RTL takes control of YouTube fashion platform

[November 03, 2014]  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European broadcasting group RTL Group said on Monday it had taken control of StyleHaul, a YouTube fashion platform, as it beefs up its online presence to keep younger viewers, whom it may lose at its traditional TV channels.

Tapping into a trend of consumers increasingly using smartphones and tablet computers to watch videos and listen to music, RTL raised its stake in StyleHaul to 93.6 percent for $107 million.

RTL, which is controlled by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, had held 22.3 percent of the Google-owned platform, which has 900 million monthly views.

Traditional media groups such as RTL and German peer ProSiebenSat.1 are rapidly expanding in the online video market.

This year, RTL expects to more than double its online video views to around 40 billion. That number is expected to go up next year, RTL co-Chief Executive Guillaume de Posch told Reuters, declining to be more specific.

StyleHaul is expected to generate revenue in the low three-digit million dollars in three or four years, De Posch said, adding he expected the company to break even in one or two years.

Last year, RTL made about 236 million euros ($295 million) or 4 percent of its total revenues from digital. "Our goal is to at least double these revenue figures in three or four years," De Posch said.

RTL wants to spend an average of 250 million euros per year on mergers and acquisitions, focusing on content and digital.

Earlier this year, it bought a 65 percent stake in U.S. digital video advertising group SpotXchange for $144 million.

($1 = 0.8003 euro)

(The story has been refiled to add "in three or four years" in sixth paragraph)

(Reporting by Harro Ten Wolde and Joern Poltz; Editing by Georgina Prodhan and Maria Sheahan)

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