German free-to-air broadcaster RTL ZWEI launches into a new era with Thorsten Braun as its new Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director from November 2025. This appointment comes after the long-serving CEO Andreas Bartl, who had managed the company through more than a decade of change in the German media landscape, stepped down. The selection of Braun reflects RTL ZWEI’s intention to align leadership with the demands of a rapidly changing broadcasting and digital content market.

Operating in a fiercely competitive media environment dominated by streaming services, social media platforms, and on-demand content, RTL ZWEI is part of the RTL Group. Historically, the core viewership for the broadcaster has been built on linear television, but demographic shifts and changing consumer habits have raised the need for a more agile, multi-platform strategy. The appointment of Braun, a well-established media executive with a strong background in brand management, content strategy, and digital marketing, underlines the company’s ambition to move beyond traditional broadcasting.

Thorsten Braun, 53, brings a wealth of experience from senior roles across Germany’s media sector. Since January 2024, he worked as Chief Marketing, Brand & Consumer Products Officer at RTL Deutschland, leading on brand strategy, licensing, and merchandising. Previously, he was Managing Director at SUPER RTL and has held top positions at The Walt Disney Company Germany between 2013-2020, including Head of Broadcasting & Marketing. At the early part of his career, Braun had stints at Publicis Media and Paramount, which have given him a solid grounding in media strategy and audience engagement. He is particularly well-positioned to lead RTL ZWEI in a period when brand strength and digital integration will be crucial to success.

Braun enters at a pivotal moment: RTL ZWEI only recently began airing El Cartel Brothers, its joint venture sales house with Warner Bros. Discovery Germany, to knit together better advertising and monetization across its platforms. The dual challenge remains capturing the traditional television audience while extending one’s position in digital, on-demand, and platform-agnostic content. As the media landscape shifts, a seamless integration of linear with digital operations has become integral to capturing the attention of younger, digitally native viewers.

Braun underlined in his statement that high value is placed on the strong program portfolio and brand identity of RTL ZWEI:

“RTL ZWEI hat ein einzigartiges inhaltliches Profil, starke Programmmarken und erreicht relevante Zielgruppen über alle Plattformen hinweg. Dieses Marken‑ und Gestaltungspotenzial unternehmerisch weiterzuentwickeln, ist eine spannende Aufgabe.”

Translated, he underscored his mission to develop the broadcaster’s brand potential and content on all platforms, signaling a clear focus on innovation, growth, and audience engagement.

Strategically, it seems Braun’s agenda is twofold: first, to bolster both the RTL ZWEI brand and its programming on linear and digital, to make sure that content is more inclusively targeted at a wider and younger audience; and second, to drive commercial growth with new monetization strategies, probably by leveraging the El Cartel Brothers sales house to maximize advertising return. According to analysts, his background in marketing and branded content, rather than pure broadcast operations, reflects a conscious shift toward a multi-platform approach with audiences at the heart.

For the German media industry, Braun’s appointment reflects wider trends across the world of broadcasting. With streaming services nowadays leading the way, all traditional television companies have increasingly focused on cross-platform reach, brand management, and digital content to remain competitive. RTL ZWEI’s move suggests that media firms will put more value on executives able to bridge the divide from linear broadcasting to digital innovation as they try to stay relevant in an increasingly fragmented market. To PR professionals, content marketers, and brand strategists, Braun’s leadership indicates potential collaboration opportunities.

In the future, broadcasters like RTL ZWEI may increasingly seek co-creation partnerships, brand integrations, and innovative formats to reach audiences more effectively. Companies targeting German media markets may want to keep a close eye on RTL ZWEI’s strategic shifts under Braun, especially in the digital development of content, advertising partnerships, and multi-platform expansion. Looking ahead, the success of Braun will be about how well he can execute an integrated content strategy, extend RTL ZWEI’s digital footprint, and deliver profitable and sustainable revenue growth. The major initiatives to be taken up first under his leadership, including innovation in content, platform integration, and commercial strategy, will be an indication of the trajectory of the broadcaster in competitive mediandscape.

The appointment of Thorsten Braun as CEO at RTL ZWEI constitutes a major change in leadership, underlining the commitment of this broadcaster to innovation, multi-platform content, and audience engagement. His background in brand, marketing, and digital media thus positions him to lead RTL ZWEI during a period of transformation that will need to balance core television audiences with an expanding reliance on digital-first, brand-driven strategies. Industry observers and media partners alike will consider this leadership transition with great interest, looking for indications on how German broadcasters are thinking about their futures.