Observed Signal · May 20, 2026 · Programming Update · Source: DWDL · Impact: 1/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
RTL Airs 'Take Me Out' Against World Cup
RTL will resume broadcasting the eleventh season of the dating show Take Me Out by airing four previously unaired episodes back-to-back on Saturday, 13 June at 20:15, deliberately scheduled in direct competition with live World Cup coverage. DWDL reports eight completed episodes remained in RTL's archive; four will be shown on 13 June. ZDF will broadcast the Qatar vs. Switzerland World Cup match the same evening from 21:00. RTL is also programming repeats of Undercover Boss during the World Cup (including a June 15 repeat featuring Ben Brahim of Accor Deutschland) while filling other weeknights with crime-repeat slots and fresh episodes of Die Bachelors on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The article was published on DWDL.de on 2026-05-20 by Uwe Mantel.
A scheduling decision for linear TV programming; of limited industry impact though it may influence audience segmentation and ad inventory competition on World Cup evenings.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- RTL will broadcast four unaired episodes of Take Me Out on Saturday, 13 June at 20:15.
- Eight episodes from Take Me Out’s eleventh season remained unaired in RTL’s archive prior to this scheduling.
- ZDF will televise the Qatar vs. Switzerland World Cup match the same evening starting at 21:00.
- RTL will air a repeat of Undercover Boss on 15 June featuring Ben Brahim, managing director of Accor Deutschland.
- DWDL.de published the story on 2026-05-20 (author: Uwe Mantel).
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RTL's Take Me Out to Air Against Supercup
RTL will broadcast four new episodes of its dating show "Take me out" on 22 August 2026 in a single block starting at 20:15. The episodes will be available on RTL+ one week earlier. Jan Köppen will host the episodes, which include a "Second Chance" special featuring returning contestants. The scheduling decision follows previous irregular free-TV airings and comes despite anticipated strong audience figures for the Franz-Beckenbauer Supercup between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern Munich, which is being shown free-to-air on Sat.1 and also carried by Sky. The article was published by DWDL.de on 2026-07-29.
RTL Airs 'Take Me Out' During Germany Match, Ratings Plummet
RTL broadcast eight previously unaired episodes of the dating show "Take me out" across two FIFA World Cup evenings, including two episodes that overlapped with Germany's match. The scheduling decision produced very low audience figures: the 20:15 premiere drew about 450,000 viewers (4.1% market share, 14–49), subsequent episodes fell to ~300,000 viewers and single-digit shares in target groups, and late-night shows struggled below 2% in the 14–49 and 14–59 cohorts. Competing public broadcaster programming (Das Erste, ZDF) and the live Germany match dominated audiences. AGF Videoforschung / AGF SCOPE are cited as the data source for the reported TV reach and market-share figures.
Take Me Out flops in ratings against World Cup
RTL restarted new episodes of the dating show Take Me Out after a two-year hiatus but scheduled them against the FIFA World Cup, resulting in weak audience figures. The first of four episodes reached a 7.8% market share among 14–49s before declining to 4.8% later in the evening; overall start reach was about 680,000 viewers and fell to 440,000 by 23:51. Competing commercial channels performed worse: Sat.1 drew about 290,000 viewers at 20:15, ProSieben about 220,000, and Vox showed the Bond film with 540,000 viewers but only 1.7% in the 14–49 demo. Data source for the figures is AGF Videoforschung (AGF SCOPE).
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