the company many advantagesfor further growth. “Besides the fact that RTL enables us to reach a broad audience, there is a lot of knowledge within the company which we can use. Above all, we remain entrepreneurs within RTL Nederland, so called intrapreneurs! We cultivate a start-up state of mind: be creative and innovative. There’s still a lot of potential, with much ground available for us to cover. We will keep on thinking out of the box and come up with other means to develop the Couverts business.”

Next >

During Couverts Dining Week, customers can enjoy a three-course meal which they can choose according to their budget

6

FACTS & FIGURES

The Couverts I-Phone and Android apps have been downloaded 400,000 times in total to date The website Couverts.nl attracts about 10,000 unique visitors a dayEach visitor spends an average of 4 to 5 minutes on the portalAt the moment 850 restaurants use the digital agenda showing real time availability

ABOUT THE RTL VENTURES DIVISION

Established in December 2010Key objective of the division is to exploit new business opportunities in specific consumer markets RTL Nederland’s four pillar strategy is based on TV, digital, entertainment and venturesManaged by Nicolas Eglau, Director RTL VenturesDating site Pepper (pepper.nl), mobile provider Sizz (in cooperation with Vodafone) (sizz.nl) and fashion portal Miinto (miinto.nl) are all part of RTL Ventures

UPCOMING EVENTS

B2C – BUSINESS TO CONSUMER December 2012: Christmas Week to increase bookings around Christmas time; guests will be

awarded extra Couverts coins via the loyalty programme February 2013: National Pancake Week, with the participation of restaurants specialising in pancakes. High volume, high marginsMarch 2013: second Couverts Dining Week

B2B – BUSINESS TO BUSINESS December 2012: Special charity project – The Glass Restaurant. Charity Week in which

participating restaurants gather in a special setting to cook and sell a menu especially created for the week. All the proceeds go to the Dutch Red Cross

For more information on the division, please visit

RTLVentures.nl.

7

Anke Schäferkordt is No. 3 in the Financial Times Deutschland (FTD)’s ranking of Germany’s Top 25 businesswomen. The Businesswoman of the Year is Simone Menne, CFO of Lufthansa, followed by Helga Jung, a member of the Allianz Executive Board, at No.2. Germany – 28 November 2012

Published in the edition dated 28 November 2012 of the businesspaper, the ranking includes female managers from companies and organisations that have their headquarters or a signifi cant branch in Germany. The explanatory notes on Schäferkordt’s selection state that her hands-onmanagement style works. Instead of trying to play down problems, she activelytackles them. “Schäferkordt prefers to invest in small, new channels herself rather than allowing other providers to poach viewers from RTL with targetedprogramming,” says the article. “She launched the men’s channel RTL Nitro, which after half a year already attracted more than one per cent of its young target

group – something that generously budgeted competitors such asZDF Neo have yet to achieve. She keeps launching onlinevideo-on-demand platforms for her channels and has themtransmitted via Internet-enabled TVs and cable carriers. So while there may be fewer viewers watching RTL, they still end up at RTL again in a roundabout way via online sites or special-interest channels.” This year marked the fi fth time the Financial Times Deutschland published its list of the Top 25 Businesswomen in Germany. A six-person jury of HR managers, corporate consultants andjournalists decide on the winners in a multistage process. Candidates must be top-level executives, exert strategic infl uence, and have demonstrated success. The Manager of the Year is singled out, along with the two runners-up. The other 22 winners are all ranked equally and named alphabetically.

FTD PICKS ANKE SCHÄFERKORDTAS TOP BUSINESSWOMAN

Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland

Anke Schäferkordt

8

Ian Hogg

In an exclusive interview with World Screen,FremantleMedia’s Asia Pacifi c CEO Ian Hogg talked about the company’s plans for the region in 2013, as FremantleMedia Asia prepares for the upcoming Asia TV Forum (ATF) in Singapore. Singapore – 27 November 2012

Ian Hogg started by reaffi rming the successes of what he calls FremantleMedia’s “holy trinity” of formats – Idols, X Factor and Got Talent – throughout the Asia Pacifi c region, emphasising the company’s commitment to the on-going quality of these productions and to evolving them through time.

Asked about plans for scripted programming, he described “a renewed focus within FremantleMedia” and highlighted scripted as one of the company’s key areas for growth in Asia. He identifi ed India as a very promising market for scripted formats, along with Indonesia and China, and added: “In our Australian business we’re doing a lot more, and our visibility in the next 12 months is going to be even greater.”

Along with scripted programming, Hogg cited digital as a second major growth area for FremantleMedia in the region, particularly as the landscape matures. He reiterated the enormous opportunities this allows content producers like FremantleMedia to create, distribute and showcase content “online, on tablets, on mobile, on television, at any time.”

When asked about the future prospects for Asian format ideas in the international marketplace, Hogg noted: “We have shows coming into ATF that are from seven or eight different countries. Now it’s not just about UK programming or US programming, it’s about a great idea.” He emphasised the company’s ability and willlingness to work with local partners to transform their concepts for the world stage, particularly given FremantleMedia‘s unique position as a global producer and distributor.

