RTL Group's chief executive, Clement Schwebig, has set out the German media giant's strategy of pursuing scale and a hybrid model of free-to-air, pay TV and streaming to compete with global platforms such as Netflix and YouTube. His comments come amid a wave of consolidation among Europe's traditional broadcasters, who are grappling with declining advertising revenue and fierce competition from streaming and online video services, prompting deals such as Comcast's Sky agreeing to buy ITV and MediaForEurope taking control of ProSiebenSat.1.

RTL, Europe's largest television company and owner of production giant Fremantle, completed its acquisition of Comcast's Sky Deutschland pay-TV business in June, merging it into its RTL+ streaming service to create the third-largest streamer in German-speaking Europe with 12.4 million paid subscriptions, behind only Netflix and Amazon Prime. First-half 2026 results released on Tuesday showed streaming revenue up 27.2 per cent to €299 million (£259 million approx.), offsetting a decline in traditional TV, with Schwebig saying the division would contribute around €100 million (£87 million approx.) to operating profit this year and calling it "a profitability story" rather than an investment one.