RTL Klub

Since its start, RTL Klub has focused to gain viewers from the urban population. The channel airs programs mostly for a younger (18-49) audience.

RTL Klub and TV2 aired two similar major reality series simultaneously. While TV2 purchased the rights of Big Brother, RTL Klub produced its own series called Való Világ (Real World). Való Világ had three seasons between 2002 and 2004. Since its second season the show has been much more successful than the rival Big Brother.

RTL Klub is the most watched TV channel in Hungary since 2002, thanks to the daily Hungarian soap opera Barátok közt (Among Friends), which is the most watched TV programme in Hungary with more than 2 million viewers; the tabloid magazine Fókusz (Focus) and the game show Legyen Ön is milliomos (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?). Millionaire is off the schedule from September 2007 after seven years and has replaced by A Széf (Take It Or Leave It).

From the fall-winter season of 2005-2006, RTL Klub has started to broadcast popular American TV shows like Lost. The first episode of Lost had almost 2 million viewers, and a 50% share. This was a record. The next year Prison Break started with almost 1.6 million. Nowadays a TV show at prime time (21:00) can reach 1-1.5 million viewers. In season 2006-2007 Prison Break was the most watched American series in Hungary.

From the fall season of 2007, RTL Klub has launched two new formats with great success. Poker Face ran like a tournament for six weeks with an average 38-42% share. The other new show was Csillag születik, the Hungarian version of the RTL Got Talent format. Poker Face ended with the super final at 18 December and the time slot of it will be occupied by the new game show A Széf (Take It or Leave it).

RTL Klub was the only licensed broadcaster of Formula One in Hungary from 2002 until 2011. After 10 years RTL decided not to renew the licence for Formula 1. The reason was that they wanted to concentrate mainly for the prime time programs because of the shrinking advertising market.[1]

RTL Klub has been the only licensed broadcaster of Domino Day in Hungary, for 6 years (2004-2009).

From 2010, RTL Klub started with 2 winning formats. First of all the channel after 6 years absence successfully relaunched the Való Világ franchise. VV4 ran with a 40% SHR among 18-49 demographic.[2] Secondly they purchased the rights of television talent show The X Factor. The show ran with a 50% SHR[3] among 18-49 demographic which is really high on the Hungarian television market. The Factor crashed the competitor talent show on TV2 so "Megasztár" left the time slot of The X Factor after a few episodes. Because of the success of both format, RTL Klub renewed both show for the 5th and 2nd season respectively. They started in the fall season of 2011.