Finally, Ian Hogg reiterated that FremantleMedia must also keep looking to optimise the strength of the existing business, at the same time as moving forward with new formats, ideas, and growth opportunities: “FremantleMedia has been very good for a very long time at keeping shows on air, keeping them fresh and working with our customers,” he said, “That’s a real focus for us; making sure that as we look forward, we’re still looking down.”

FREMANTLEMEDIA SET TO STRENGTHENITS POSITION IN ASIA PACIFIC

FremantleMedia Asia

9

As part of the reorganisation of UFA’s drama department, the businesses of all three labels will be jointly managed from now on. Phoenix Film will also move to be geographically closer to its sister companies UFA TV production and Teamworx. Germany – 6 July 2012

To better leverage synergistic effects for the German FremantleMedia subsidiary’s three drama labels, their managing directors Nico Hofmann, Joachim Kosack and Markus Brunnemann have agreed to cooperate extensively. Going forward, they will be jointly form the management of all three companies and closely coordinate all matters of content and business with each other. Nico Hofmann will chair the management board of all three companies.

To facilitate this exchange, Phoenix Film will move from its previous location in Berlin to the UFA building in the Babelsberg district of Potsdam by the end of next March.

These measures, which complete the reorganisation of UFA’s ‘Entertainment’, ‘Daily Drama’ and ‘Drama’ genres, are designed to ensure that new productions as well as the development of existing programme brands can benefi t from shorter communication paths and a pooling of creative and administrative expertise. The team line-ups for ongoing productions, as well as the contact persons for the company’s broadcasting customers, remain essentially unchanged, and the individual labels will continue to exist.

UFA DRAMA LABELS TO COOPERATE MORE CLOSELYUFA

Nico Hofmann, CEO of Teamworx

10

Last March, RTL Belgium launched the fi rst edition of the Fac TV contest, which introduces an advertiser to consumers with a free TV advertising campaign. The winner has already seen its sales increase by over 200 per cent. Belgium – 28 November 2012

Forty-fi ve companies with limited media budgets who haven’t invested in television for at least fi ve years took part. The jury – made up of eight professionals and presided over by Yves de Voeght, Media Manager at Coca-Cola – selected fi ve fi nalists and, from among them, the grand prize winner: Chocol@. This company benefi ted from a free television advertising campaign worth EUR 100,000 (concept, production, planning, broadcast and tests included).

Chocol@ is a young SME (Small and medium-sized enterprises) that markets high-quality, personalised pralines on its website. The ad campaign it was offered – a 10-second spot designed to introduce the company to a wide audience across the country – was created, produced and broadcast this summer starting in mid-August. It is the fi rst time that the company advertised in major media.

Of course, one single wave of advertising on television cannot do it all. Long-term success and a return on investment (in this particular case theoretical), remains to be constructed. Nevertheless, the role of TV advertising here is undeniable: in total, more than 3 million people saw the ad that was broadcast on VTM and RTL-TVI, the rate of visits to the Chocol.at.be website multiplied by four in less than two months, and sales increased by over 200 per cent.

A FREE TV ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN RTL Belgium

Screenshot of Chocol@ website

More information can be found on the website

FacTv.be.

11

RTL RADIO SUPPORTS THE ‘AIRFOOD PROJECT’ RTL Radio

A long-standing partner of the Restos du Cœur, RTL Radio in France lends its support to the charitable organisation to help save the European food aid programme. The station’s emblematic personalities have been called in as reinforcements. France – 23 November 2012

The historic European Programme of Food Aid to the Most Deprived Persons (PEAD) – voted in in 1987 by the European institutions – has made it possible to meet the vital food requirements of more than 18 million people in serious diffi culty for the past 25 years. Now called into question by the veto of seven EU member countries, this aid will soon be in danger of disappearing. In order to make as many Europeans as possible aware of the subject and to exert pressure on the political decision makers, the Restos du Cœur along with France’s main food aid organisations (the Banques Alimentaires, the French Red Cross and the Secours Populaire) have joined to together to launch a community mobilisation tool called the ‘Airfood Project’. They estimate that this aid “represents between 23 and 50 per cent of foodstuffs distributed – about 130 million meals that could disappear within a year.”

Personalities from RTL Radio are working together to boost support for the aid project, while awaiting the fi nal decision to be handed down at the end of November by the chiefs of state or governments of the countries in the European Union. These personalities include Laurent Boyer, Flavie Flament, Eric Jean-Jean and Georges Lang as well as Christopher Baldelli, Chairman of the Management Board of RTL Group’s French radio stations, who appear in the video clips currently being shown on the Internet. The ‘Airfood Project’ follows the same principle as the ‘Air Guitar’ project, with everyone going through the motions of eating… before an empty plate. Millions of Europeans risk having to do the same, without this vital assistance. RTL Radio has also mobilised its airwaves, inviting Restos du Cœur president Olivier Berthe to alert the public authorities on the air at France’s number one radio station. The RTL.fr website has dedicated a page to the campaign.

