RTL right in front of: Last broadcast on July 23, 2025!

RTL right in front of: Last broadcast on July 23, 2025!

Berlin, Deutschland - The news program "RTL Direkt" will be discontinued after four years on July 23, 2025. This decision was made by RTL on the basis of the dissatisfied odds and to optimize the audience flow in prime time. Until the end, the market share of the program was only 4.9 percent, while the competition such as the "Tagerhemen" and the "Today Journal" achieved higher odds of 6.9 percent and 5.8 percent. This was reported Dewezet.de .

"RTL Direkt", which has been broadcast as moderators with Pinar Atalay and Jan Hofer since August 2021, was initially enjoyed in his first year of a market share of 9.6 percent in 14- to 49-year-olds. But the number of spectators collapsed. Atalay reached 840,000 spectators and a market share of only 4.2 percent in the debut, which could be one of the reasons for the setting of the shipment. The ProSieben format "Zervakis & Opdenhövel. Live." Even 1.6 percent had a market share. Such small odds are strongly reducing the entire media landscape. Other new magazines are also questionable, as the results of the current ARD/ZDF media study show ard-media.de .

the farewell of "RTL Direkt"

In the middle of this development, the moderation team around Pinar Atalay is not dissolved because it will continue to work in new formats for "RTL Aktuell". The co-moderator Jan Hofer left RTL in August 2024. RTL managing director Martin Gradl expressed his regret about the separation of valued colleagues and offered support in the job search, which illustrates the scope of the decision. However, the exact figures of the employees concerned were not published.

The decision to remove "RTL Direkt" is not only a strategic, but above all an emotional for the employees and fans of the show. Program manager Inga Leschek emphasizes that the reduction in switchover points is crucial to increase the length of stay of the audience rnd.de .

media landscape in change

The development of the number of spectators shows how the media landscape in Germany is changing. TV channels are under pressure to bind the audience. The ARD/ZDF media study, which summarizes various long-term studies, records current developments in media use and documents the strongly changing interests of the viewers ard-media.de .

In a time when linear and non-linear media offers compete, it remains to be seen how RTL will regain its viewers and which new formats could inspire the viewers in the future. The withdrawal of "RTL Direkt" could be seen as a turning point in the broadcasting strategy of the station.