• Barátok közt (Among Friends): the most watched domestically produced television soap of Hungary. The show started in the fall of 1998, one year after the foundation of RTL Klub. The show remarkably resembles BBC soap-drama, EastEnders. Initially, it didn't have the expected ratings, however, bound by the contract, RTL Klub had to keep the show running. Since 2000, the third season, the show has been rarely beaten in ratings in its own timeslot. Today, the average rating of the show is about 2 million viewers, and it's a solid foundation of viewers the channel occasionally builds on. Each episode of the series is 10 minutes long, and every weekday two episodes are aired. In between the two episodes, there is a news session as well as the highest value commercial block in Hungarian television.
• X-Faktor: the licensed version of the talent show The X Factor. The first season started in the fall season of 2010. Because of the great success the 2nd season started one year later. Season 3 started in fall 2012. Season 4 started 1 year later with 3 new judges and 2 new hosts.
• Való Világ (Real World): the show is similar to the reality show Big Brother although there are some major differences between the two formats. VV first started on RTL Klub in 2002. At the same time the rival TV channel (TV2) purchased the rights of the successful Big Brother format. The 1st seasons of the 2 shows had similar ratings but BB was slightly ahead. Since the 2nd season VV crashed the rival format so BB moved to the late night time slot and died quietly. The 2nd season of VV was followed with a 3rd one which had great ratings again. (There was no BB3.) After the 3rd season of VV ended RTL Klub had the format rested for 6 years. In 2010 they relaunched the format with some changes. VV4 was followed by VV5 in 2011. VV6 started in Winter 2014 on RTL II and the channel continues it with a 7th season in Autumn. RTL Klub sold the format of VV to Czech Republic and Slovakia where the show was called Vyvolení. The Czech VV had 3 seasons while the Slovak had 2. In both countries VyVolení (the chosen one) won the time slot against Big Brother.
• Csillag Születik (A Star Borns): the Hungarian licensed version of Britain's Got Talent. Four seasons have been aired in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012 respectively.
• Fókusz (Focus) is a daily report magazine. It is on the air since the foundation of RTL Klub. (1997)
• Showder Klub is a stand-up comedy show, spin-off of former show of Sándor Fábry called Esti Showder. His programme goes nowadays on Duna.
• Házon kívül (Outside the House): a political show, which deals with two or three current political events or social problems every week.
• A Széf: A licensed version of Take it or Leave it. It began airing during the 2007 fall season.
• XXI. Század (21st Century): a documentary series which usually deals with historical moments which happened in the 20th century. Recordings presented in the show usually originate from the communist era and therefore are black and white. RTL Klub purchases most of the presented material from Hungarian national television (MTV or m1).
• Egy perc és nyersz: (Minute to Win It): It is the licensed version of the American game show Minute to Win It.
• A gyanú árnyékában (Cases of Doubts): It is a scripted docu-reality series started to air at the spring season of 2012. The series follows a documentary style. Every episodes deals with a family in some kind of trouble. The stories are based on real events. The characters are played by amateur actors. The second season started in the fall of 2012.
• A kód (The Code) is the licensed version of the British game show The Exit List by Balázs Sebestyén. It had aired at the fall season of 2012 every weekday.
• Házasodna a gazda: is the scripted reality series based on the format Farmer wants a wife. The first season aired during the fall season of 2012.
• Éjjel-nappal Budapest (Budapest - Night & Day): is a scripted reality series, licensed from German RTL II show Berlin Tag & Nacht. Airs every weekday at 19.50 since February 2013.