A partner of the Restos du Cœur for the past seven years, RTL Radio launches an annual appeal for donations to the association that helps the most deprived, notably by distributing free meals. The radio stationbroadcasts the “Enfoirés” concert (the name given to the group of performers who help raise funds during this major show of solidarity). RTL Radio also contributes by promoting the sale of CD from the concert; more than 15 meals can be distributed for each CD sold.

Christopher Baldelli lends its support to the Restos du Coeur

To learn more about the ‘Airfood Project’, visit the website

TheAirFoodProject.com.

Best-ever resultat the RTL Spendenmarathon

The 17th RTL Spendenmarathon launched on RTL Television on 22 November raised record donations, collecting €8,827,410 within 24 hours, more than ever before in the 17-year history of the RTL – Wir helfen Kindern

charity event. On this day hosted by Wolfram Kronz (right), singer Joey Kelly (left) set a Guinness World Record for “most walked steps on an escalator going in the opposite direction in 24 hours.”

Almost €110 million have now been collected in total.

13

Mrs. Greenbird won X Factor 2012 in GermanyVox

The duo prevailed against nearly 25,000 competitors to emerge as the winner of season three of X Factor in Germany. Xavier Naidoo gave a surprise performance during the fi nale of the Vox programme. Germany – 26 November 2012

Sweet indulgence on M6 and RTL-TVIM6 / RTL-TVI

On 26 November 2012, M6 and RTL-TVI gave pastry a place of honour with a new televised contest: Le Meilleur Pâtissier.France / Belgium – 26 November 2012

Weekend magazine scored wellM6

The magazine programme 66 Minutes – les histoires qui font l’actu, broadcast on 25 November 2012 at 18:45 on M6, drew an average of 3.8 million viewers, thus scoring its highest ratings ever.France – 27 November 2012

4.7 million podcasts: a new recordRTL Net

After September’s excellent score (4.3 million podcasts), RTL Radio in France registered its highest score ever since the measurement system was created, according to the results of the latest Médiamétrie survey on podcasts.France – 28 November 2012

SHORT NEWS 1/2

14

Super RTL launches ‘Toggo Kinder helfen Kindern’Super RTL

Germany’s most-watched children’s channel is giving its small viewers an opportunity to help other children. RTL Television’s Editor-in-Chief Peter Kloeppel supports the campaign for the fi rst time.Germany – 29 November 2012

Grundy UFA supports ‘Verbotene Liebe’ with social mediaGrundy UFA

Grundy UFA is supporting the social media communications of its daily drama production Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love), including launching a Verbotene Liebe Youtube channel that will entertain viewers with specially created content 24/7.Germany – 29 November 2012

And they lived happily ever after?M6

On 1 December 2012, M6 gives fairy tales a special place, airing ABC’s hit series Once Upon A Time in prime time.France – 29 November 2012

SHORT NEWS 2/2

15

Christophe Goossens

PEOPLE

CHRISTOPHEGOOSSENS

RTL Lëtzebuerg Luxembourg – 27 November 2012

With a reach of 56 per cent of Luxembourgers, RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg is the number one radio station as well as number one media outlet in Luxembourg. Eldoradio has a reach of 20.4 per cent of Luxembourgers.

Christophe Gossens has been appointed Station Manager of RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg.

Until now, Christophe Goossens was Station Manager of Eldoradio, the music station in RTL Lëtzebuerg’s radio family. Since 1 November 2012, he is serving as Station Manager of RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg, which is Luxembourg’s number one media outlet. His appointment follows the retirement of Fernand Mathes, who joined RTL in 1978.

Christophe Goossens, 36, holds a degree in commercial and fi nancial sciences (ICHEC). He joined Eldoradio in May 2007. In his new role, which consists of managing and organising the radio station (except for News) on a daily basis, he will report directly to Alain Berwick.

RTL Lëtzebuerg CEO Alain Berwick has this to say: “A seasoned media professional, Christopher brings not only his expertise to RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg – he will also strengthen the synergies between RTL and Eldoradio.”

16

Five new colleagues have joined the RTL Nederland sales team. Elwyn de Neve has been appointed Account Manager in the Special Advertising division. He is no stranger to RTL, having worked as an Account Manager in the Digital Media division before joining WebAds, where he served as Account Manager for two years.

The Live Entertainment division is an important pillar of RTL Nederland’s growth strategy. It is being strengthened with the hire of Jeroen van der Wal in the role of Senior Account Manager. Van der Wal previously worked for Viacom as their Account Director Brand Solutions.

The Spot & Digital division welcomes two new Account Managers: Reina van Klaveren and Richard Knaap. Van Klaveren joins from Hyves where she worked as an Account Manager, while Knaap worked as a Digital Strategist at Mindshare.

Finally, Lonneke de Waal is the Branded Content division’s new Project Manager, having previously worked at Lukkien as a Senior Project and Account Manager.

PEOPLE

RTL NEDERLAND STRENGTHENS ITS SALES

TEAM RTL Nederland

The Netherlands – 28 November 2012

Elwyn de Neve Reina van Klaveren Richad Knaap

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