German media giant RTL Group and Deutsche Telekom have signed a deal to renew their streaming partnership with RTL+ until at least 2030, signaling their determination to continue chipping away at the strong presence of Amazon and Netflix in the region.

Under the terms of the bundling agreement starting in 2020, RTL+ Premium is automatically included in most price plans of the telco TV product MagentaTV at no additional cost to MagentaTV customers. The RTL+ Premium and MagentaTV bundle “gives viewers access to over 55,000 hours of programming across all genres on all devices – from live sports events like UEFA Europa League football and NFL football, to award-winning TV series and reality shows, news and Documentary,” noted a statement from RTL.

RTL+ content currently includes Marvel’s “Venom: Carnage,” crime series “Mocro Maffia,” Celine Dion-starring “Love Again” and hit children’s film series “Paw Patrol.”

RTL+ will be fully launched in 2022 and has been on a steady growth trajectory since then, with the number of paying users expected to exceed 6 million by the end of 2024, up from 4.9 million in 2023, the statement said.

This makes RTL+ the top local streaming player in Germany, but it still pales in comparison to Amazon Prime and Netflix, which lead the market in Germany, both of which have double-digit subscriber numbers in the country.

In addition to RTL+ in Germany, RTL also owns streaming media M6+ in France and RTL+ in Hungary.

"Our streaming business in Germany, France and Hungary continues to grow dynamically across all key dimensions: number of paid subscribers, hours watched, subscriptions and advertising revenue. We have charted a clear path to grow our streaming business in 2026 The media business is profitable," RTL Group CEO Thomas Rabe said in a statement.

Rabe added: “The successful cooperation between Deutsche Telekom and RTL Deutschland has been extended for another five years and makes a significant contribution to achieving our strategic goals.”

RTL aims to have about 9 million paying subscribers across the group's three streaming services by 2026, with streaming revenue of about 750 euros ($777 million). As part of this effort, RTL Group plans to increase annual content spending on its streaming services to approximately 500 million euros and become profitable in streaming by 2026.

To achieve this goal, RTL Group plans to increase annual content spending on its streaming service to approximately 500 million euros ($518 million).