• Heti Hetes ("The Weekly Seven"): a show where seven known Hungarian comedians (one host and 6 guests) talk about current news, politics and public life. The show was on air from the early years of RTL Klub and the 500th episode was the last to air there. The show moved in 2012's fall to the sister channel RTL II.
• Legyen Ön is Milliomos: The licensed version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. The series lasted nine seasons, hosted by Hungary's esteemed quiz host, István Vágó, but it was not going to be renewed after the licensor changed to RTL's major game show format. In September 2009, the show switched to a new format; the host was changed to Sándor Fábry,a well-known comedian in Hungary, and the players are always a pair of celebrities. It aired once a month but this format was not successful so the show was cancelled again. In March 2012 the show was rebooted again and returned with a new host, Sándor Friderikusz. It was aired once per week. The show moved in 2012's fall to the sister channel RTL II before being cancelled again in 2013.
• Gálvölgyi Show: a parody show hosted by János Gálvölgyi, featuring short sketches which are parodies of TV shows, Hungarian and international celebrities, and commercials. The show also has several regular sketches, such as a conversation between two working-out rich men, which led to the birth of a decade-old Hungarian catchphrase "Gyúrunk vazze'" ("We're working out, damn it").
• Kész Átverés (Total Scam): a show similar to the MTV's Punk'd where the host does pranks on Hungarian and currently visiting celebrities.
• Esti Showder: a very popular talk show being broadcast every second week (except summer) at Thursdays 21:00. It loosely follows the format of NBC's The Tonight Show. The show features an opening session with the host cracking somewhat actualized jokes and rapidfire humorous monologues, followed by a regular session of Design Center, in which the host ironically presents absurd or downright ridiculous products created and sent to the show by viewers. After the design center, the show features a studio music session which presents successful or potentially successful Hungarian bands, and finally the show presents a talk session where Fábry sits down and talks to different Hungarian celebrities. After 11 years the show hasn't returned at the fall season of 2011. Fábry moved the show to m1.
• Celeb vagyok...Ments ki innen!: the licensed version of British TV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here! The 1st season premiered at the fall 2008. Before the first season premiere the 2nd season was announced as well. The 2nd season had even better ratings than the first season. The show will return in Autumn 2014 on RTL II.
• Vacsoracsata (Dinner Fight): the licensed version of Come Dine With Me.
• Benkő Feleséget Keres (Benkő is looking for a wife): RTL Klub's 2009 fall season reality about a search for a wife for Hungary's scandalous artist, Benkő Dániel.
• Balázs Show: a daily tabloid talk show, which aired every weekday at 16:30. The show followed a slightly more lightened up format than its counterpart, Mónika show. It ended in 2007 after years of success, cited reason being that the host became popular and wanted more serious challenges.
• Mónika Show: a daily tabloid talk show usually featured and tried to resolve family issues. The former Hungarian local authority National Radio and Television Syndicate had often punished the channel belong to highly violent behaviour and bad language used by the guests the show. On 8 August 2012, RTL Klub got a 12-hours break penalty for the show.
• Szombat Esti Láz (Saturday Night Fever): The show is based on the BBC One programme Strictly Come Dancing. In it famous Hungarian people dance with professional dancers. This show is also very popular. The 2nd season finale had more viewers than the FIFA Football World Cup Final in Hungary. (Italy vs. France), it should however be noted that Hungary were not in the competition hence weakening interest. It had 3 seasons. 2 in 2006 (spring and fall) and 1 in 2008 (fall). The show returned in 2013 spring on RTL II.
• Győzike: a documentary-soap about a Hungarian gypsy family. The head of the family called Győző Gáspár, husband and father of two girls, who is a pop/rap singer and he had a band but after the show started in 2005 the band broke up. It used to be a very popular show, bearing similarities to MTV's the Osbournes. It had 7 seasons but the return of the show is unlikely.
• Pókerarc: The Hungarian adaption of the RTL format PokerFace. It debuted at November 2007 and broadcast every day at 19.00. At the end of the first season, before Christmas one player won 50 Million Ft. (200.000 Euro). The host of the game is István Vágó (the host of the previous game show Who wants to be a Millionaire? and Balázs Sebestyén (the host of Balázs show and Kész Átverés). The 2nd season started in fall 2008.
• A Kísértés (The Temptation): the licensed version of Temptation Island. The show had one season on RTL Klub in 2004 and had moderate ratings and so it wasn't renewed for a second season.
• A Rettegés Foka (Fear Factor): It is a licensed version of the American Fear Factor. It was cancelled after 2 seasons, reruns however are still aired on Cool TV.
• Survivor – A sziget (Survivor - The Island): the licensed version of the famous hit reality show Survivor, whose international format rights are held by RTL. RTL Klub aired two seasons. The major difference between the Hungarian Survivor and the original one was the winner was selected by a public vote (via SMS or phone calls).
• Szeszélyes (Capricious): a show similar to long-running Szeszélyes Évszakok (Capricious Seasons). After the cancellation of the original show, RTL Klub launched its own version with the host Imre Antal, which ran until Antal's death of cancer in 2008. The channel didn't renew the license for the show because it had considerably lower ratings than the original.
• Csíííz!: the licensed Hungarian version of America's Funniest Home Videos.

RTL Klub has many sister channels. One of the owners of RTL Klub is "IKO Kábeltévé Kft.", which owned Cool, Film+, Sportklub (which ceased on 30 April 2016), Sportklub+ (which is a non-airing channel since 15 October 2009), DoQ (which closed on 31 March 2019), F&H, Sorozat+, Poén! (which became Prizma in 20 December 2010 and RTL+ on 1 May 2014), Reflektor (which closed on 31 December 2012) and Film+ 2 (which was replaced by RTL Gold on 3 July 2017), all of which are in some way related to IKO's primary channel, RTL Klub. In July 2011, RTL Group acquired seven TV channels from IKO Kábeltévé (Cool, Film+, Film+ 2, Prizma TV, Sorozat+, Reflektor TV, Muzsika TV). Tematic Cable Entertainment bought Sportklub, DoQ and F&H in 2013 from the RTL Group. Prizma TV airs since 1 May 2014 as RTL+.

• Official Site (in Hungarian)